Second Time Around

I saw this episode when it first aired in the U. S. nearly 30 years ago ('92, I think it was on PBS Mystery). It stuck with me. I saw it again recently and the memory of it held true. The acting here is as good as any you'll see in any TV production. The plot is convoluted but it's intended to be since, after all, it's about an unsolved murder in the long ago and one just committed. As Morse works his way through the maze every step, every twist, and the final denouement are all fair, all reasonable.

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.

Following on from the sheer brilliance of Masonic Mysteries is Second Time Around, Series five's opener, and a definite classic. This boasts a deep, harrowing, and sad story, a first rate cast, sublime music, and some of the most beautiful filming seen on the show.

The story is certainly a deep one, it manages to see Morse locked in conflict with a colleague, who holds different values, and sees him dealing with the tragedy of a little girl's death from some years back. Superbly acted, Kenneth Colley, Ann Bell, Oliver Ford Davies and a young Christopher Eccleston are all brilliant. The music is just incredible, that version of Puccini's Senza Mamma is sublime. The filming left me speechless, at times it's glorious, one scene in particular sees Morse and Lewis look out at a fishing boat, it's almost picture postcard material.

Brilliant.

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.

When a master detective dies in his living room, Morse feels his death intensely. It seems they were trained at the same place and had great respect for one another. In the process of investigation, an old case, involving the death of an eight year old girl, brings a bulldog investigator back on the prowl. This man is incredibly smug and resentful of Morse. He hates the laws restricting what one can do to a witness to get at the truth. Soon a list of people who could be helpful, including the man who was convicted outside of court by the public, are arranged and questioned. Well done piece to say the least.