Endeavour (TV Series) Girl (2013) User Reviews

Endeavour returns

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 14 April 2013]

When a girl is found dead it looks as if it was a simple case of heart failure as she had a pre-existing condition; Morse isn't so sure though and starts asking questions. The girl's doctor thinks it is unlikely that she would have had a heart attack as she was taking medication and there were signs that somebody else had been in the room. Morse continues to ask questions but his new boss Chief Supt Bright is keener to solve a spate of post office robberies and a case of somebody robbing houses after claiming to be the gas man. Soon there is a second death; the doctor who had spoken to Morse earlier… the cases appear to be very different though; he was shot. As Morse investigates several suspects come to light but it appears that he may have missed an obvious suspect because he felt sorry for her; this oversight gets him taken off the case. Of course he doesn't stop investigating but if Bright finds out it could be the end of his career as a detective.

After the enjoyable pilot episode I hoped a series would be commissioned and found this to be a good start to that first series. Shaun Evans does a fine job as Oxford's most famous detective and Roger Allam is great as his supportive superior DI Thursday. Unlike 'Inspector Morse' and 'Lewis' this is mainly one policeman solving the crime on his own… a DC can hardly have a junior sidekick! That doesn't weaken the story though as he must regularly explain his suspicions to his superiors. The case itself is suitably convoluted without being too difficult for the viewers to make some of the links themselves. Fans of 'Inspector Morse' will probably like his first meeting with PC Strange; now a mere constable but who will go on to become Morse's boss… he even calls him Matey! The sixties setting is nicely shown without resorting to clichés. If 'Endeavour' continues to be as good as this I'll be a happy viewer.

'Endeavour' makes a very welcome return in a fine episode

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 3 July 2017]

Having recently been, and just finished being, on a roll reviewing all the episodes of 'Lewis', which generally was very enjoyable before having some disappointments later on, it occurred to me to do the same for 'Inspector Morse's' (one of my favourites for over a decade, and all the episodes were also reviewed in my first year on IMDb eight years ago) prequel series 'Endeavour'.

As said in my review for the entire show two years ago, 'Endeavour' is not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well. It maintains everything that makes 'Inspector Morse' so good, while also containing enough to make it its own, and in my mind 'Inspector Morse', 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' go perfectly well together.

Was very impressed by the pilot episode, even with a very understandable slight finding-its-feet feel (that is true of a lot of shows, exceptions like 'Morse' itself, 'A Touch of Frost' and 'Midsomer Murders', which started off great and were remarkably well established, are fairly few. The first episode of the first season "Girl" was a very welcome return, a fine episode in its own right and was even better. Morse's personality is more established with more obvious recognisable personality quirks and generally things feel more settled.

My only real complaint is that the story does get a little over-complicated in some of the latter parts of the episode, which actually at times was not unusual for 'Endeavour'. Other than that, "Girl" was great.

"Girl" once again looks great. It is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal Inspector Morse theme, while the classical music excerpts are delightful to hear.

Writing, even for so early on, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense. The story has tension, a good deal going on and little feels improbable or too obvious. Morse and Thursday's father/son relationship, while even stronger later being more entertaining and heartfelt, has a lot of warmth, is so well written within the story and is a large part of the series' appeal and there is some good suspense. How great to see a younger Max and Strange well before he became superintendent.

The pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting.

Shaun Evans again does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands. All the acting is very good, with supporting standouts being Sophie Stuckey and Jonathan Hyde. Sean Rigby does a nice job as Strange, while James Bradshaw would make Peter Woodthorpe proud and Colin Dexter's cameo is worth looking out for if brief (basically as with his other cameos a walk-on).

Overall, a fine episode and a welcome return. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Persecuted Genius

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 22 January 2018]

As is so often the case, this is another series about an incredibly talented detective who has to work for a pack of incompetent ninnies. That includes a shortsighted new captain who has come to clean things up. Everyone knows he's an idiot but they have to walk on eggshells when he's around. Morse is a Sherlock Holmes. He sees details no one else can. Because he is quirky and a bit anti-social, the new boss takes and immediate dislike to him. The Boss is more interested in following proper routines than thinking outside the box. In this episode, Morse is entirely responsible for bringing the perpetrators to justice. But we know it's not going to do him any good if he solve forty crimes. This story involves the murder of a beautiful woman and the mistreatment of another because she suffers from epilepsy. Soon others are found dead and it is the connection among all those murders that causes Morse's bloodhound to emerge. I knew nothing about this series and am excited to see Morse go against the twits he has to confront every day.

