User Reviews

That is what you call an ending! As usual with Endeavour all the loose and sometimes seemingly unconnected threads all tied in together solving two (or three if you include the inferior building of the tower block) crimes. The baddies trying to bribe two of our heroes, Bright and Strange, Thursday stepping back from the dark side and Morse just being Morse. Bright has evolved so much over the series, when we first met him so dismissive of Morse but gradually coming to like, respect and trust him. The temptation for him to accept Burkitt's offer to help his wife would have been strong but his integrity held. Brilliant scene when he thought he was cornered by the two heavies but was saved by a bunch of schoolkids. Strange too had a very tempting offer. Fred really thought what he was doing would resolve the problems between him and Win. But as she told him it wasn't about the money. Bit of a shock to find out Jago was the one pulling the strings. Best bit for me was the Gunfight at the OK corral scenes, tension nicely built up, Bright wiping the smirks off the bad guys faces by telling them 'the writ doesn't extend to traffic'. Thankfully none of 'our guys' met a nasty end. Typically Burkitt turned on his 'mates'. Won't be completely easy to find their way back to where they were but they'll do it. Morse lived in a house that was used by junkies! Roll on next year!

What a way to end the series! So many ends to tie up, but Russell Lewis managed it with tremendous aplomb. And so much action! Who'd have thought De Bryn would find himself in the front line? Or CS Bright?Threatened in a quiet Oxford street by two heavies with murderous intent, his albatross, the pelican road safety advert, suddenly becomes his lifejacket when a group of schoolchildren recognise him and clamour for his autograph! Fred Thursday's integrity wavers, but is then regained when his wife shows him what is really important. Oh yes, the story! Osbert Page, a librarian, is brutally murdered and he seems to have some link to the borough surveyor who disappeared a year before. In the meantime a recently-built block of flats collapses, obviously due to dodgy construction, and the body of the surveyor is discovered, preserved in concrete. Oily Councillor Burkitt has Masonic connections in high places requiring Assistant Chief Constable Bottoms to try and bring pressure on Morse to stop his enquiries. But hey; you're dealing with the Oxford boys here and the final confrontation is like a classic western. White hats v black hats. When pathologist De Bryn is kidnapped Morse is lured to a lonely quarry where Burkitt and crooked builder McGyliffe, together with DI Box and DS Jago are waiting kill him. Big surprise. Jago turns out to be the leader of the corrupt cops, not Ronnie Box. In true thriller style Jago explains everything to our apparently doomed hero. Their setup had protected Eddie Nero and other criminals and then taken over the local drug trade when the gangsters were killed in the pub shootout. George Fancy had turned up in the wrong place which was why he was shot. Burkitt and McGyliffe are also involved in protected criminal activity. McGyliffe was awarded the contract to build the flats and used inferior materials. Hollis Binks, the surveyor was investigating the matter when he was disposed of using the same gun which killed Fancy. Page was killed to stop him investigating his friend Binks' disappearance. Jago intends to shoot Morse then the other three musketeers turn up. At first Jago is not bothered but Bright has cleverly ordered Traffic Police to attend the scene. The baddies panic at the sound of Police car sirens and run for it. At which the Oxford crew pull guns and chase them into nearby buildings. Jago has the drop on Thursday but is shot and killed by Box who suddenly suffers an attack of conscience; getting himself wounded in the process. In the epilogue Bright is appointed Officer in Charge at the Castle Gate station and he immediately gathers the Oxford team back into the fold. All's well inthe city of dreaming spires, and we can look forward to another series too. Perfect!

Season 6 of "Endeavour" is a short one (of 4 long and intricate episodes) that sort-of maintains the previous high standards, but "Deguello" (that's the Spanish word describing a "no quarter given" bugle call of the kind heard by the defenders of The Alamo) is in a stratospherically-high class of its own. Certainly - mercifully - it gives closure in most of the areas where we are longing for that, but also finds time to add new stories and aspects, not least a reference to the Ronan Point partial collapse of a tower block from 1968.

It's impossible - and in fact rather worthless - to explain exactly what we have here. Fans of the series will understand, while those who want to try "Endeavour" will need - like Morse himself - to get a bit of training and shaping before they mature through to this point! It's worth the "effort" of watching a number of previous episodes and series before coming here, believe me.

But OK, for the record (and perhaps for the makers to understand from a fan the artistic triumph they have achieved...)

Oxford was always different from Cambridge in (also) being a working-class manufacturing town in the Midlands, if tantalisingly close to natural and cultural beauty at Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds and so on. Oxford has "Town and Gown" issues writ large, and many of them are visible here. Now, I can just remember 1968/9 (moon landings and all), and that is a different country. Back then we said "it's as many as 24 years after World War II", while now we say "it was only 24 years after WW2". And everybody back then was somehow living in that shadow, as does this episode.

But the late 60s were - for those of us living through them "the peak of cutting-edge modernity and coolness" - NASA offered the serious side, high-rise building the technical side, entertainments and other things the cool side. Yet, looking back on it, it was still remarkably "old-fashioned"!

In this episode the good and bad of the old meets the good and bad of the new, and where better for that to happen than in Oxford?

And that means old and new ways of being a villain, and old and new ways of being corrupt. This is vividly portrayed here, with a many a telling line and plot detail.

Of course Shaun Evans's Morse personifies "Town and Gown", and - reasonably resilient as the character is - he is made to feel effete by some really rough characters here, who feel such impunity (with friends in high places) that they are not at all afraid to threaten him "out in the open". The same people come after Reginald Bright, in broad daylight, and the plot-twist that saves him from being murdered ruthlessly has to be seen to be believed, and enjoyed with an EXQUISITE mix of laughter and tears!!! The same people also come after pathologist Dr DeBryn - in another SUPERB performance from James Bradshaw.

