I haven't seen every episode, but it seems to me so far that every woman Morse gets involved with or interested in is going to be either a killer or killed. I'm surprised he hasn't noticed ;}
shareIn case you're still checking this thread more than a year on, pardon this tangent.
I got a gift subscription to Netflix (online), and just started watching early (Season 1-3) "Inspector Morse" episodes after I ran out of "Lewis" episodes.
I watched these old Morse episodes years ago on the (US) PBS "Mystery!" series; I was hooked, although I never could bring myself to watch the final episode. But I didn't remember the plots, including "whodunit".
Anyway, all that aside-- I'm surprised this time around to see how freely Morse goes after women involved in his cases. I remembered the music, the drinking, the Jag, and Morse's gruff exchanges with Lewis, but not his penchant for being attracted to, and especially pursuing, potential suspects.
I guess this is another of his weaknesses. But surely Morse knows that, for any number of reasons, getting personally involved with persons of interest is an inexcusable violation of police procedure and ethics.
I don't know if the book versions handle this more realistically. So far, these early stories don't even make an issue of it; that is, Morse just goes after women he's attracted to as if it's perfectly normal and appropriate.
He's obviously a maverick type who isn't a stickler for form, but this seems incongruously reckless and stupid.
Besides, it's pretty obvious that (so far), he's bound to be betrayed or disappointed by his problematic choices.
I guess it seems so wrong because I'd gotten used to "Lewis"... hmm, come to think of it, perhaps this is why they switched to making the local coroner/medical examiner the romantic interest. It's still sticky, but not so professionally compromising.
Morse is a hopeless romantic, he always lets his feelings get in the way. He's quite sweet, really, in that he's so naive. And of course, he always fall in love with the wrong women. If he falls for them, they are the murderer, or the victim of a plot that will turn against him, or whatever. All his relationships are doomed from the start, and he should know better. And he never ever learns...
The thing is, the films are not made to be viewed one after another. When they aired on television, and there were only four episodes per year, all these things weren't so obvious. Seeing them all in a row makes you connect all the dots and seeing all the patterns. And this pattern is so bleeding obvious when you're watching them straight, and I don't think it was meant to be so bleeding obvious...
Thanks for this insightful comment. I think you're on to something.
Now that you mention it, it's true that before VCRs, DVDs, and various "on-demand" schemes, viewers were content to watch what was put before them on the networks' schedules.
Not only were there longer intervals between episodes-- viewers typically only saw them once, and although repeats (aka "reruns") have always been customary, it was usually a good long while before episodes were repeated.
It's interesting to consider that watching episodes back-to-back, and for that matter repeatedly, has the unfortunate effect of making the writers' contrivances more obvious.
For actresses of a certain age, it's their equivalent of being a Bond girl.
shareYes, a hopeless romantic and well out of his depth with women. Once he was smitten with a woman in his choir (who turns out to be involved with a younger man, not interested in Morse in the least) before she is murdered. Another time, a seemingly helpless Christian lady, whom he felt protective about, who was head over heels for the religious-maniac murderer and colluding with him. And in one of the very late series, a young attractive woman with no skeletons comes on to him repeatedly, inviting him out, and he treats her like a passing bus. Yet, at other times he was so desperate for feminine company he would come on to attractive suspects -- to Lewis's and Strange's embarrassment. Possibly in the last episode, a very refined, attractive lady seems devoted to Morse, watching over him in hospital as his illness worsens and everyone is trying to persuade him to retire -- and then he off-handedly replies to Lewis that she's "decided to stay in Australia", obviously having given up on Morse taking doctors' advice to watch his alcohol.
shareYou ask if the books handled it more realistically. It's probably time to start re-reading them, thanks for the reminder!
However the irony of your question is that the early episodes, certainly series 1 & 2, maybe 3 were all based on the books. After that they started writing new stories for the characters. So given the close involvement that Colin Dexter had with the production, I'd say the books had these elements as well which were simply included in the scripts. Otherwise Dexter would have put his foot down.....
