Mystery!: Inspector Lewis
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Movie Reviews of Mystery!: Inspector Lewis
Movie Review: Almost As Good As the Old Morse
Summary: 5 Stars
"Inspector Lewis" (2005) is a fairly good substitute for the old Inspector Morse series although I dearly miss in books and television the irreplaceable, eccentric, irascible Morse. Lewis (well-played by Kevin Whately) will never be as interesting and quirky a character as his old boss, but this first episode in a new series is very good. Even though it lacks the humor and wit of the Morse series, it is well done. Lewis is back as an inspector; Morse has been dead for five years, and Lewis is still grieving over the death of his wife in a hit-and-run.
He has a dogsbody sergeant, a bag man now, the tall very bright, crossword-puzzle loving, ex-theologian Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox). Lewis's boss is a woman who doesn't think of much of him and wants to put him out to pasture, that is until he proves he's as good as his old boss at solving murders. There are three homicides in this one, and the plot is as complicated, labyrinthine, and convoluted as in the usual Morse outings.
The scion of a car-making empire, Daniel Griffon, is a bright Oxford math student who goes to a sleep disorder clinic along with other students. They are wired up and studied for various sleep maladies. The head of the lab is very attractive, and there may be some future love interest between Lewis and the scientist. He's a widower and she's single.
The screenwriter has put good chemistry between Lewis and Hathaway, and even though Hathaway is quite cerebral, Lewis seems to be much more astute on his own without the Morse genius breathing down his back. Hathaway is a good, but humorless character creation. It would be fun to team up Lewis with a Benny Hill type of character. Mysteries should be fun too. Inspector Gently has a confrontational, rather dodgy sergeant, and Inspector Foyle has two interesting assistants. In this one watch out for all those suspects running around in hoodies like homeboys.
There are plenty of suspects, but as usual they have so many issues and there are so many cross-currents that the viewer is going to be in the dark most of the time.
The photography is excellent, and the scenes of Oxford, the backs, the college quads and buildings like the Bodleian are stunning. We'd like a little more fun and witty by-play between inspector and sergeant, but there will never be another Morse.
At this writing Colin Dexter (born 1930) is still alive, but Inspector Morse's interpreter, actor, John Thaw passed in 2002 at age sixty.
Movie Review: "People do just die, every day, for no good reason."
Summary: 5 Stars
Inspector Robbie Lewis arrives at the Oxford Police Department to a whole new regime when he returns to Oxford after three years in the Caribbean. He has been trying to come to grips with the death of his mentor, Inspector Endeavor Morse (whose series, including specials, ran from 1987 - 2000), and of his wife Valerie, in a London hit-and-run accident. The Chief Superintendent is now Jean Innocent, an abrupt woman who immediately assigns Lewis to a senior training post, though he wants to get back into action. Reluctantly, she allows him to manage a new murder case, but only for three days.
A young math student has been shot in the head at close range while at an Oxford sleep lab to which only a few people have access. The suspect is Danny Griffon, a disturbed but brilliant fellow-student, and the heir to a sports car company which the Japanese are in the process of buying. Lewis (Kevin Whately) and his partner, James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), a former seminarian, investigate this death and several others which occur within the next few days.
Those who loved the Inspector Morse series and who mourned not only the death of Morse, in the final episode, but also of actor John Thaw, in 2002, will be delighted by this spin-off, which gives Morse's sidekick his own series. Actor Kevin Whately continues his self-effacing role, but he also conveys a sense of competence, and his relationship with Hathaway reminds one of Morse's relationship with Lewis. Whately has obviously aged in the seven years since the end of the Morse series, and this serves him in good stead here, providing a sense of gravitas.
