Falling Darkness

A woman is killed on halloween and is revealed to be a friend of Dr Hobson. More murders occur that appear to be connected to her and her university friends and Lewis and Hathaway become convinced she is hiding something...

This is a fantastic episode. It is very dark and creepy and is packed full of twists and turns.

The final scenes are stunning and particularly chilling..

As a trainee doctor i find one of the other reviews deeply worrying... When will you people realise stem cell research is about SAVING lives and finding cures or treatments for, among other things, serious degenerative diseases that cause unimaginable suffering to those who have them and their loved ones!

A woman is killed who his connected with a stem-cell research company.

The episode goes on to make the viewer believe that the people involved in this killing and others are connected because of the research. They showed people protesting, yelling and screaming. As usual pro-lifers are put in a bad light.

This story was complicated and went in to many directions. Too many scenes with Lewis and Hathaway sipping water or coffee or always carrying a cup to be believed.

In the end one of the culprits with a Cross around her neck is involved in the killing.

Faith and religion are also put in a bad light by "Lewis" in other videos.

The media seems to always put Crosses on killers or the bad people in the scripts even in the US. This is no different. I am very disappointed in the way Christians and people against stem cell research are cast as portrayers of crimes in stories like this which even has nothing to do with the plot of this story.

A friend of Dr Hobson's is murdered. They were college housemates and when a current student is murdered in the house that Dr Hobson and the victim used to share it appears that Dr Hobson is the link between the two crimes. The deeper Lewis and Hathaway dig, the more she appears to be involved.

An episode of Lewis that was intriguing for the most part and then fell apart at the end. So, pretty much true to form for the series as that is what tends to happen: mystery builds, no solid leads for Lewis and Hathaway, 10 minutes from end Lewis pulls a rabbit out of the hat and the mystery is solved. How palatable the rabbit trick is depends on how far-fetched the revelation is, and here it is way out there.

More than far-fetched, many elements of the plot don't make much sense. The second murder is never explained and if you think about it none of the murders needed to take place.

On the plus side, good to see Dr Hobson move more to centre stage, her backstory be revealed and her relationship with Lewis be developed. As mentioned, most of this episode is pretty good, it's just the ending that lets it down.

Halloween arrives Oxford in haunting fashion, as costumers in ghoulish outfits line the evening streets, and children practice door-to-door trick-or-treating.

Well, Detective Inspector Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately) gets into the act to welcome various sets of neighborhood youthes arriving at his doorstep, by wearing spectacles with glass eyeballs' springing from the lenses, while Doctor Laura Hobson (Clare Holman), from her residence across town, confirms plans to gather with two of her former college flatmates.

Now, back in the 1980's, these three female students share an Oxford flat with two male students, the five being: Oxford Police Pathologist Doctor Laura Hobson, Doctor Ellen Jacoby (Niamh Cusack), Professor Ligeia Willard (Louise Hunt), now a Biology and Human Genetics Specialist in Stem Cell Research; Alec Pickman (Rupert Graves), now an Artist residing upon his houseboat; and Peter Hawkins (no actor credited). Alec mentions that he hasn't seen the ladies since graduation day in 1986, and none of the others have seen Peter since.

In current day Oxford, this old flat is occupied by four young adults: Madeleine Escher (Lucy Griffiths) and Roddy Allen (Brodie Ross), a couple who participate in Halloween festivities, and Rowena Trevanion (Lauren O'Neil) and Victor Clerval (Alex Price) a couple separated by Halloween festivities.

Across the street from the flat lives another young couple, Charlotte Corwin (Jenn Murray) and Vince Corwin (Patrick Knowles), a plumber, who assists Charlotte in tending to the constantly crying Baby Harry.

Professor Ligeia Willard, meanwhile, teams with Professor Rufus Strickfaden (John Sessions) and Professor Nicolae Belisarius (Adam Levy) for their Stem Cell research, an activity met with opposition by a protest organization led by Noel Scopes (Ken Bradshaw).

