Service of All the Dead

The whole plot is completely unconvincing, and the romance borders on cringeworthy.

Plot issues aside (and this is one of the worst plots in the entire series - and, yeah, completely cringe -worthy "romance") - this is shot so terribly that it interferes with the very bad plot. The director only wanted to shoot through something else (windows, candles, bushes), or super up close shots done with a handheld camera to induce motion sickness and obscure what is going on, or off a mirror. I mean - it's like a film student gone wild with showy experimental shots that serve no purpose and directly impede storytelling. They should show this in film school as an example of what not to do.

I love Morse, and Lewis...and later - Endeavor. Watched all of these with my mum back then and have rewatched them all over the years. This one, however, is utterly dreadful!

I personally prefer the middle years of Morse, in the second series they really did seem to get into their stride, after a great first episode I found the two that followed somewhat unremarkable.

Service of all the dead has some very memorable moments, a good start, a cracking ending, but there are two things I'm not a fan of. Firstly, Morse moons after Ruth like a lovesick puppy, almost to the point of being obsessive, and secondly the story is very confusing, the motives for the murders seem wafer thin.

It's Morse, so it's still a very fine watch, Thaw and Whateley are as wonderful as ever, plus it works as a mystery, you are left guessing. It has a very dark, gothic feel to it, the music is perfect.

I really didn't care for the character of Ruth Rawlinson, although John Normington is very good here, if very creepy.

Pretty good, but much better episodes would follow, 6/10.

I have had a lifetime of brushes with the figure of Morse and have resolved to delve deeper into the character/earlier works. Although I've read a full Morse novel by Colin Dexter, seen a fair bit of the Endeavour TV prequels (multiple series) and seen a few episodes of the Inspector Lewis TV sequels, "Service of All the Dead" is actually the first of the original Morse TV show episodes I've watched in full and as an adult. And it surprised me by impressing me--and unsettling me, not an easy feat.

As you can tell from the above, I have had only a semi-solid impression of Morse the character. I decided to dive into focused viewings of the original TV adaptations--and aside from a sharp-tongued, opera-loving guv'nor and his less urbane sidekick, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I didn't expect what "Service" offered: less-common cinematography (e.g. weird, almost voyeuristic camera angles; reflections of actors in objects other than mirrors) and editing choices plus stark, un-melodramatic murder and suicide tableaux, all combining to leave an unsettling impression on the viewer. The creepy "high church" Anglican choral and discordant organ music contributed to the effect.

As I was watching, I felt a progressive sense of dread, one that was often fulfilled/confirmed. It's the polar opposite to the atmosphere of a show like, say, Midsomer Murders, which even in its earliest 90s episodes was saturated with an (enjoyable) air of camp and with perpetually low stakes. Service, like Midsomer, has a rather high number of connected murders in short order---but the murders in Service always feel ominous, the stakes remaining high, even intensifying.

Having read a Colin Dexter novel, I expected Morse's dealings with women to be fraught with tiresome (by this point in the history of literature) and belittling female cliches. And sure enough, "Service" includes those...however, I was willing to overlook that silliness (and Morse's unprofessionalism in dealing with female witnesses) because of the arresting performance of Angela Morant.

She plays a beautiful, raven-haired, late 40s caretaker of both the local church and her disabled mother. I wished she could have played a more original character but she did it very well and I couldn't look away when she was on screen. The final scene with her, with the famous Morse musical score by Barrington Pheloung (RIP as of 18 days ago) beginning to play, was enough to make me forgive the slightly lacking characterization.

That plot is why I gave 8 stars rather than 10. It suddenly, in the last 10 minutes of the episode, became convoluted, with a somewhat unlikely twist stubbornly half-concealed until the last possible minute.

I can't get worked up denouncing the plot development, though. The rest of the episode was so enjoyably tense and memorable that I think it's worth owning and rewatching. I agree with a previous reviewer that Lewis' facial expressions during a perilous moment for a suspect were excellent, and the director's and editors' choices to hold the shot, watching his expression unfold, were so incredibly effective compared to a standard TV show which would have cut away after the requisite three seconds.

I'm really excited now to continue my deep dive into the Morse TV films of the 80s and 90s. I was too young then to appreciate this character and the combined efforts of the TV writers, director and editors. A job well done by all.

Totally confusing and senseless! Nothing made any sense and the romance between Morse and Ruth was ridiculous and unbelievable! I will watch one more episode but if it isn't any better, that's it! I cannot understand the popularity of this series! I also don't understand why this review has to be so long! I don't know how many ways I can say, .that so far, this series sucks. Morse fell for a woman in the first episode also! He sure seems to fall for all the wrong women and they don't seem to return his feelings! The writers seem to take pride in making each storyline as confusing as possible! Not sure I can force myself to watch another episode.