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The reason I could never be sold on Joan/Strange is they don't really know each other. Joan isn't aware of how comfortable Strange is with police brutality/doing whatever is needed for his career, and he has no idea what she's gone through the last several years. There was no conflict and resolution to their relationship. They came together like two people playing house, and it just never felt real or earned to me.

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I agree with your overall point here, but I actually find it pretty believable Joan would go to Morse based on what we've seen up to Harvest.

She's highly ashamed of her circumstances, and he's really the only person who knows exactly what she's been through since the bank robbery. He knows about the apartment, about everything (which plays into why she wants to distance herself from him later on), but at this stage I can see her feeling like Morse is the only one who wouldn't judge her. The fact he went out of his way to find her earned her trust.

I would have a bigger problem with it if Joan was established as a character with a strong network of friends from the beginning but she isn't. She's very insular and tied to her family, and I can see that being intentional to show how claustrophobic living at home is for her. It changes in S5 when she starts creating her own life out in the world.

That being said, I WISH Joan from the beginning was given her own established world because the fact we never see her talking to friends or even Win about her life makes her very hard to understand, and it does mean she makes baffling unrealistic decisions.

There's a lot I'm willing to forgive with Endeavour since it has such slow pacing and few episodes per season -- We don't see outside Morse and Thursday's relationship until late S2, Thursday's first major episode is Sway, Jakes gets depth at the end of S2, Bright doesn't get backstory until the end of S3, etc. However, the male characters are treated with a degree of sensitivity where even a single line like Debryn's take on love in Game gives him a level of interiority the female characters are never given. We never see what's below the surface with them. It's definitely the main weakness of the series.

I really enjoy reading your Endeavour musings. I was particularly interested in your reference to Joan's DV as a plot device as I agree wholeheartedly. I was hoping you could go into your thinking a little bit more about that. In my view, it felt like Joan's DV and miscarriage/abortion was used just as a setting for more Joan/Morse angst (the "marry me" scene was not romantic in the least, to me, and actually signaled how tone-deaf Endeavour was to think that what Joan needed in that moment of vulnerability and hurt at the hands of a man she was in relationship with was a romantic overture by another man) and focused entirely on how Morse felt than on how Joan felt.

I absolutely agree that the scene is focused on how Morse feels, in that moment, seeing her as victim of DV, and yes, his offer is very tone-deaf. I think Sara Vickers does her best to counterbalance the scene, but it's absolutely Morse-centric (in both cinematography and emotional emphasis) -- about how her refusal devastates him, and I don't love it for that reason.

One of the reasons I see Joan's DV as a plot device is that it seems both unnecessary and gratuitous. It seems to be there just for Angst level. We never get any exploration of her trauma from being at the bank, because the DV trauma is heaped on-top and takes the focus. I also think it cheapens the way that Ray is taking advantage of her: a situation that was devastating in itself (Thursday's monologue in Muse springs to mind). Speaking of Thursday, I vaguely see RL's connection about the circle of violence: Thursday beating up Ray leads to Ray beating Joan and how it parallels and contrasts the other plots in Harvest; Seth killing Laxman for being "quick with a back-hander;" and Donald Bagley not wanting to commit violence because he "love[s]" peace and his wife more than killing. It's all very neatly done. But I'm a firm believer that significance of stories work when they build on real situations and people: so the disconnect between that here bothers me.

(I also question the believability of Ray beating Joan when he now has intimate knowledge that her father (1) knows where she is (2) knows who he is (3) has handily beaten him up (4) threatened to have him arrested as a pedophile.) Lastly, the very fact that Joan turns to Morse for safety and help, I feel is played because it's Morse-centric. Joan is an intelligent, strong-minded, stubborn woman who comes from a stable middle class background. Even if she "can't" go home (another point I find v unbelievable -- her mother wouldn't take her back?), she has no female friends who would help her? Or other support network? I'd be very interested in anyone's else take on the Joan & DV plot; I find it an unfortunate example of how RL struggles to write female characters.

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Lowkey my fave Morse moment is when he goes, "You thought a band with these lyrics was straight? You delusional fool."

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"No one is suggesting that Detective Inspector Thursday has any involvement. Not for a moment." "We just need to be sure of him. Word on the wire is he's got pretty tight with Box."

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That new show Betrayal is supposed to be filming pretty soon, isn't it? Wonder if we'll get any set photos when they start?

I can't believe we'll be getting weekly Evans again, and with him as the lead!

Anyone have ideas of who his co-stars could be? Or who you're hoping for?

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Can I just say it fills my heart with warmth to see all the new Endeavour gifs out there. :)

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Its been a long week. Someone pass me an image of The Character

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Ask me no more, for fear I should reply; Others have held their tongues, and so can I, Hundreds have died, and told no tale before: Ask me no more, for fear I should reply — How one was true and one was clean of stain And one was braver than the heavens are high, And one was fond of me: and all are slain. Ask me no more, for fear I should reply. -- Alfred Edward Housman

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Oh and the soundtrack!

I get why Morse turns to opera now.

Not sure what it says that whenever I get a pit of despair in my stomach I want to watch Endeavour.

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I'm excited for UK fans to be able to see this finally.

The Bay is hit or miss for me - the characters often aren't very likable imo, but this season felt like the most enjoyable so far, and Shaun's directing was a big part of that.

If you've never seen it before it's worth watching a previous episode or two to get a sense of how he influenced the vibe.

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Endeavour | Sway

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I think I figured this out.

When everything gets to be too much, both personally and the bigger scale of events happening, it helps to watch a piece of media which isn't designed to be constantly stimulating.

With Endeavour part of that is the fact it's a period piece so the use of technology is minimal, and although the supporting cast changes every episode, they're mainly within the confines of Oxford. There's a strong attention to detail in it feeling like a lived-in world with deep relationships between a small group of characters.

The other part though is specific to how Endeavour is made. It lingers on stillness and quiet in a way that a lot of shows are afraid to do, period or otherwise. It's not particularly cozy, but there's a catharsis in watching a guy going through difficult emotions you can relate to in a way where he's simply sitting in a room contemplating. Not being super dramatic. He's sitting there and you're there too going "Yeah I get it buddy."

It's like being inside an Edward Hopper painting. At least for me.

Not sure what it says that whenever I get a pit of despair in my stomach I want to watch Endeavour.

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Whenever Morse sees a beautiful woman, even when it's not part of the plot, there's a subtle acknowledgment in his eyes where he's a little flustered. Love that.

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Endeavour | Sway

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morse having the same reaction to boobs as to a dead body. keeping it #Consistent

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