My review of the previous episode: One For Sorrow
It's not often I'm erudite enough to recognize the names or references that flit through your average Lewis episode, but the instant a character in the opening to Magnum Opus referred to Charles Williams, I jumped out of my seat. In fact, Williams’s name had already sprung to mind when the soon-to-be-dead college don Phil Beskin referred to the Bible's injunction to "bear ye one another's burdens."
Phil Beskin, murdered and laid out in a sinister ritual, loved Williams, fashioning an ideology around the late theologian’s ideas. Williams was a treasure trove when it came to occult belief, and the murder itself seems to have something to do with alchemy (the episode alleges there was no connection between the two, but commenter Grevel Lindop assures me otherwise). Lured into the woods by a text message from a student, Gina Doran, Beskin is killed and covered in leaves and maggots in a wooden hut. As Lewis and Hathaway further investigate the case, it appears that Beskin is the first of four killings, each planned to fulfill the steps of an alchemical process known as the magnum opus.
Beskin wasn’t the only Williams fan. He had built up a group of similarly minded individuals: his sister Carina Sargent (Honeysuckle Weeks of Foyle's War fame), married couple Dax and Annapurna Kinneson, tattoo artist Jay Fennell, and Professor Wouter Eisler. As the group is introduced, the camera drifts down from a stained glass window into a lecture room. It’s a clever and unexpected reveal, emphasizing the ambiguity of the movement - is it a church or a class? A cult or a study group?
Charles Williams was a less-known member of The Inklings, a literary Oxford club which consisted of Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield, among others. Tolkien and Lewis have already been the topic of an earlier episode (Allegory of Love). They're appeal to a pretty broad church, but Williams was (a la Morse) "quite another kettle of fish." He mixed Christianity with more arcane beliefs, including an idea that we can literally exchange sins - taking another's burdens onto ourselves and thereby atoning for them. I'm not sure the summary of Williams's theology as "we become Christ" is quite accurate, but he did believe that we could become like the Trinity, an idea known as co-inherence. Right before a second murder, Beskin’s group perform a ceremony to ritually transfer a member’s sin to another.
The fifth member of the group, Wouter Eisler, is the skeptic, and teaches alchemy. In his class are three more suspects: Nate Hedesan (sleazy), Sam Langton (having an affair with Beskin’s sister), and Gina Doran (covered in blood). They claim to have been at a shady S&M club (“I’m not a regular!” Lizzie protests when the proprietors recognize her) on The Night In Question.
As investigations proceed, a web of alibis and deceptions are unveiled. Professor Eisler (Stephen Boxer, who looks like John Hurt's long-lost twin) has dedicated all his books to a mysterious person known as "Chen." Many characters - including the dead man - bear a tattoo of a triskele spiral, the symbol of Charles Williams' original group, and Jay Fennell is lying about it. Carina Sargent lost her faith eight years ago. "It happens," she says, a vague answer which hints at deeper meaning.
Her crisis of faith is similar to Hathaway's, and for a split second I thought the easy chemistry between an unusually somber Honeysuckle Weeks and the moody Laurence Fox may lead somewhere. (It doesn't, but wouldn't that have been interesting and O so meta, a romance between detective sidekicks? And who is this "Bex" person they introduce right at the end of the episode? Will next week see another awkward Hathaway love interest?)Speaking of Hathaway, throughout the episode, he's uncharacteristically rude to his sister and colleagues, while characteristically refusing to talk about his feelings. I'll concede that a certain amount of mystery about a character’s motivations can be interesting, but Hathaway pushes it to an intolerable extreme, seeming less profound than petulant. His chat with a shambolic monk friend tells us less about him than his father, Philip. Even his attempt to make up with Nell is eccentric and hardly revelatory: they're going to visit a silent monastery together.
