Second Time Around

Inspector Morse could, at times, be somewhat Gothic and perhaps a bit too murderous. This one, however, was just about perfect. A twenty year old unsolved mystery reopens with the murder of a retiring senior detective, on the verge of publishing his memoirs. Did he know the killer's identity? Was he about to to reveal all? Morse investigates and follows the trail back to the early seventies, and then forward again to a successful conclusion. Along the way, he has to deal with the misjudgements of colleagues and a slew of red herrings, but the important thing is that for once in a detective mystery, the unfolded story is not just logical, but eminently human. There are no unnecessary killings just to up the body count. Everything that happens follows in a logical sequence from what went before and all that went before grows out of simple, human vulnerability. It's not just a detective story, it's a drama. Enjoy this one.

Excellent episode. Starts intriguingly enough and through solid police work we pretty soon have a suspect that ticks all the boxes. Things are never that easy in Morseworld though.

From then we get layers of plot, with a 14-year-old unsolved mystery becoming the focus of investigations. It's great how the investigations into the two murders overlap and it makes for enthralling watching.

On that note, this is one of the Morse episodes that is closest to good old-fashioned police work. Often Morse's mysteries are solved in the Poirot way: deduce what happens, accuse the murderer of the crime, they confess. Makes for intriguing viewing but it's not very realistic.

This is thus more realistic (though the final twist does involve the Poirot Method).

Perhaps it's the sadness around the unsolved murder of a young girl that makes this so special? The sense that, not only have "we" not been able to keep a child safe, but that "we" have not been able to bring the murderer to justice.

It also feels perfectly paced, giving the investigation the time it needs to work its way to a conclusion. (And the gentle and terse final exchange between Morse and Lewis, seems a perfect note on which to end the episode.)

There's some wonderful writing here and some wonderful performances. I especially enjoyed the performances of Kenneth Colley as Detective Chief Inspector Patrick Dawson and Helena McCarthy as Rose Lapsley (the grandmother of the murdered girl). (I didn't rate the performances of Christopher Eccleston and Pat Heywood, who played Terrence Mitchell and his mother. I thought they were a little too theatrical.)

Inspector Morse is one of those policemen you wished existed in the real world. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't.

This story shows Morse and the whole series at its very best.

If you look through the mist of depravity, then It's a beautiful story in many ways. The acting is impeccable. The story is coherent and realistic.

John Thaw was better. That means Morse was never better.

Cativating from the start and never fails to bring a tear.

Definitely the best episode so far. Great story -sometimes this is the weakest element- and great acting. It seems it was written by Daniel Boyle. Well, he does a great job.

For me, and she is often not even mentioned on some pages, is Helen McCarthy as Rose Lapsley. Wonderful acting. She comes across as a lovely human being.

The only part I thought was a bit over the top is when Morse has an argy-bargy with his sergeant.

I knew who the murderer was pretty early on but it was interesting to see how they finally came to that conclusion. Morse was right, as usual, but so was his faithful sergeant.