Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things

One forgets just how damn good Lewis was by series 5 , wonderful quality by all concerned.

Hearing about 'Lewis' for the first time when it first started, there was a big touch of excitement seeing as 'Inspector Morse' was and still is one of my favourites but also a little intrepidation, wondering whether the series would be as good. The good news is, like the prequel series 'Endeavour', 'Lewis' is every bit as good as 'Inspector Morse' and stands very well on its own two feet as a detective mystery and show in general.

As said a number of times already, 'Lewis' started off very promising with the pilot and Season 1. It was with Season 2 where 'Lewis' hit its stride with things generally feeling more settled. Season 3 was a more mixed bag, started disappointing "Allegory of Love" (though to me it was not a bad episode), before getting better with "The Quality of Mercy" and finishing well. "The Dead of Winter" was a well done start to Season 4, "Dark Matter" was to me the best episode since "Music to Die For", "Your Sudden Death Question" was solid and "Falling Darkness" was the best from that season.

"Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things" is one of the few episodes of 'Lewis' where it was difficult to find any fault. Do like 'Lewis' very much, but will admit that most episodes while still rating high fall short of perfection. The identity of the murderer is a surprise in a case full of suspects and their motive just about plausible, their climactic scene is tense.

As always, the acting is fine, anchored by Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox. Whately is again very good and carries the episode with aplomb, advantaged by that Lewis is much more developed and as said he has more development. Clare Holman adds a lot. The supporting acting is very good, especially the revelation that is Juliet Stevenson.

Production values are of very high quality. It's beautifully shot as always, and Oxford not only looks exquisite but is like a supporting character in itself. Barrington Pheloung returns as composer, and does a first-rate job. The theme tune, while not as iconic or quite as clever as Morse's, is very pleasant to listen to, the episode is charmingly and hauntingly scored and the use of pre-existing music is very well-incorporated.

Writing is smart and thought-provoking. The story is gripping with great twists and turns and there is also a real effort to properly develop all the ideas introduced rather than leaving questions in the balance, not always the case with 'Lewis'. The characters are well written and engaging.

Overall, Season 5 starts with a bang, what a first episode for a season, with a personal favourite from the show. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The plot references the Dorothy L Sayers story 'Gaudy Night', which was described as the first feminist mystery novel. Sayers' novel features a 1930s women's college in which the staff and students struggle against prejudice and the prevailing patriarchal presumption that education is wasted on women who, left to their own devices, merely stew together in hormonally-driven perversities.

Like the Sayers novel, the plot revolves around the proceedings at a women's college 'Gaudy Night'. But in Sayers' novel a female detective is invited to investigate because the college members fear that that no man could be trusted to bring an open mind to the situation, but would instead exploit it merely as a vehicle to discredit scholarly women.

The 'Lewis' version does exactly that. It features a women's college in 2010 in which the members have developed a twisted interdependence fraught with jealousy and rivalry, particularly over a seductive but amoral male student. This results in illogical acts of violence where motives are inexplicably conflicted, such as concern for the welfare of a vulnerable girl resulting in a brutal attack on her life. A blackmailer mistakes the identity of a murderer but is paid off anyway (why?) and (we are left to assume) killed by someone who seems to have no motive. One girl is slain apparently for no reason at all. A most violent act of self-destruction takes place without the female victim appearing to experience any pain whatsoever. The implicit understanding that the central female characters aren't fully human but, despite their powerful intellects, merely driven by the most overwhelmingly illogical emotion throughout their lifetimes, must suffice to answer every weakness in plotting.

The weakness of the plot is only balanced by the strength of its attacks on feminism. In this story 'feminism' is simply another word for women whose denial of their sexual frustration is expressed in man-hating. The plot is only credible if you can believe that women of great intellect, left to organise themselves, must, individually and as a group, be hypocritically overwhelmed by sexual frustrations and fall prey to the most clichéd and antediluvian of stereotypes, without any redeeming hint of reason or self-awareness.

Unusually for a series that revels in its literary and cultural references, the relevance of Sayers' work to the plot structure isn't mentioned at any point. I can think of no other instance in which a Lewis plot has so closely mirrored an existing and popular literary work without the detectives showing off their erudition by mentioning it. One would imagine that at least one of the female academics should have noticed it. The writers' attack is covert.

