I so feel for Morse regarding the Joan-Strange bombshell that he got completely blown out of the water by. And the special honour Strange unexpectedly placed on him decidedly makes it infinitely-painfully worse.

Totally agree genplant. The pained look, as though he'd been kicked HARD in the gut -- at the end of the scene in which Strange asked him to be his best man -- was hard to watch. Plus, he was probably still in shock from Joan's revelation, which came so unexpectedly after he'd very sweetly offered to be her escort to what he thought was SOMEBODY ELSE'S WEDDING only to find out the truth. Shaun Evans was terrific. Wow.

I re-watched Episode 2, "Uniform", last night which was still gripping the second time around, and IMO one of the best episodes of the entire series. There was much portentous dialogue (e.g., Thursday reminiscing about mates tragically killed at the very end of WWII; loved ones possibly being targeted by the dark forces behind the Blenheim Vale mystery; Kevin McNally's character Jolly rehearsing for a play entitled "Dead End"; Ronnie Box warning Fred that he's a dead man if he doesn't stop investigating Blenheim Vale, etc.) that makes one wonder if one of our favorites is going to be killed off in the end. It doesn't help that the previews for the last episode show a coffin being carried into a church, although the blurb for the finale talks about a series of deaths and funerals, so maybe not. Still, will that coffin hold any of the Thursdays? Or Ronnie Box, who's attempting to flee to Johannesburg to escape the Blenheim Vale perpetrators? Or Peter Jakes (part of the crew who left the force in the wake of the BV case) who's mysteriously shown up at Endeavour's door?

As far as Blenheim Vale goes, apparently the mystery goes higher up than police corruption, at least according to Ronnie Box. Could it be a Jeffrey Epstein-like scandal of sex trafficking/honey pot entrapment involving intelligence agencies and maybe even incriminating the royal family!?!?! Maybe not, but I hope we'll at least find out what those gunshots in Ronnie's office were all about. I was surprised to see he survived.

Most surprisingly of all, it was mentioned in a review I read that murder victims Andrew and Brenda Lewis are somehow related to Robbie Lewis! Yowza!

Well, all of the rave reviews succeeded in causing me a bit of disappointment in the final episode, mainly because of quibbling complaints about the serial murderer, who was a cliched, howling bigot. A laborer, he seemed unlikely to attribute Latin phrases to each of his victims. Still, I concede the murders were intriguing crimes. Then, the reveal of the Blenheim Vale mystery was a let down, since the culprits turned out to be crooked, drug-dealing cops. Since Ronnie Box seemed to have hightailed it in fear all the way to Johannesburg I expected more powerful, more elite perpetrators. Then again, it was nice to see the odious Inspector Lott, the apparent ringleader of the crooked cops, suffer a gruesome end at the hands of an axe-wielding, scary-looking biker!

On the other hand, the resolution between Endeavour and Thursday was truly worthy of high praise. The acting, with huge help from elusive writer Russell Lewis' script, was superb. In a pub over pints, with tears flowing, Endeavour quotes Shakespeare (Prince Hal to Falstaff) to declare the irreparable breach between them: "I know thee not old man"!!! This, because Thursday turned out to be the killer of drug dealer Tomahawk (an unsolved murder from the previous episode), a biker who menaced and threatened his son Sam. That Thursday was unrepentant seemed to anneal the rift. The final scene between them as they said goodbye was beyond poignant, and we could sense the invisible wall around Endeavour, separating him not just from others, but from Thursday now too. For years we've seen him struggle with emotional constipation. By 15 years later and understandably cynical, the loner Inspector Morse seemed to have come to terms with his nature.

Earlier in the episode I have to admit I choked up and cried along with her when Win, looking around her empty house, said, "It's been too fast, Fred". It's hard to take that there'll be no more Caroline O'Neill providing the safe haven of the Thursday home! But why does it have to be? People have talked about spinoffs, why not one featuring the Thursdays, Russell Lewis' great invention and contribution to the franchise? I have to say it - this series wouldn't have reached the heights it did without the great Roger Allam. If not a new series ala Inspector Lewis, perhaps some feature films now and then like Downton Abbey did? BTW, all the crew were terrific as usual but I thought Jack Bannon as Sam Thursday really rose to the challenge when finally given more to do in this final season. Sara Vickers' Joan was still Endeavour's ideal, yet we got the hint that she too harbored a connection but chose the safer bet. This probably satisfied fans who were more interested in the romantic prospect. Sadly, no more "matey" Sean Rigby, no more "shall we say 2:00?" James Bradshaw. At least we can be sure to see Anton Lesser in any Shakespeare productions -- he seems to be in nearly all of them!

