Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things

I find it hard to believe that after all these years the producers and writers managed to capture the 'Morseness' in this series, when compared to all the similar shows Lewis just seems to have so much class. This particular episode really got the series of with a bang. A superb cast which included Juliet Stephenson and Zoe Telford act out what was a very clever and engaging tale of murder. It kept me interested from start to finish and wasn't too clever for its own good, it was simple enough for us mortals to follow and understand. What an ending though, i bet a lot of budget went on Juliet Stephenson's last scene. I hope the series continues in the same way. WOW!! One of Lewis's best episodes. 10/10

This is quite a well done episode. For many of us, the women at this college seem to have a snobbish, rich, self centered being to them. It would appear that their hatred of men is so strong that they find anyone of that sex as evil. But there is a past. During an anniversary party, one of the more "significant" classmates is found murdered on a stairway. Her neck is broken but other injuries had occurred before that. Apparently, at a previous time, a murder was committed, but because the victim, an arrogant womanizer, had never been found, it shrouded the place in mystery. At that time, a young woman named Chloe was struck and put in a coma. Her sister has attended her for years. The headmistress, a harsh, but confident woman, seems to have a commitment to the past and stands in the way of some of the investigation, simply unwilling to divulge information that would help Lewis and Hathaway. We are also introduced to another interesting character. A woman who worked with Lewis in the past but because of her gender was left out of promotions. She plays a sad though interesting part in the investigation.

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.

An all girls college reunion is marred by a murder. Enter stage left Lewis and his sidekick, literary quoting bore Hathaway. Both are so very deferential and PC when interviewing female suspects that it's a wonder they pick up any clues. The programme then tries to flesh out the snooty and tedious middle class bohemian characters, but they are so obnoxious and surreal that my interest seriously began to wane after the first half an hour! The story was too slack and lacked direction. A meandering storyline with Inspector Lewis plodding around, looking totally befuddled summed up perfectly the way I felt about the drama. The love interest with Lewis and the pathologist is unnecessary and it merely pads out the story as does the eccentric Hathaway, who behaves like an intern on loan from an English literary faculty. Both Lewis and Hathaway are simply not convincing as detectives in any way shape or form. 'Dalziel and Pasco' were both hard hitting and down to earth detectives who had chemistry. Whately and Fox show no depth of character or emotion. Fox is robotic and Whately never gets out of second gear. A real yawn!

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