It seems so sad to me that the all-male creators of a clever series that is great fun overall should so intently and directly overwrite Sayers' ground-breaking attempt to show the internal reality of women's struggle to sustain with dignity in a male-dominated environment. They make it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the most intelligent of men, left alone to organise themselves, can, when dealing with the subject of women, be driven to acts of senseless and damaging illogicality, and fall prey to the most clichéd and antediluvian of stereotypes, without any redeeming hint of reason or self-awareness. It's not a conclusion anyone in their right mind would be happy to arrive at. But this particular group has gone out of its way to flaunt it. You may not be a fan of Sayers' work. But at least her detective had the nous to see the obvious when it was in front of her.

DI Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately), DS James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), Doctor Laura Hobson (Clare Holman) and Chief Superintendent Innocent (Rebecca Front) return as series' regulars for this episode, which begins "Lewis: Series Five," or the fifth season of "Inspector Lewis," which begins at a tenth reunion for alumni at Oxford's all-female Lady Matilda's College.

Ten years earlier, a brutal attack at a masquerade party results in the disappearance of a young man, as well as a coma for then 15-year-old Chloe Brooks (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), who remains unconscious in an Oxford hospital, under the care of Physician Doctor Copeland (Hassani Shapi) and Psychiatrist Doctor Beckham (Orlando Seale).

Ruth Brooks (Hattie Morahan), a student at Lady Matilda's at the time, remains on hand to visit her sister, Chloe, on a regular vigil basis, as she prepares to attend her class reunion, at which murder retains a likely chance to strike again, in this community of everyday customary serial killings. At the time, she had been going with Edward Florey (James Rochfort), who returns to become one of the few male suspects, as some suspect a female perpetrator to the slayings.

Alumni Freya Carlisle (Zoe Telford), now a noted newspaper columnist, and Lakshmi Eyre (Stephanie Street), return to the festivities along with Lady Matilda faculty and staff members Diana Ellerby (Juliet Stevenson), a Professor, and her roommate, Poppy Toynton (Kathryn O'Reilly), who, together with campus porter Pauline Turrill (Melanie Kilburn), help to plan the reunion.

So, as additional new bodies begin to pop up around Oxford, "Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things" affords a few sub-plots to develop elements of the unfolding series, such as one of the guest female's attempting to help Lewis to forget about his late wife, Valerie, who purportedly attended Lady Matilda's College, as he has proved unable to do during the past four seasons, plus Hathaway's determination to toss aside nicotine, through exercise and self-help procedures although he seems more relaxed and healthy this season than before, but little is given Doctor Hobson to do this time around, after Clare Holman has certainly proved her ability to develop her character's direction last season.

But this episode seems a bit more contrived than most from previous seasons, as the law enforcement agency and hospital staff alike await Chloe's potentially awaking from her ten-year coma in order to answer questions relating to the murders. Will she come to in time for the showdown? And what about the wintry weather? Do other Oxford campuses traditionally hold outdoor reunion activities while snow lies across the land in some scenes, but participants wear no jackets in others? And what about the new technical advances to portray the flashback sequences, while the department attempts to piece together a series of photographs from the costume party ten years prior?

Well, if "Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things'" resolve seems somewhat weak and implausible, then at least the acting seems rather strong here from regulars and guest stars alike, in order to hold viewer interest, as we hope for something encouraging to happen this time around.

At the reunion of former students of an all-female college, one of the attendees is murdered. Revisiting the college brings back painful memories for Lewis as, while investigating an attack at the college that left a 15-year-old girl in a coma, Lewis's wife died. Lewis starts to think this murder and that attack may be connected.

A quite intriguing mystery and one of the better Lewis mysteries. The quality of Lewis mysteries depends on the pacing. The worst ones drift for 80 minutes then suddenly wrap things up in 10 minutes in a rush of information, complex twists and far-fetched plots.

The best take you on the journey and so that there is no jarring rush at the end as the build-up leads you to the conclusion.

This is one of the latter.