That said, I haven't watched them back to back for a while. I dip into it now and again, occasionally watching the odd episode on TV but mainly from the dvds, in order. Were you thinking of any in particular? In the case of the pilot of course he had been involved with the victim. I don't recall too much of it in those early ones, I wonder if the PBS series maybe included more than one series and therefore you're thinking of some of the new stories?
In the prequel series Endeavour his choice in women isn't all that much better. In the pilot the woman he has a crush on turns out to be responsible for the murders. His taste in women seems to have improved as the show goes on, even with him getting into a steady relationship. Unfortunately I think it's obvious it's not going to last
shareThink his habit of getting involved with women who are suspects in cases he is working on is highly unproffesional, and I suspect in real life would be against police regulations. He's obviously always been a fool over women though, even let one put hi, off getting his degree.
shareI've just watched the first season, one episode after another, and in every single one Morse is glaringly hitting on the female suspects and/or victims to the point of being ridiculous, e.g. telling the woman she's going to prison for conspiracy to murder, while stroking her with his lips. I guess, maybe it's a sign of time. The police have stricter standards of avoiding interactions with persons of interest, at least in modern television dramas.
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Another strange thing is the casting of the female characters that Morse gets emotionally involved with. Most of the actresses playing these roles are terribly plain. These women might have a "certain something" underneath that unattractive exterior, but Morse seems to fall for them within the first few seconds of meeting them, so you as a viewer really have to work hard at suspending your disbelief if you want to really get into the story.
shareThe women are not so much plain as not that young. Most are interesting, and not all murderers or victims. What I have noticed, PBS must have cut some of the episodes to fit their schedule, as some of the plots had made no sense whatsoever, while watching Morse again on Netlix the stories appear much more coherent.
shareMorse isn't terribly good looking either. As John Thaw said; "I was born looking fifty..." I wouldn't say Lewis could be said to be any more good looking either. Superintendent Strange? Are you kidding? The thing with Morse (And a lot of English tv-series) is that they are about terribly ordinary people. And for being that ordindary, Morses love interests are usually pretty good looking, many of them anyway.
Patricia Hodge in Ghost in the Machine is a very stately woman. Sharon Maughan in Deceived by Flight is extremely attractive. As is Kim Thomson in Sins of the Fathers. Penny Downie in Deadly Slumber. Harriet Walter in The Day of the Devil. And for being "a woman of a certain age" Judy Loe as Adele Cecil is actually quite attractive, and the perfect kind of woman for Morse to end up with. Classy, intellectual, beautiful, and with warmth and humour. And for looking the way he does, Morse has had more beautiful woman chasing him than most of us can hope for in a life time...
What doesn't suspend my disbelief is seeing terribly attractive people doing the job of ordinary people. Like those american shows about high schools, were the teachers are cast by Hollywood people, and the students are played by plain and ordinary extras made up by real life students. Imagine a school where the teachers are more attractive than the pupils. As Hollywood isn't for real. In that sense, Morse is more real than most of the stuff out there. And what the hell do you expect in beauty from a crime story set in Oxford? Except for the surroundings?
Haven't finished S3 yet, but grayling's attraction to morse is pretty much hollywood-esque according to your thinking.
shareI feel I must disabuse you of your view that Morse is not good looking. You should defer to a woman's opinion. I find him very attractive. And I am definitely not alone. Shortly before the last episode aired there was a special Inspector Morse retrospective that posed the question "Why is this series so popular in the U.S., especially with women? The conclusion? - half the women wanted to "mother" the morose character while the other half wanted to "----" him. Count me in the camp that wanted to do both.
shareok, having just watched about half of these episodes so far, I find it RIDICULOUS how the show has beautiful woman at LEAST half his age practically THROWING themselves at this old wrinkled senior. It's RIDICULOUS and insulting to the viewer. If it happened once or twice, fine, but it's almost ANY WOMAN HE MEETS. Not to mention (as many have pointed out already) they're usually suspects or involved in the case. The double standard with which he treats men vs the BS he let's woman get away with is also something I have a big problem with in this show. I guess I'll chalk it up to the show having started in the 80's, and woman were still just mostly objects then (especially in the UK)
shareThat probably explains how he manages to get so many dates. They're not actually attracted -- just trying to find out how much he knows and get him to ease up on the investigation.
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