Robbie and Laura's six-month holiday is to be more prosaic: they want to go to New Zealand to introduce Robbie to La Familia Hobson. And yet Hathaway's problems intrude even here (whose show is this again?) James's conflict with Joe Moody makes Lewis conflicted about leaving, for Moody makes it clear that if Hathaway doesn't get his act together, he'll be demoted. Lewis isn't particularly interested in helping out, mostly because he thinks Hathaway can handle himself. (James hasn't proved that, and at this point, would deserve everything he gets, but okay.)Meanwhile, Oxford's latest serial killer is bumping off suspects right and left. This is probably the reason for the superfluity of characters (same problem as last week) - five members of the group, two relatives, three students - ten in all. Roughly half of these get significant character development, and a few hang around the edges of the story, looking morose and waiting for last-minute plot twists, thus to reappear and either be red-herring-ed away or tie into the central plot.
The ending itself is a neat idea, but doesn't pack the emotional punch it could have, had the crucial evidence been revealed earlier, giving us time to contemplate its effect and meaning. The lack of foreshadowing also makes the answer feel like it flies out of left field, magicking up a motive from facts to which the audience was not privy.
My review of next week's episode: What Lies Tangled
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Longish
They made a mistake in the episode by repeatedly saying 'Charles Williams had nothing to do with alchemy': he did see himself as practising a kind of alchemy, and he belonged to a group that was deeply interested in it & at least some of whom beleived in the possibility of 'distilling' an elixir the could give vast lifespans! Much of this is coimpletely new information - full details in my biography 'Charles Williams: The Third Inkling' published by OUP next week!
ReplyDeleteGrevel Lindop left this comment which was eaten by Blogger:
ReplyDelete"They made a mistake in the episode by repeatedly saying 'Charles Williams had nothing to do with alchemy': he did see himself as practising a kind of alchemy, and he belonged to a group that was deeply interested in it & at least some of whom believed in the possibility of 'distilling' an elixir the could give vast lifespans! Much of this is completely new information - full details in my biography 'Charles Williams: The Third Inkling' published by OUP next week!"
And my reply:
DeleteI did a bit of googling while writing up this article and saw some connections, which I found rather mystifying. Maybe they'll put two and two together in the next episode.
Did you see any printouts from https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/im-on-inspector-lewis/? They were supposedly used on set. I can't wait to see these episodes!!
ReplyDeleteI do remember seeing printouts (I think), but I read the content instead of the title. And wow! That must be so cool to be a part of it. I've been a Morse/Lewis/Endeavour fan for years. If I have the time I'll try and find them and take a screenshot for you.
DeleteI believe Hathaway's rudeness towards his boss is largely due to said boss constantly breathing down his neck, bordering on hijacking the case all together. Hathaway got a lot of leeway as a sergeant. Guess he doesn't appreciate it when he is now an inspector. His attitudes towards his family though, is odd, to say at least. Suppose it's because of the sudden appearance of his family, in contrast to the complete absence in the past 8 seasons.
ReplyDeleteI kind of understand Hathaway's motivations to pick on Moody, but I think he's still overreacting. Moody isn't *that* annoying.
DeleteI would say it's more about conter-disrespect. Moody went to crime scene, giving out very detailed orders like he was the DI instead of the CS. As the DI in charge, once it could be passed as a joke, twice it gets annoying, thrice, well, it must feel like Moody, as a CS, doesn't trust Hathaway's ability as a DI (both their abilities as DI), thereby disrespecting their devotion and all these years on the job. I feel like being rude was Hathaway's way of reminding Moody that he was a CS now, he shouldn't intervene that much on a case. Although, got to say, "investigation ongoing" went a bit too far.
DeleteI'd be very surprised if Carina is the killer, my money's on Sam, her boyfriend. I think she's probably the motive, not the killer.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant episode though! The cinematography and direction are both fantastic. Really atmospheric.
Partly I'm just betting on her because she's a well-known actress - the more august the guest star, the more likely it isn't they're the killer.
DeleteAnd the direction is great. I love that they're trying to go a bit darker than usual. Lewis is sometimes too sunny for my taste.
DeleteIt'll be a relief to see it resolved next week.
ReplyDeleteThis got left behind from the Part 1 review. And since "left behind" could be another fringe religious movement, isn't that ironic?