Try reading this review (see link), it would be quicker to actually watch the episode. 😏

https://www.wgbh.org/programs/2023/07/02/endeavour-season-9-episode-3-exeunt-recap-and-how-can-man-die-better-than-facing-fearful-odds

So, I tried bratface... it's more of a snarky transcript than a review.

@merryapril said:

So, I tried bratface... it's more of a snarky transcript than a review.

Yes, I know but it was amusing to read (although it was WAY TOO LONG).

I tried watching this last season on the PBS website (through their streaming channel) but they will not let me watch episode one, only two & three. So weird.

Now that a new Masterpiece Mystery series has begun, we can't stream any of it without a subscription to PBS Passport. At least I can't. They sure didn't waste any time eliminating Endeavour from their temporary streaming lineup. I had the same issue as you bratface -- only one or two episodes were available to stream at any given time.

You didn't miss a whole lot in Shaun Evans-directed Ep. 1: the concertmaster of a small orchestra was murdered via induced anaphylaxis and Endeavour solved the crime by the end. However, the body of Andrew Lewis was discovered in Ep. 1 and his murder wasn't solved until the finale. He's the one who turned out to be kin of police cadet Robert Lewis, who of course is eventually portrayed by Kevin Whately as Morse's sidekick in the future. Also, Endeavour seemed to be somewhat taken with a young female violinist in the episode. Had she been an opera vocalist (or lover) he probably would've been smitten. But resolution of the Joan Thursday infatuation surely took priority at this point.

@merryapril said:

Now that a new Masterpiece Mystery series has begun, we can't stream any of it without a subscription to PBS Passport. At least I can't. They sure didn't waste any time eliminating Endeavour from their temporary streaming lineup. I had the same issue as you bratface -- only one or two episodes were available to stream at any given time.

You didn't miss a whole lot in Shaun Evans-directed Ep. 1: the concertmaster of a small orchestra was murdered via induced anaphylaxis and Endeavour solved the crime by the end. However, the body of Andrew Lewis was discovered in Ep. 1 and his murder wasn't solved until the finale. He's the one who turned out to be kin of police cadet Robert Lewis, who of course is eventually portrayed by Kevin Whately as Morse's sidekick in the future. Also, Endeavour seemed to be somewhat taken with a young female violinist in the episode. Had she been an opera vocalist (or lover) he probably would've been smitten. But resolution of the Joan Thursday infatuation surely took priority at this point.

I used to be a heavy watcher of a lot of PBS productions through the years & it really (excuse my language) pisses me off that they & the local affiliates have become such huge money-grubbers. They are publically funded through donations & grants from different organisations & the government (from our tax dollars). But they also want us to pay a third time by purchasing a 'passport'! I have two PBS stations in my area & as of a couple of years ago can't even get the main one (KCTS) on my TV any longer (it will not even scan onto my channel lineup because of their weakening the signal), & the other (KBTC) does not get a lot of the productions & the ones they do show are generally about 10 days later, plus the ENDLESS pledge drives are ridiculous, I can't even remember the last time I even watched KBTC.

As for watching Endeavour, I'll just wait until it shows up on DVD & maybe get it from the library (or Hoopla).

Agreed. The frequency of pledge drives has become seriously annoying. But other broadcasters are getting pretty greedy too, placing programming on streaming-only channels that require subscriptions. There HAS to be a backlash at some point as the costs can quickly pile up. We just dropped Netflix (which started out at $9.99 per month and before long shot up to $16.99) and returned one of our cable boxes to Spectrum. Still, we pay Spectrum over $250 a month but that includes 2 phones and internet. And the service is very reliable. I'm just glad my mother's no longer here to see that her beloved Days of Our Lives is only available by subscription to NBC Peacock!!!

No doubt PBS is aware of how popular Endeavour has been and is hoping to compel viewers to purchase Passport subscriptions. If I could get the Passport app on my smart TVs I'd consider subscribing again but I could only get it on my desktop before - and I don't want to have to sit in my office to watch TV shows. If anyone knows how to load the app on older smart TVs, let me know! When I've tried in the past, from what I could tell, we'd have to subscribe to yet another service like Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire, etc., but even then, some people STILL can't access all Passport content.

"Exuent" is available again On Demand! I'm re-watching it. You may want to keep checking bratface, in case Ep. 1 reappears.

Thanks Merry. I just checked & now only episode 3 is available! PBS can just bite me. I have so many things I can watch for FREE that I don't have time for. I'm watching a new KDrama (Bossam-Steal the Fate) now.