At the reunion of former students of an all-female college, one of the attendees is murdered. Lewis suspects the murder may be linked to an attack at the college he investigated nine years e... Read allAt the reunion of former students of an all-female college, one of the attendees is murdered. Lewis suspects the murder may be linked to an attack at the college he investigated nine years earlier.At the reunion of former students of an all-female college, one of the attendees is murdered. Lewis suspects the murder may be linked to an attack at the college he investigated nine years earlier.
Photos
- Samantha Coyle
- (as Shannon Tarbett)
- Jarvis Patterson
- (as Brenan Davies)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTitle of episode comes from the Wordsworth poem "The Solitary Reaper."
- GoofsIn a night-time crane shot of the college just after the opening titles, a dark patch can be seen against the slightly lighter sky, where one of the crane-mounted filming lights has been airbrushed out.
- Quotes
[Lewis and Hathaway are questioning friends of a murder victim]
Lakshmi Eyre: Look, do you know how long we're going to have to hang on here? I've work to get back to.
DS Hathaway: On a weekend?
Lakshmi Eyre: [grinning] I'm CEO of Guilty Secrets.
DS Hathaway: What's Guilty Secrets?
DI Robert Lewis: It's a lingerie chain. Sergeant Hathaway doesn't get out much.
[Lakshmi gives Hathaway a seductive look]
DI Robert Lewis: [after leaving Lakshmi, Lewis and Hathaway walk across the quad]
DS Hathaway: Regular customer, are you, Sir, at Guilty Secrets? Loyalty card holder?
DI Robert Lewis: Every high street's got one - it's a major chain. Online and what-have-you.
DS Hathaway: Online? Well.
DI Robert Lewis: Just because I've heard of something you've not.
DS Hathaway: My mind is on a higher plane.
- SoundtracksQui La Voce Sua Soave
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1834)
Freya, Lakshmi, and Diane listen to a recording at Diane's house
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.
- satori-23235
- Oct 4, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Upper Heyford Airforce base, Oxon, UK(Lewis and Hathaway visit the air base)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro