Deceived by Flight

"For the first time I noticed that when he comes up with his big smile over that big chin, he looks quite a lot like Stan Laurel."

Stan Laurel?

What happens to Lewis is that he's hit on the head? So there was an intersection of Stan Laurel, Lancashire, the Lancashire Cricket Club 1905-1910, and a pre-teen or early teen Charlie Hallows. I can't review this episode as an American who has never watched even one cricket match (or is it called a game). However, wikipedia and the rest have been gracious enough to provide encyclopedic knowledge of cricket and other sports throughout the ages. Wouldn't a reasonable person have thought that the allusion would be to some Oxford v. Cambridge cricket match?

This is a particularly good episode from a strong season. A complex story, which sees Morse at his brilliant best, but somehow sad, the character appears lonely and perhaps a little guilty that he didn't help his friend Anthony Donn.

A particularly clever story, which has many strands, all of which come together very neatly at the end. The ending is wonderful, Morse unravels two crimes, it's all so neat. The dynamic between Morse and Lewis is very different, there's actually some humour between the pair which is so nice, the actors interplay wonderfully as always. Great guest performances, Daniel Massey, Sharon Maughan, and of course the wonderful Norman Rodway.

Morse is a little bit of a letch in this episode, as he asks every single woman he encounters out, perhaps a little over the top. Great that we learn his nickname was Pagan, that's a name we'd hear again in the franchise.

Excellent.

Sharon Maughan's character, an emotional Kate Donne, is offered a cup, takes a sip, and then remarks, with a grimace, that she hates coffee. It's a clever, ironic peeling back of the fourth wall, since between 1987 and 1993, Maugham would co-star in a popular series of TV commercials for Nescafé coffee.

I thought this was a fantastic episode. From the superb early scenes with Daniel Massey to the riveting unexpected conclusion, it is a delight from start to finish. Most of the story revolves around a cricket match, but focuses sensibly on the murder of an old friend of Morse. The script by Anthony Minghella is enthralling, full of depth and emotion that is essential for a standard Morse episode. What makes it sad is that the victim didn't seem to have any enemies, and Morse's reaction to his death proved that. John Thaw and Kevin Whately are impeccable in the leads, and Sharon Maughan is excellent as Kate Donn, the source of Morse's latest affection. Also superb is Norman Rodway as Roland Marshall, who provides dry quick witty criticisms such as "Your back looks like a limp Willy". Through him, we learn that Morse's nickname was Pagan, because he wouldn't reveal his first name to anybody. The final solution was unexpected, and throughout the episode, we share the characters' emotions. All in all, truly excellent, and well looking out for! 10/10 Bethany Cox.

I always was a John Thaw fan, back from the Sweeney days. He was an extraordinary actor with extraordinary talent, and losing him was very sad.

With this tribute I want to move on with this particular episode. I really don't know what Colin Dexter's reason or objective was to give Morse the character he did. I.e. A very miserable lonely grumpy rude obnoxious alcoholic detective with hungry eyes for women and yet never been married nor been in a long relationship or so it seems.

But this particular episode really bugged me because Morse being his usual self flirting with women all over the place, at times seemingly from sheer desparation.

In this episode he flirts with his old college friend's newly widowed wife. Also he is still sort of flirting with the coroner dr Russell (who is only billed for four episodes), and also flirts with a Mrs. Foster who in fact is not married to Mr. Foster but she alongside Mr. Foster (or whatever his name is) are special investigators with customs and exice!

I have watched all episodes of Morse twice, and aside from a very few episodes which had terrible story and plot lines, I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I never watched any episodes of Inspector Lewis just as I stopped watching Taggart after he passed away.