Morse fans will gobble this up no matter what; take-him-or-leave-him types like yours truly should find this TV prequel quite enjoyable as well. Shaun Evans projects a wonderful intensity as the young DC Endeavour Morse, called in as an extra pair of boots on the ground in a missing persons case; we happily suspend disbelief as he's tapped by DI Thursday to play a leading role in the ensuing investigation. The murder plot is a bit overdetermined—turns out the missing girl's involved in three or four different kinds of shenanigans—and the murderer's MO is almost laughably complex, but the film creates a nice, creepy atmosphere of small-town depravity, almost worthy of Dashiell Hammett, and there's some interesting byplay between Morse and an obstructive sergeant, a couple of smarmy Oxford dons, and the attractive wife of a suspect, a retired operatic soprano. (No extra points for guessing what happens there.) It's a pleasure to watch the young Morse take a turn at the wheel of a Jaguar and down his first pint in a pub; his taste for opera records and crossword puzzles is already fully formed.
Review of Pilot