The wonderfully intricate plot to this pilot, as good as the best of the Morse series, keeps the viewer totally involved, and the occasional references to Morse, including a poignant visual reminder via a crossword puzzle which retains the outline of his coffee cup, add to the sense of continuity. The photography is outstanding, though not as dramatic here as it was in the Morse series, and Barrington Pheloung, who did the brilliant music for the Morse series, returns for this series. In England, this pilot was followed by three more episodes in February and March, 2007, and one can only hope these will be made available soon to those of us who long for more of the clever mysteries and wonderful characters we enjoyed with the Morse series. n Mary Whipple
Movie Review: This is the rare sequel that is as good as the original
Summary: 5 Stars
This show is extremely well-written and should not be missed by any fan of Morse. I put off watching this for a month because I thought it would be depressing - Morse dead, Inspector Lewis widowed, and now he's been promoted. Would he be turned into a brooding sort of person, or perhaps another Morse? Would the sidekick take on the personality of Lewis? Would they bumble along without leadership? Would it be a sad farce of the Morse series?
Well, not to worry - it is WONDERFUL. They were true to the original characters, with a couple of new ones added that bring forth all sorts of future possibilities. The sidekick is absolutely perfect - intriguing, intelligent, subtle, and with a very understated but devastating wit. As for Lewis, even though he's mourning his departed wife, he never strays from the fundamentally optimistic character that we know and love. He's older, more mature, still wounded, but not bitter.
The subtle references to Morse are delightful: the anonymuosly funded "Endeavor" scholarship, the comment about no one knowing the first name of Morse (ah, but Robbie Lewis actually does, and so do you, if you've watched the one Morse episode where Lewis overheard Morse reveal it), the old crossword filled in by Morse with cryptic comments, the references to Hamlet, the ring of stain from a Morse beer glass, and the sidekick banging on the window of Lewis' house to awaken him. The mystery part is well up to the Morse standard; the characters are very three-dimensional; and the scenery is as gorgeous as ever.
I hope they make more like this one, and I hope they keep the same great combination of writers, actors, and all the rest. You can really tell that this is a winning team, right out of the gate.
Movie Review: One of the Thames Valley Police Force's finest returns.
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a British television police mystery genre junkie. One of the most legendary was the "Inspector Morse" series starring the late, great John Thaw. Morse (remember no first name) was the Oxford educated Detective Chief Inspector who did not fit nicely into the workaday world of policing. His intellectual approach to crime solution and love of good ale and beer did not always set well with his superiors. Morse could be compared to Don Quixote...tilting, in his idealistic way, at the windmills of crime in Oxford. Enter Detective Sergeant Lewis (played impeccably by Kevin Whatley) the working class, ethical family man who was often the foil (Sancho Panza) for the single, unlucky at love, Morse. Sadly, Morse dies and Lewis is promoted to Inspector. The subject of my comments is the production entitled "Inspector Lewis," where the protaganist is joined returning to the Thames Valley Police (responsible for policing Oxford) from an overseas posting. In my opinion, this production does portray the reality of policing. Inspector Lewis is not a super sleuth, but a fallible police officer undertaking a difficult investigation. Added to this is the political meddling of superior officers with their own agenda...how real. Kevin Whatley is a fine British actor portraying a likeable copper. He is again paired up with an OxBridge type to assist him with his inquiries. I wish more "Inspector Lewis" episodes were forthcoming.Movie Review: Excellent sequel! More, please!
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this episode eagerly, yet somewhat appreshensively--but was delighted with the way Lewis had gained in his professional insights, while retaining his personality from the earlier Morse series. Morse having been the academic foil from whom Lewis learned (and who learned from Lewis), the introduction of a young academic as Lewis' suborindate was a brilliant stroke---as well as that of giving the younger man a theological background, even as Lewis struggles with his own loss of faith. (Indeed, a point of fine-tuned accuracy: the assistant is from Cambridge University, Oxford's rival and historically somewhat more sympathetic to traditional Christian theology).
I must agree with the reviewer who thought this episode rather more rushed than those that starred John Thaw. A few things did seem thrown in at the last moment. But how wonderful to see all the old Oxford sites, including (I believe) the Trout Inn at the end of the episode. Having once applied for doctoral studies there (Oxford, not the Trout, though I'm sure the two would become intertwined), I must confess that it was fantasatic to see the "city of dreaming spires" again! I sincerely hope there are many more episodes to come! (I would gladly volunteer as an "extra" on the set if they need a pseudo-academic with mild cerebral palsy!)