An unexplained suicide, a missing girl, and a stolen Trove – all are mysteries left for Endeavour Morse to solve in the return of the ‘Endeavour’ series.
“Trove”, the first of four films in the second series, reintroduces Inspector Morse, now mentally scarred but with an unchanged desire to solve crimes in his hometown of Oxford. The traumatic ending for Morse in Series One has left him with the challenge of recovering from his past experiences while bringing his life back to normality.
Inspector Morse with his partner Detective Inspector Fred Thursday is immediately called upon to solve a chain of events that follow a chaotic scene during a Broad Street parade. After two students instigate the town scare, an unsuspecting policewoman ends up witnessing a man falling from a building to his death. Shortly after, a beauty pageant participant is reported missing by her distressed father.
While Morse is eager to recommence work again, his return causes difficulties in the office, and more importantly his relationship with Inspector Thursday. When Morse suggests the crimes are all connected by loose evidence, his colleagues, including Thursday, claim he is idealising the situations, and hypothesis that his illness may be affecting his competence. Although a friend and close partner, Thursday is more sceptical than supportive.
Despite Thursday’s lack of trust in Morse’s decisions, the pair act convincingly in their respective roles. Roger Allam, portraying Thursday, exudes the stern exterior of a proper police detective while still expressing concern for Morse’s wellbeing. Facing different circumstances, Shawn Evans, portraying Morse, conveys his insecurity as a result of his past but still uses his intuition to piece the crimes together.
The quality of characters has a large impact on the film’s overall production in addition to the structure of the story. The complex variety of crimes in the first film would seem to obscure the typical conflict-resolution aspect of this detective film but are instead neatly and subtly organized to create a suspenseful storyline, also seamlessly leading to the next film in the series, “Nocturne”. Avoiding the generic format of crime dramas, writer and producer Russell Lewis reinvigorates the genre by developing a lead character with internal struggles along with a multi-dimensional and unpredictable plot.
Endeavour: Trove is available to watch on ITV Player now