Quality viewing.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 3 October 2018]

Girl is a very worthy follow up to the pilot episode, a quality mystery, and considering this was the first episode after the pilot everything somehow felt very settled, there was no question of the actors needing time, or the show needing to settle in, instantly this was Morse in his younger days, and this episode had the flavour of Morse.

Unlike any other episode of Endeavour, I'd say this one took a little time to open up, the first half hour or so were a little on the pedestrian side, but once it opened up, the show's real quality shone through.

The story was excellent, but it was the character play, and relationships that made this very interesting, the way Thursday felt protective over Morse, even willing to confront his own boss, Morse's relationship with his colleagues, especially the one with his future boss.

The best decision they made was introducing Anton Lesser, Chief Superintendent Bright has been a superb character from the very beginning.

Very fine start to the first series. 8/10

excellent story

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 24 July 2013]

I still can't connect Shaun Evans with John Thaw's Morse, but this is a very good series featuring the young Morse (Evans).

"Girl" takes place at Oxford when Morse was a young but very smart pup. He seems resented by the force, except for his superior D.I. Thursday (Fred Allam) who recognizes Morse's talent.

Morse investigates the death of a young woman, Margaret Bell, from a heart attack, backed up by the fact that she had a heart condition and was on medication for it. That might have been the end of it, but then the partner of her doctor, a Dr. Cartwright, is shot dead.

On visiting the Cartwright family, Morse finds Cartwright's widow, the widow's father, her grandson, and her sister Pamela, an epileptic. The family has taken over care of Pamela's son, to the extent that she can't even take the boy for a visit.

Morse's investigation leads to a supplier of illegal drugs, who was seeing Margaret, a vicar with an interesting past, and a scientist involved in war work who is getting hate letters calling him a murderer. Meanwhile, the chief superintendent doesn't like Morse's work and wants him off the case.

Shaun Evans is an excellent actor and seems immersed in the character of Endeavor Morse; however, as far as linking this young man and his bizarre accent to the irascible Morse is, for me anyway, a stretch. Brilliant, well read, observant, Endeavor is all these things as was the older Morse but I see little of the older man's personality.

Nevertheless, it's a well-done series with, so far, very good scripts.

An amazing beginning that the rest of Season 1 hasn't been able to match

[yavermbizi · 8/10 · 20 June 2020]

My overall rating of "Endeavour"'s Season 1: 6/10

So, "Girl" is my first exposure to "Endeavour" or to the, ehm, "Morseverse" in general. The opera playing over a wide shot of a 60s British street with period-appropriate vehicles driving about or parked worked more than well as an opening, and then, after we get shown an assortment of scenes that will only quite make sense later but already stun with the level of authentic detail, the actual episode begins - and boy is it a powerful episode!

The acting is excellent, and the plot is complicated but broadly sensible and emotional. There is a finer point or two I didn't quite understand (primarily, what's the reverend's reason for being away?), and Pamela's monologue seemed a bit unnecessary. In addition, while it's probably quite true to the era/life/policing, some aspects represented annoyed me a bit.

Still, I have really felt for all the characters and was very much captivated by the plot and the atmosphere, and while initially I wasn't certain whether I'd like some stuffy British murder mystery series with episodes one-and-a-half hours long playing fanservice to a series from the 70s, "Endeavour" begins (at least) powerfully and convincingly, intelligent and well-polished.

Great ending, after a dry 3/4.

[vitoscotti · 7/10 · 11 April 2020]

I'm not a big fan a redos. Or here pre-redo, They never work. But, this could be an exception ... I hope. Shaun Evans pulls off the impossible being young Morse. I doubted it could be done. Aa told, a very complex story that really wasn't. At times it was difficult to understand some of the actors. Especially Sophie Stuckey as Pamela Evans. Her mumbling and general poor speaking was a chore to follow, then relisten, to figure out what she said. The characters I thought had no charisma early, but it grew as the episode progressed.. It was good enough for me to watch the next episode. I'm hoping it can be a series I'll watch all the way through. This was good, but I'm not saying it's on John Thaw's "Morse" level just yet. Vito S. 4-11-20

Still don't have a clue

[Slim_Jack_Rabbit · 1/10 · 17 August 2022]

Who did what now?

Loved the original Morse and Kavanagh, but the writing for Endeavour just seems too random and contrived. I didn't expect a midsummer level of writing, but these stories are just way too far fetched. Literally anyone could have 'done it' in the end, including the milk man.

I'm giving this one more try, but so far, the show has been an insult to the intelligence.

A reference to the periodic table? Really???

Who writes this crap?