If Morse's were the best characterisation here, we would be doing well; but yet-higher heights are reached by Anton Lesser's aforementioned Bright and Roger Allam's Thursday. Both characters suffer their own tragedy, and while one is resolutely upper-class and the other resolutely lower-middle-class, the mix of contrast and shared experience, deference and fellow-feeling is splendid and touching. These actors act their hearts out, yet merge with the roles effortlessly, and - when both characters determine to act bravely from their reduced positions of power it is a very fine (if also eccentric) thing indeed to behold. Both resist corruption - either immediately or ultimately, and we cheer them on loudly for doing so. In his own way, Sean Rigby as Jim Strange does great work here too. His character was never averse to utilising Freemasonry to get ahead, and that was what developed a rift between he and Morse. But the character has been working to redeem himself, pressured by the desire to see a huge wrong rectified. And here he gets to see up close the continuum that exists between more minor backscratching and hideous corruption wrapped up with negligence.

If you feel that there is a kind of theatrically epic (pseudo-Shakespearean) setting up of right and wrong here, you'd be entirely right. And yet, thanks to deft touches, and underacting rather than overacting, it works compellingly, without looking artificial at all.

Thus, in some amazing and genuine way, we have been transported back to the late 60s, and can - now at last - take a bird's-eye view of the awful and awesome and often-hypcritical spectacle that that represents.

It's a privilege to do that.

The way that Bright effortlessly takes command when real disaster strikes (at the tower-block collapse) is also moving in the extreme (if definitely in a post-imperial sense), while the Detective that falls apart at that moment - Ronnie Box, ultimately experiences a turn of character that sees him save the situation in a way that costs him dear. This also works surprisingly well, as it was never quite possible for we viewers to hate Box, while it was easy enough to feel fear and resentment towards his (apparent) junior Alan Jago.

These are just hints of the immaculate plot-generation and staging that takes place here, as wrapped up with touchingly understated performances, fine or even exquisite settings and filming, and all of that meaning associated with the march of time and the way that, while some things change, many are eternal.

Wow!

The writer, Russell Lewis, deserves the highest praise for series 6. Endeavour is my favourite series, fans like me probably didn't want to see it change but the writer took it in a new direction but at the same time our favourite characters developed to a new level. Episodes 1 and 2 are probably my least favourite of all episodes, Fred acting out of character, Bright and Strange sidelined, Box and Jago were unpleasant to watch and the storyline to episode 1 was repulsive, but I accept they were still high quality, just so different. Episode 3 was a daring dip into Midsomer territory but will be remembered for the scenes concerning Bright and his wife. I can't remember a writer ever hiding the emotional impact of an at first puzzling scene for a few minutes to such great effect. It was all building up to the grand finale and it didn't disappoint, the best ever Morse/Endeavour episode, gripping drama, great emotion, wonderful performances. The change in DCI Box was also great writing and performance but I can't see how he could be in series 7 because he was at the heart of the corruption and would be facing the sack and jail. Fans can look forward to series 7 (probably the last?). Bright, Strange and Max 's characters have grown so much during series 6 to become just as important and as much loved as Morse and Fred.

I started watching Endeavour from the beginning again a few weeks back, seeing that the final series was upon us.

This episode was where I'd got up to before, so I'm excited for the next few.

There's a few hit and miss episodes along the way but this one is a real hit.

I just want to take a moment though to applaud the writers, and obviously the actor, for giving us such a fantastic character as Chief Super Intendant Bright.

Throughout, he's come across as a bit out of touch, old school, only in the job due to his upbringing etc.

Time and again he surprised us.

This episode really shows what a capable, loyal, and dedicated servant to the public he is.

It was shown earlier that he'd lost a child, a heartbreak so awful we still don't give it a word in English, and we learned how he'd not been there for the tragedy.

And then, to further the misery, he once again wasn't there for his beloved wife's passing.

A sense of duty, from someone in the position to do so, for the greater good. Fancy that (misplaced pun intended).

Now, onto the rest of the series. Then I'll watch the actual Morse (watched some of it with my mom as a kid, thought he was a misery at the time!). Not sure I'll rewatch Lewis again. It was great but now sadly tainted.

This is the best Endeavor since the pilot. Everything about it was superb. Especially since the trend to too many murders to count trivialized many episodes.

In this episode, we see more character development and nuance which was greatly needed.

Strange does painstaking research to break the George Fancy murder case. Bright becomes the leader that he wasn't in the early episodes. Joan has become a strong advocate for the disadvantaged and is not shy about standing up to authority figures.

And Morse becomes his own man - which will stay with him for his life.

I gave this episode a 9 rather than a 10 for one reason. The mud stains left by the boots were too much. Unless, someone has a mud pump attached, mud stains could not be as pronounced for as long they were at the murder and apartment scene. Better to have had the mud stains outside or at entrances.

Bright steals the show TWICE with these lines: "We are not friends, Councilor. Nor, I am very happy to say, are we ever likely to be." And "A moment's courage or a lifetime of regret."

More has two lines to Thursday which show his development: "I thought I knew who you were. But, this year, I barely recognize you." And "You know, there is a line. I just hope you're on the right side of it."

Side notes: In the scene with the dead from the collapse, how much did Abigail Thaw look like her father? It was amazing. How good is Win in every scene she is in?

Left in question: Will Box live? Really - who cares? Did Bright make a deal for promotion? If so, will it affect him?