Last Bus to Woodstock

Loved this one. Apart from a very silly plot point involving a coded letter found on the victim Last Bus To Woodstock is classic Morse. At this point it felt like the muder rate in Oxford was topping Los Angeles, but the scene where Morse visits the three female housemates is wonderful. He really should stop trying to get off with murder suspects, though!

Shame this was Peter Woodthorpe's last episode. As the gravelly but darkly humorous Max he was always a delight, Almost as fruity as he was in Evil of Frankenstein!

"Last Bus to Woodstock" is one of those typical Morse episodes that brings in several plots and makes you concentrate, which is a good thing.

A young woman, Sylvia Kane, is found dead in the car park of a pub. On her is an empty envelope addressed to someone else, Jennifer Coleby, and a letter, written in code. Morse guesses the envelope was full of money. She was intending to meet a young man at the pub.

Sylvia was hitching a ride to Woodstock when last seen. A visit to where she worked doesn't yield much, except Jennifer Coleby (Jill Baker) works there, and she's having an affair with the boss.

Coleby lives in a house and takes in roommates. One is a nurse, Mary, and another a student, Angie. Jennifer claims to know nothing about the letter and says that, while it was addressed to her, she was to pass it to someone else.

To whom was she to pass the letter? What was really in it? If it was money, who has it? Where is the person who picked Sylvia up? Is that the killer? Morse and Lewis have a lot to work out.

Excellent episode with marvelous acting by Morse, Kevin Whately, Anthony Bate, Jill Baker, and Fabia Drake, who plays an elderly witness to the hitchhiking. The denouement is not what you'd expect.

This is one series I really miss, particularly the character of Morse. I guess I'm not alone, or we would have had the "Inspector Lewis" series and "Endeavor."

The best Morse episode to that point. Everything just gels so well here. There's none of the clumsiness of the first season, the pointless sub-plots that were also a feature of the early stuff or the ridiculously complex plot of the previous episode. It's as if the writers tinkered with the formula until they got it right and this is the one whre it happened.

There's a fair amount of intrigue: a young woman murdered in a parking lot, a cryptic note in her posession, a host of seemingly unconnected individuals living their lives. The seemingly unconnected individuals add another layer in that their mini-stories are quite interesting. The young English student was wonderfully enchanting with her intelligence and boundless energy.

Another great character was the old lady who witnessed the red car. Great value as she showed Morse and Lewis how to do policework.

All these interesting little sub-plots and colourful characters make for a very engaging episode.

Other reviewers love this episode but I had to watch the first half twice just to get the characters straight. Morse only has two hours to solve the crime so I guess he's entitled to some miraculous guesses but he left me baffled at his technique. Then again, maybe I'm too dense to follow the train of logic he employs. One other irritating point: what happens to the confused characters Morse runs into during the show? The episode so thoroughly examines their lives--such as the two lovers at the victim's place of business--that I expected either some resolution of their problems or a showing of their continued despair. As it is, they were basically left on the cutting room floor. Despite my objections, I say watch the show and appreciate the moving depiction of the often depressing state of human relations that fascinate Morse and his fans.

Definitely one of the best early episodes of Morse. I find pacing can be a slight issue with the earliest episodes, but that remark is not applicable here, this moves along very nicely, it asks the viewer a load of questions, and definitely tests your powers of observation. Complex relationships and a string sub plots that are all resolved in a very satisfying conclusion.

The scene where the girl is witnessed getting into an unknown car by Mrs Jarman is so strong, it's very clever, as a viewer you know something bad is going to happen, and an observer Mrs Jarman catches a glimpse, but it's staged in such a way that she only gets a glimpse. It's very very clever.

Beautifully acted, Morse and Lewis are up to the usual standard, but Anthony Bate and Fabia Drake are both excellent, two mature actors with lots of presence.

Very satisfying 9/10