User Reviews

I would add to the above reviews the observation that the location used for the Brewsters' house is almost certainly the house which portrayed Howard's End in the Merchant-Ivory film. That and the Mill House used for Steppings' house made the episode all the richer and more enjoyable.

Besides the usual pleasure provided by the Morse/Lewis relationship, this episode provides a rare example of Morse displaying a kind of friendship for the main suspect, Michael Steppings, who is adeptly played by Brian Cox. It's interesting to see Morse's sympathy toward this man of similar age, tastes, and personality, to the point of going the extra mile to try to prove Steppings' alibi and to visit his daughter in the hospital. Some found the reveal to be deceptive; I thought it particularly well done. The ending is more poignant than most.

This ranks up with the top Morse episodes.

It's apt this episode opens with a bad card game hand. The string of coincidences falling into place is amazingly random luck. The heart attack scene is also melodrama of the highest order with telegraphing chest touches, the reaction as if shot and the comedy collapse into the wardrobe.

Yet these are minor quibbles with what is a very moving, thought provoking piece of television. It's one of my favourite Morse episodes, a key reason being that the killer seems more victim than villain. He's basically tipped over the edge by an appalling injustice nobody could live with.

Of course what Michael does to the Brewsters is horrifically cold blooded and in being deliberate, worse than what they do to Avril. It could also quite legitimately be argued her father causes her more prolonged suffering. I thought the mother would easily have won any legal challenge to have the life support switched off. I also couldn't blame her for leaving Michael over self obsessive, self destructive behaviours he allowed to go from bad to ever worse.

Yet I for one felt the biggest tragedy was Michael not getting the chance of a new life after finally accepting Avril was gone. His reactions to her situation were far more understandable and sympathetic than those of the Brewsters.

They completely failed to acknowledge or atone for what they did, Claire in particular acting like they were the victims. While you couldn't condone the orphaning of John or the position he was put in, I found sympathy for him nigh on impossible. After all, hadn't he helped condemn Avril to an unjustified life sentence and destroyed her family unit?

A surgeon is found murdered in his garage and the trail leads to a man trying to avenge one of the victim's past misdeeds. It gets complicated, especially at the end. I don't think I'll bother describing the plot in any more detail because it's available on the title page.

I've been working my way through this boxed set of all the episodes and this is the one I believe I've found most satisfying. There is no special scenic attraction, no travel to alien landscapes either. We don't learn more about either Morse or Lewis than we already know, and there's very little in the way of humor. Morse hardly drinks anything. There are no surprises or frills.

What makes this story exceptional is that the plot is relatively straightforward, with the exception of that entangled climactic reveal. There's a professional gloss about it, a restrained skill, from the writing to the performances. And the plot is aimed at a mature audience. There have always been one or two red herrings dragged across the trail but in this episode everyone who seems to have had something to do with the murder actually HAS had something to do with it. No one acts guilty because he smokes a joint in the cellar once in a while, nothing like that.

I'll try to give an example. The murder victim is a doctor who's been receiving those threatening notes that use letters clipped from various sources, then glued onto a sheet of paper. The notes are traced to a wealthy ex bookie whose daughter is now in a terminally vegetative state, possibly due to a sloppy operation performed by the dead man.

We get to know the ex bookie, Brian Cox. He looks like a sleaze bag. Oh, he owns a big house in the country and all that, but he's short and bulky and sports a definitely inadequate mustache. He looks the way we imagine all villains should look.

Yet he turns out to be likable in many ways. There is his love for his comatose daughter for instance. He visits her in hospital daily and reads novel aloud to her unconscious form. He's soft spoken, intelligent. He's polite, generous, and without pretense. He's convincingly innocent in his demeanor. He's not at all a bad guy, although he's still bitter about what he perceives as a botched minor operation.

I still don't know about the ending though. It may not amount to a delusion but it's certainly a snare.

There may be some evolution -- or, at any rate, some change -- in the way John Thaw interprets the character of Morse. This is the first episode of the seventh season and Morse seems to be more emphatic than usual. He was more emotional in the previous two episodes as well. I'm not sure whether the alteration is good or not. At this point, I prefer the earlier lassitudinous Morse to this Morse, who has a tendency to lean over the table in the interrogation room and snarl sarcastically at a suspect. The original Morse was unpleasant enough, which is one of the sources of his charm.

Deadly Slumber is my third favourite Morse episode, coming in hot on the heels of The Last Enemy and Last Bus To Woodstock. This story is made special by the presence of Janet Suzman, Brian Cox, a group of young women playing hockey in traditional pleated navy blue mini skirts and a jaw droppingly dead gorgeous Ferrari Testarossa (which, sadly, is only seen stationary). Revenge is the name of the game here: Sir Cox of the Brian composes and conducts his own idea of vengeance, implicating and involving guilty and innocent qualmlessly in his master plan to bring those responsible to justice for his daughter's botched operation which has consigned her to a life support machine. The scenario is remorselessness versus Morse: and made piquant as the chief suspect and The Chief Inspector develop a rapport, with Morse actively trying to prove his chief suspect's innocence - and it is played out here by perfection by these old masters of their trade. 10/10 Mark James Burden

The episode begins with John Brewster, a university student, discovering his father's body after dying from exhaust fumes in the family car. It appears that Dr Matthew Brewster committed suicide until the coroner discovers injuries that suggest the victim was restrained.

Suspician immediately falls on Michael Steppings (played by Brian Cox) whose daughter suffered major brain damage while under the care of the victim. Avril Steppings now depends on life support and is in a coma.

Fortunately a witness comes forward to give Steppings an alibi and, much to Morse's surprise, John Brewster confesses to the murder of his father. But not all is as it seems.

This is a typical episode of Morse with fine acting and an excellent story line from the master - Colin Dexter. Brian Cox shows us flashes of brilliance in a career that went on to include Braveheart and the Bourne franchise. In the end it is the relationship between Lewis and Morse that steals the show.

I can't believe that Nurse Wendy Hazlitt would have played at being an anesthesiologist, simply to please her lover -- a very strange game of Doctors and Nurses. Surely any general anesthetic, even for a simple operation, is a fine balance that requires considerable skill? Why would a nurse with no appropriate training believe she could wing it?

Nor can I really believe John Brewster's motivation for falsely admitting to killing his father. I assume he knew his mother had only a few years left to live and so why would he have sacrificed many years of his own life to keep her out of prison?

It's fine to have a rather convoluted and elaborate murder, but if the characters do not seem to be sufficiently motivated or capable, it all falls flat.