And when a body is discovered outdoors on Halloween night, the victim of a bludgeoning with vampire-like effects, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox) arrives at the scene of the crime with Detective Inspector Robert Lewis and, soon, Doctor Laura Hobson, who uncharacteristically faints upon the sight of the victim.

Doctor Angus Rawbone (Ron Donachie) performs the autopsy, listing the cause of death as a bludgeoning, followed by a sharp stake driven into chest with a bulb of garlic inserted into the mouth.

Ursula Van Tessel (Lynsey Baxter) a lecturing Medium with her audience-participation program, "Talking to Angels," volunteers to assist investigators with her expertise, but Lewis and Hathaway maintain that they must abide by police procedure, a notion reinforced by Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent (Rebecca Front), who reminds the team not to allow sentiment to interfere with police matters.

But after the four current residents of Laura's old flat discover refrigerator magnets spelling, "Murder: Help Me" and "Find Mary Gwilliam," they welcome Ursula to perform a séance at the residence. She informs them that a former resident has passed but at peace in the forest. And soon a second body is found, with evidence of a link to the first murder, and fingers pointing to Laura as primary suspect.

Well, whether he like it or not, and most likely not, Lewis is forced to interrogate Laura, who realizes that she hasn't an alibi at least for the first murder, and doesn't seem to believe that "Robbie" would suspect her of such a crime.

So, Lewis and Hathaway continue their investigation to question other possible suspects and witnesses, with any links to the old flat in their search for Peter, by visiting his twin sister, Christine Hawkins (Joanna Roth), learning that their mother had perished from Fatal Familial Insomia (FFI) when they were ten and also learning of what has become of Peter Hawkins, after leaving Oxford for Banbury, and heading into Wytham Woods.

Lewis and Hathaway then search for a Mary Gwilliam (no actress credited), whom they learn has placed telephone calls to Laura in the past, and discover that Mary Gwilliam has been employed at William of Perth (Patron Saint of Adoptees and Orphans) Establishment at Homeward Park, at which they discover the 1870's-Era building and grounds in shambles, but Hathaway must stay to investigate its electoral roll records, while Lewis questions Ursula Van Tessel, before Hathaway finds an address and discovers the third body, the victim of intense torture techniques and Asphyxia.

Yet once again, suspicion points to Laura, when a fourth attempted murder victim is discovered near Alec's boat, causing Lewis to fear this may be Laura, but leaving Laura and the alcoholic Alec maintain hospital vigil over the survivor.

And once Lewis and Hathaway investigate line-ups and clues, on a trail leading to Mrs. Renfield (Mary Jo Randle) the adoptive mother of Susan, a birth twin of John Monroe, the Detectives begin to piece together the puzzle of "Falling Darkness" and must scurry back to Homeward Park to attempt to prevent a potential fifth murder in one of the most compelling sequences in the series, leading to a potential sixth murder in a climactic showdown scene.

Comment: If Clare Holman doesn't deserve the highest of acting acclamations for her outstanding performance in this episode, then no actress nor actor working today deserves any acclamation, period. Clare's climactic scene with Laurence Fox speaks volumes for her finest of talents.

(Corrections submitted by IMDbDon and printphi.)

It's quite easy to forget how great Clare Holman was in her time in both Morse and Lewis, replacing the brilliant and brash Max was a near impossible job, but she did a great job. So why did it take so long to put her centre stage. Laura is very heavily involved personally and professionally, and almost meets an untimely end. Holman is superb in the episode, and for my money outshines the likes of Rupert Graves and Niamh Cusack.

It's a very clever mystery, very deep and multi layered, a great start and a very dramatic, thrilling conclusion it certainly manages to hold your attention. Particularly good production values, it looks great. My only criticism would be the room locked up for nineteen years, utterly unbelievable, you wouldn't even get that in a Disney movie.