The Sins of the Fathers

I have said a lot of times, that Inspector Morse is just a gem of a drama series, with superb performances, not only from the leads John Thaw and Kevin Whately but also from the supporting actors, wonderful music and excellent scripting. As I have already said, I really like Sins of the Fathers, but it is my least favourite out of the episodes from the 4th series. While not as haunting as Driven To Distraction, as exciting as Masonic Mysteries or as outstanding as the Infernal Serpent, there is so much that redeems it. The performances are wonderful, particularly Thaw and Whately who never disappoint, and some standout performances from the likes of Lionel Jeffries, Alex Jennings, Isabel Dean and of course Lisa Harrow. The music is excellent as always, and the plot while sometimes unexciting is still very clever and well explained. The dialogue is also inspired, especially the line "Don't worry sir, by the time he's out you'll be long gone." The camera-work as usual is beautiful, so overall, a very good episode, not the best, but well worth the watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

The Sins of the Fathers is a fine episode, it's a smart mystery, with some terrific characters, and an ending that offers a real surprise. It's a mystery that gets the grey matter working, you can put the pieces together.

It is a fair observation that the direction of this one is a bit off, particularly when you compare it to other episodes, the flashbacks and dream sequences, but it's such a minor fault that it didn't spoil my enjoyment at all.

Many scenes I enjoyed very much, Morse's first encounter with the family being the best of them.

Isabel Dean is the real standout, she is wonderful in her final acting role, a character that is stoic, superior and bound up in self importance, Lionel Jeffries is equally as good as her hard of hearing, but fully aware husband.

Thoroughly enjoyable, 8/10.

An intriguing and interesting episode of Morse. Considering Morse's love for beer it was inevitable that we'd have a beer-themed episode and here it is - a murder in a brewery. Lewis even remarks to Morse at the beginning that he should be in his element.

In addition to the murder mystery there's a few interesting sub-plots going on. Similar to S3 E1 - Ghost in the Machine - Morse has a run-in with some posh types who think even the police are at their beck and call. This time it's Old Money, rather than the aristocracy.

Some good banter between Morse and Lewis too. Lewis gets in some good jibes.

On the subject of the fun side, Dr Russell and, going back further, Max are sorely missed. They still haven't been replaced with anyone interesting. The pathology side was always a wonderfully engaging aspect of Morse and that has now fallen by the wayside.

The story opens with a man struck from behind as he inspects a room in a brewery. His body is then thrown into a vat full of mash. Apparently, Morse is put on the case because of his fixation for a pint or two. He finds himself at the home of the victim, a very rich man who was in charge of the family brewery which may soon be sold to a big beer company, Farmers. It turns out that this is a 150 year old operation and the family has grown into mega-snobs. Everyone seems to be lying in some way and there is infighting all over the place. Of course, this will not be the only murder as is usually the case with Morse episodes. Duplicity and also incompetency abound here.

A good story with lots of surprises though the director, Peter Hammond, just couldn't stop himself from shooting the character's reflections off of as many mirrors and any other reflect-able items that might be around as possible. But that was not enough, as any pane of glass about also had to be shot through. And one more thing. The back's of John Thaw's ears get top billing in that half of the the back of Morse's head was shot so often during police interviews. Peter Hammond's three "Morses" were definitely the darkest shot episodes in the series -- especially "Service of All the Dead."

I didn't see Colin Dexter's mug in this episode.