Arcadia
- Episode aired Jan 10, 2016
- TV-14
- 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
The death of an artist in a horrendous house fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze.The death of an artist in a horrendous house fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze.The death of an artist in a horrendous house fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen the Thursday family is watching tv at the beginning, they are passing around a box of Mackintosh's Good News chocolates; Fred asks "who's had the Savoy truffle?" The famous package of chocolates was the one whose inventory is listed in the famous George Harrison song "Savoy Truffle."
- GoofsWhen Dr. De Bryn is describing the heavy drinking of the murder victim, he refers to him sarcastically as "the last of the red-hot livers", a pun on the title of Neil Simon's well-known play, "The Last Of The Red-Hot Lovers". However, this episode of "Endeavour" is set in mid-1967, and Simon's play did not open on Broadway until December of 1969.
- Quotes
DI Fred Thursday: Did you see the way the girl flinched when he put his hands on her?
DC Endeavour Morse: Yes, I saw.
DI Fred Thursday: Pot and free love, I suppose. Free love. In my experience, that's the most expensive kind there is.
- Crazy creditsDuring the closing credits, when read in order, the red letters spell out "bloater paste," which is the sandwich spread Mrs. Thursday put on her husband's sandwich. Luckily he didn't eat it, because it was probably tainted. According to cooksinfo.com, "Bloater Paste is a fish spread made from salted, smoked herrings called "bloaters", which are smoked whole with the insides still in them. A bloater has a more gamey flavour than cleaned herrings. It is sold in small jars."
- ConnectionsReferences The Graduate (1967)
- SoundtracksFor What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)
(uncredited)
written by Stephen Stills
performed by Buffalo Springfield
Featured review
Very solid stuff
Having recently been, and just finished being, on a roll reviewing all the episodes of 'Lewis', which generally was very enjoyable before having some disappointments later on, it occurred to me to do the same for 'Inspector Morse's' (one of my favourites for over a decade, and all the episodes were also reviewed in my first year on IMDb eight years ago) prequel series 'Endeavour'.
As said in my review for the entire show two years ago, 'Endeavour' is not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well. It maintains everything that makes 'Inspector Morse' so good, while also containing enough to make it its own, and in my mind 'Inspector Morse', 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' go perfectly well together.
Was very impressed by the pilot episode, even with a very understandable slight finding-its-feet feel (that is true of a lot of shows, exceptions like 'Morse' itself, 'A Touch of Frost' and 'Midsomer Murders', which started off great and were remarkably well established, are fairly few. The first season was even better, with all the episodes being outstanding. Season 2 took a darker turn, but once again all the episodes were great (even with "Trove" having one of 'Endeavour's' most far-fetched and over-complicated endings, great episode otherwise), with the weakest one "Sway" still being very good.
"Ride" started off Season 3 and was mostly a solid episode let down by the ending. The succeeding episode "Arcadia" is even better, this time having a final solution that makes much more sense and is easier to swallow, this one was pretty unexpected in terms of the identity of the perpetrator and how you feel about them after. It's not quite one of the best 'Endeavour' episodes with for my liking a few too many characters and red herrings that occasionally convoluted the story.
"Arcadia's" production values are faultless. It is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal 'Inspector Morse' theme.
Writing, as has been said many times in my reviews for the previous 'Endeavour' episodes, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense as the previous episodes and as the best of 'Morse', with the references to 'The Graduate' amongst others giving off a real sense of affectionate nostalgia. The story is very gripping, with two of the most tense scenes of any 'Endeavour' episode put together, those being the ransom drop off and the tunnel bomb threat (the latter especially was a nail-biter where one really cares what happens to the characters involved).
Morse and Thursday's father/son relationship, while even stronger later being more entertaining and heartfelt, has a lot of warmth, is so well written within the story and is a large part of the series' appeal. The pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting, lead and supporting, with Morse displaying more recognisable character quirks with each episode and as aforementioned it is impossible not to love his relationship with Thursday.
Even more impressive here in "Arcadia" is the softer and heartfelt chemistry between Morse and Jakes, and the wonderful character development on Jakes. The new WPC character is a lively addition with a positive attitude and she gels quite well, though maybe she could have had a little more to do.
Shaun Evans as ever does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands.
Jack Laskey's acting is similarly a revelation and there are fine supporting turns from Richard Dillane, Genevieve O'Reilly and sparkling Dakota Blue Richards (yes, former child actress Dakota Blue Richards of 'The Golden Compass' and 'The Secret of Moonacre' fame).
Overall, very solid episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox
As said in my review for the entire show two years ago, 'Endeavour' is not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well. It maintains everything that makes 'Inspector Morse' so good, while also containing enough to make it its own, and in my mind 'Inspector Morse', 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' go perfectly well together.
Was very impressed by the pilot episode, even with a very understandable slight finding-its-feet feel (that is true of a lot of shows, exceptions like 'Morse' itself, 'A Touch of Frost' and 'Midsomer Murders', which started off great and were remarkably well established, are fairly few. The first season was even better, with all the episodes being outstanding. Season 2 took a darker turn, but once again all the episodes were great (even with "Trove" having one of 'Endeavour's' most far-fetched and over-complicated endings, great episode otherwise), with the weakest one "Sway" still being very good.
"Ride" started off Season 3 and was mostly a solid episode let down by the ending. The succeeding episode "Arcadia" is even better, this time having a final solution that makes much more sense and is easier to swallow, this one was pretty unexpected in terms of the identity of the perpetrator and how you feel about them after. It's not quite one of the best 'Endeavour' episodes with for my liking a few too many characters and red herrings that occasionally convoluted the story.
"Arcadia's" production values are faultless. It is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal 'Inspector Morse' theme.
Writing, as has been said many times in my reviews for the previous 'Endeavour' episodes, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense as the previous episodes and as the best of 'Morse', with the references to 'The Graduate' amongst others giving off a real sense of affectionate nostalgia. The story is very gripping, with two of the most tense scenes of any 'Endeavour' episode put together, those being the ransom drop off and the tunnel bomb threat (the latter especially was a nail-biter where one really cares what happens to the characters involved).
Morse and Thursday's father/son relationship, while even stronger later being more entertaining and heartfelt, has a lot of warmth, is so well written within the story and is a large part of the series' appeal. The pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting, lead and supporting, with Morse displaying more recognisable character quirks with each episode and as aforementioned it is impossible not to love his relationship with Thursday.
Even more impressive here in "Arcadia" is the softer and heartfelt chemistry between Morse and Jakes, and the wonderful character development on Jakes. The new WPC character is a lively addition with a positive attitude and she gels quite well, though maybe she could have had a little more to do.
Shaun Evans as ever does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands.
Jack Laskey's acting is similarly a revelation and there are fine supporting turns from Richard Dillane, Genevieve O'Reilly and sparkling Dakota Blue Richards (yes, former child actress Dakota Blue Richards of 'The Golden Compass' and 'The Secret of Moonacre' fame).
Overall, very solid episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•80
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jul 5, 2017
Details
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
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