No, I meant it to be there, as I'm hoping the final episode will wrap all that up (technically, it'll be two weeks from now). Of course, maybe the silent monastery will do the trick, but I suspect Hathaway will still have issues. They get together and watch Into Great Silence instead.
DeleteNo, I meant it to be there, as I'm hoping the final episode will wrap all that up (technically, it'll be two weeks from now). Of course, maybe the silent monastery will do the trick, but I suspect Hathaway will still have issues. They get together and watch Into Great Silence instead.
DeleteI guess I just got excited when I could use a "left behind" joke. James is feeling guilt for waiting too long to resolve the issues with his Dad and sister. And probably for creating his part of the issues to begin with. We often defend our arguments long after we realize we are wrong. Hathaway was gung-ho to work for Joe Moody before their first talk and certainly after, when Moody stated that his operating philosophy was to let his inspectors do their job. Then Moody revealed himself as a political climber, showing up to crime scenes and asking for a complete case run down when they've only just arrived. Quick results to impress the higher-ups, so that he could move up the ladder. Same with threatening Robbie's consulting position. Cost cutting to impress the higher up and to let them know that he sorted out Jean Innocent's "mess." James is in no mood to suffer fools. And he's the type to throw away his career on principle.
DeleteThat's as good an explanation as any, though it's hard to be annoyed with Moody when he really only turns up once or twice an episode.
DeleteBut while I'll accept that explanation for his work actions, with regards to family, there's really very little effort to try and delve more deeply in his thoughts. We don't have any idea what the conflict is between him and Nell, really, and his relationship with his father has mostly taken the form of tell-don't-show so far. On the other hand, I did like the conversation with Father Placid. I think that could be a good way of getting into Hathaway's head. (As MacNutt to Morse, so Placid to Hathaway?)
I think this was a classic Morse/Lewis episode, the best in quite some time. I think the re-shuffled team with Robbie as consultant and Lizzie as DS has finally started to gel. Right before they're going to end it or break it up, unfortunately. I think that Morse/Lewis relies on the last minute key reveal as part of the formula. UK viewers are more likely to drift off if they are confident in their guess. It's always nice to see Honeysuckle Weeks. She is one of my many English loves, you know. I too, pegged Sam as the killer the first time I saw him with my Honeysuckle. It wasn't only jealousy or that he was acting suspicious--I saw his name as a clue. Should have named him Willie.
ReplyDeleteGood point - Morse did like to produce motives out of thin air. But while I think it was better than last week, losing one or two characters would have helped immensely.
DeleteThe ending would have been a great scene if Sam had been played by a more accomplished actor, who could really convey a sense of despair and pathos, and make his forgiveness feel costly. As it was, he was upstaged by Honeysuckle Weeks (if this had been Morse, Morse would definitely have asked her out some time in the episode, given her Damsel in Distress status).
I don't know, Morse/Lewis killers often have the weakest of reasons for playing the murder card--and that's intentional. It supposed to show us something about the Oxford/Cambridge university mentality where everything gets distorted and things get blown out of proportion/amplified. Steal my research findings? That's a killing. Even if my research involves some minor literary figure that almost nobody remembers. Embarrass me forty years ago when I was trying to woo a comely professor at a college social who later became a leading feminist and lesbian author? That's a killing. Sam felt right at home to me in the pantheon of Morse/Lewis murderers. Lucky thing there were four people in the car so that he could attempt The Magnum Opus. And Honeysuckle Weeks might be a little long-in-the-tooth for Hathaway, if he were following the Morse standard. Thirty - forty years younger seemed to be the Morse norm. That puts Hathaway in tot territory now, and his principles wouldn't allow that.
DeleteYeah, I get that the psychology of these killers is more on the Agatha Christie end of the spectrum rather than the P.D. James, but in this particular case it would have been neat to have given it a bit more pathos given the subject material. Morse could pull that off as well, if need be, and I tended to enjoy that more.
DeleteIt sort of seems like they're setting up Hathaway to be the next Morse - the broodiness, the social isolation, the problems with authority and co-workers. He does need a few years to get some decent girlfriends, but perhaps he'll take a page from Lewis and go with a girl a mere 13 years younger.