Twilight of the Gods

The best part of this episode is its depiction of various denizens of Oxford. Sir John Gielgud's portrayal of the Chancellor of Oxford University as a pompous, self-absorbed twit is brilliant. His chief concern after witnessing the terrifying shooting of an opera star during a graduation ceremony is the delay of the post-graduation lunch. Sheila Gish plays the Welsh diva whose singing bedazzles Morse and who is the apparent target of the shooting. She's a star of Wagnerian opera, whose sycophantic entourage provides many hilarious moments during their interviews by Lewis and Morse. Another great character is Andrew Baydon (played by Robert Hardy in a scenery-chewing performance), a wealthy businessman who plans to endow a new college at Oxford that includes a ridiculous building in the style of a Moghul palace. He's an insufferable, acid-tongued dickhead who delights in pummeling his secretary (and just about everyone else) with contemptuous insults. He refers to Morse as "that superannuated policeman with a scrap-heap of a car." Superintendent Strange is Morse's boss, who (as usual) is so concerned with burnishing his image that he has little appreciation for the talents of his two detectives. The writing, acting and direction were all well-done.

Sir John Gielgud steals this show with his wit and overall brilliance in acting. The usually expertise of Robert Hardy is poor and he overacts his part as a self-made ex-Lithuanian immigrant.The rest of the normal cast are very good as normal but the story line is the poorest of the whole series. Normal Morse enthusiast could easily use the fast forward and only stop when Sir John is on screen, especially his last appearance. Many of his asides could be puerile in most actors hands but with him the absolute opposite is true.

Being a Wagner enthusiast, the title would imply much Wagnerian background music which was curiously lacking for the most part. I had expected a comment from Morse when the repetiteur played the Tristan chord but none was forthcoming!

I find this episode to be totally unbearable. Robert Hardys character is vile. The abuse he dishes out and the sexism etc is intolerable and unnecessary.

I won't waste any more time other than to say that this episode is most uncharacteristic and bears no resemblance to the classic Morse approach.

Horrible.

Morse begins this episode as a groupie. His great love of opera and opera singers finds him attending recital at Oxford by a famous singer. We are exposed to the reality that she is a tyrant, a petulant nightmare. As she is about to be honored near the great library, a shot rings out and she falls to the ground. This shooting gets our detective all hot and bothered. He begins to overreact a bit. But things aren't all that simple for the two detectives. We are made aware that the singer's being is connected to a multitude of entities. Another plot line happens early on as a freelance writer is found murdered by a riverbank. And there is a controversial building about to be constructed. Some very colorful characters come to the fore and Morse learns a few lessons.

This may not be the best Morse but it is not a bad introduction to the series. Of course, only fans would understand why for instance Morse is so put off after Gwladys Probert's death. Or Lord Hinksey's constant politically incorrect and very haughty British remarks. Let alone Oxford mores, like their constant fastidiousness (like "at the library" all the time), how they look down on everybody, and their prim & proper attitude: witness Lady Hinksey's face of disgust when "Pierre", the gay black hairdresser, sits next to her. By the way, there are 2 confirmed and 1 "suspected" gays at least here, making it one of the most "pink", episodes, and giving one of the best lines of Morse ever, the one when the dean speaks about his musical liking (Cole Porter), and what does it mean about his personality. The hypocrisy of mumbling one (true) answer, and the saying something totally opposite for keeping up appearances is what makes Morse be what it is.

The murder(s) are rather irrelevant, what matters in this case are the character descriptions, some funny scenes (yes, Lewis can be "attractive" to cultured Vavasseur :)) and Brigitte de Plessy's rather odd explanation on how sex life ruled the diva's frequent staff changes and relationship with her nice sister (all in all, a botched attempt in terms of plot, but interesting hypothesis anyway). For cinema buffs, Arabella Baydon was, yes, Rachel Weisz, looking incredibly young, and probably more beautiful than ever. Andrew Baydon's take on Oxford: "when will it modernize" and the answer it gets "Why should it?" are also part of the "jewels", like Gentile Bellocchio's short but expressive monologue on why, being a mediocre artist, he could be in help of a bigger Artist, and that was all there was for him.

Morse says near the end his "philosopical" credo: "Between Art and life, given people like Baydon, I choose Art". No wonder we witness him standing up and cheering for the diva, but following his police duties begrudgingly. But for when there's an opportunity for an ironic remark or a sneer. Or a beer :). One just can't say enough good things about John Gielgud.

I wonder how good would Morse be as an Art critic, if being a police inspector is definitely not what he likes best...