User Reviews

As this, the first episode of the final series of 'Endeavour' opens Morse has returned to Oxford following treatment for his excess drinking. He is soon back to work when a man is found dead near where an orchestra had been holding a party. Those present at the party deny any knowledge of the man. His isn't the only death; a London gangster is found brutally murdered in an abandoned building and the leader of the orchestra collapses and dies in the middle of a concert. Could these deaths be linked? With the exception of the tortured man they could be natural causes, but are they? As the police start investigating PCS Bright tells DI Thursday that he is thinking about his retirement; he also raises the possibility of a promotion for Thursday away from Oxford.

I thought this was a solid opening episode to the final series. The death during the concert felt like classic Morse and it was interesting to see whether the other deaths would be connected to it or would be setting things up for a series long plot. Bright and Thursday's discussions about their futures hint at a likely explanation for their characters not featuring in 'Inspector Morse'. As one would expect the acting is top notch, especially from the protagonists and the series continues to capture the feel of the era without the need to throw in references to events or music of the time to emphasise it. Overall a fine episode; I'm glad Endeavour is back but sad that it will soon be over forever.

A murder in a College Garden leads Morse to investigate a local choir, one with a very demanding and harsh choir master.

Hard to believe Endeavour has returned for its ninth and final series, I'm sure all fans had the same high hopes for this final series that I've had, it deserves to end on a high.

As a huge fan of the show, I thought this was a real treat, a truly interesting mystery, with lots happening to each of the main characters, and some references to the show's past, (referencing the incredible Neverland from series two.) I only hope Russell Lewis has another project lined up, one incredible skilled writer.

It seemed fitting for a classical music themed episode to kick off proceedings, with Morse close at hand. It's quite a blood thirty episode, there are quite a few deaths to wade through, one of them was ingenious I thought.

It really did feel like the end is in sight, with many changes afoot, Morse has been absent for some time, and everyone has moved on, he feels a little left behind, a scenario that would definitely fit as John That's character takes over.

Great cast, terrific acting, but once again it's the duo of Evans and Allam that dazzle.

Let's hope the other two are as high a standard as this one.

9/10.

There's enough police dramas available to the public where one can't go five minutes without a gun appearing. Also, the characters are often brash and obviously dangerous. Death seems to be inconsequential. Here we have an introspective portrayal of thinking people. They also have histories that must be addressed to make things work. Someone complained that this season is set up to make Morse the cantankerous, cynical man he becomes. That's a criticism. This show gives us the reasons the great detective worked his way through trials and tribulations and the results are real and full of feeling. The crime here is interesting and the method for murder unique. That should be enough. But we also get at the psychological underpinnings of Endeavour. It's obvious that he comes to face his trepidation when it comes to his romantic opportunities. He was too timid to give himself happiness. Of course, the alcohol was in some cases the cause and in others the result of his uncertainties. We see here also that Thursday's heart is breaking, both for Morse and, especially, for his son.

After last season's absolutely delicious off piste direction showcasing how Morse in the later series has always had a fatal weakness for gorgeous opera singers, while maintaining v high quality tv across all the episodes, this third to last episode's is firmly back in the murder capital of the world aka Oxford ..

The entire series has been some of the most beautifully shot and produced tv of recent years with immaculate casting and beautiful music ..the scripts are just perfection. It will be missed,can someone find some money to know make a Thursday prequal in pre war London as his character has been a treat and I would love to see Win and him as youngsters. Hats off to,all concerned.

Endeavour Morse is back from a long spell of leave and is immediately thrust into several investigations. There's the unidentified young man found dead in a college garden, apparently of natural causes. A concert violinist collapses and dies during a performance. A London-based former informant of Thursday's is viciously tortured and murdered in Oxford.

Endeavour is back and in great form! There's three mysteries to solve, though one gets most of the attention. In true Endeavour fashion things aren't obvious until all the facts and evidence are in and this one is particularly intriguing and unpredictable.

Looks like it's going to be a great season, unfortunately the final one.

Series 9 gets back to proper stories and this episode was very good with the orchestra case and the Blenheim Vale historical case. Glad the final series ended with high quality stories. The murder method in the orchestra story was cleverly done. I think this series contains one of my favourite episodes, episode 3 where the Endeavour story comes to a conclusion and the Blenheim Vale case is further developed. I think they have stopped the series at the right time. I've been a fan of it since the pilot episode about a young girl's murder. My favourite episode is Neverland, a really intense story.

'Endeavour' "Prelude" (2023)

Opening thoughts: At its best, 'Endeavour' is a wonderful series. While the eighth season disappointed (especially the finale "Terminus", which didn't feel like 'Endeavour'), many of the early seasons' episodes were absolutely outstanding and worthy of 'Inspector Morse' (one of my favourites of all time) at its best. Also thoroughly enjoyed a lot of 'Lewis' and the three of them go very well with each other.

Was really psyched for this ninth and sadly final season, to see how such a high quality series would go. Was really hoping that it would be closer to the quality of early seasons 'Endeavour' and not closer to the previous one. Season 9's first episode "Prelude" sees 'Endeavour' back on track and back on form. Almost as good as the series in its prime and a huge improvement over "Terminus", with all the problems with Season 8 solved here.

Bad things: If there is one thing that isn't quite as good as it could have been, for my tastes the London gangster storyline could have gone into more detail.

Good things: Otherwise, "Prelude" is just great. The production values continue to be exceptionally high, exquisitely photographed and with a real sense of period lovingly and faithfully recreated. There is also a lot of atmosphere, particularly in the lighting. This atmosphere continues in the haunting music, which never felt overbearing or obvious. The theme music is iconic.

Moreover, the script is intricate and thought provoking, there is a good deal of talk but it is tight and none of it came over as filler. The storytelling is always absorbing, a lot happens with more than one case, but it never came over as disjointed or like three stories in one. There are a lot of twists and turns, but it still is coherent and it didn't feel over-complicated or bloated. The denouement is very unexpected and makes psychological sense, not silly, extreme or confused, the truth is quite sad and the motive made psychological sense.

Shaun Evans is as ever charismatic in the title and Roger Allam is wonderful as always, he can do no wrong in my eyes. They have such scintillating chemistry together, their relationship is pretty much the heart of the series and has always been beautifully written even in lesser episodes. Can't fault the supporting cast either.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, wonderful.

9/10.

It seems that the prime purpose of this final series, after the utter debacle of the previous one, was to 'make' Morse, morphing the young Endeavour into the cynical cantankerous embittered disenchanted beer-swilling lonely old bloke we all know and kind of love.

Did I forget to mention "music-loving"? Well, that was the core theme, but with numerous parallel plots it became disjointed and fragmented. Maybe the discerning viewer can cope with that, but only if it is well-presented, and this really wasn't. This very big step in the evolution of all the core characters was given focus way ahead of the essential detective mystery.

Yes, it was an improvement on the last utterly awful series, but that would not have been hard even if you had the Muppets playing all the parts.

5/10, and we will watch the remaining two, and hope for some fitting denouement.

Not only was this episode boring beyond anyone's patience, but it actually rehashes some scenes that were exactly the same in former episodes. The main actors go through their motions as if they were extremely burdensome and unpleasant. There appears to be no life or enthusiasm exhibited and the main actors just appear to be going through the motions without any energy or fervor.

To make matters even worse, the use of the subtitles is absolutely horrendous. The subtitles come on about 40-50 seconds before the actors speak which makes following the spoken story line just about impossible to follow. For the hearing impaired this is a terrible use of the art of English subtitling in which the British always exceeded.

Overall a very disappointing start to this season.