Did I like what I saw? 'Old School Ties'
@zonnet.nl Herman van der Woude
episode of the first series of 'Lewis'. I did only see the second half
of the first episode of this first series, which was on air on February
18th, as I chose to watch a competing episode of 'Waking The Dead'
('Yahrzeit') on BBC television. I prefered 'Waking The Dead', which is
not a real honest statement as I did not really get into the 'Lewis'
plot because of my choice. (I did not regret my choice for 'Waking The
Dead' as it turned out to be one of the finest episodes of that series
in years!)
That second half of the first 'Lewis' however had all the ingredients
which made Morse great, as I noticed. Fabulous English houses with
nasty people living in them.
The same is there to say about last Sunday's 'Old School Ties', which
was completely set in one of the colleges of Oxford and in the town of
Oxford itself.
In the pilot film of Lewis (not the one I refered to as being put on
air on February 18th, but which was shown in Febrary /last year/), we
saw the comeback of Lewis to Oxford and one can say that his first case
in Oxford was still solved by Morse in a way. Lewis is now beyond that
point. He has become a well thinking detective on his own with very
common sense (unlike his dead chief). That is in the same time his
weakness. He lacks compassion for booze and good music (Wagner) - it
could be compassion for anything else, but he hasn't shown it (yet?).
Therefore he still is a 'bleak sergeant' in stead of a colossus of a
personality as Morse was.
Strangely enough we learn more and more about DS Hathaway. He is a
strange sergeant. A 'failed' preacher with a passion for music. And he
has an university background, almost like Morse. Will he be the man for
the future, perhaps? I know that Martin Underwood finds him to much a
mumbling person, but last Sunday I didn't notice that. And believe me,
as I am not a native speaker of English as a born Dutchman, living in
the Netherlands, thinking and speaking in Dutch in the first place, I
would be the first to notice that someone cannot be understood because
of mumbling. Is Laurence Fox improving? I hope so!
The story I saw last Sunday was good, very good indeed, worthy a true
Morse! If Lewis gets the chance to develop more personality as DI
Robert Lewis, the series can be good for the future. There is some
chemistry between Lewis, Hathaway and Super-Intendant Innocent...
Yes, I did like what I saw, but there still is room for improvement.
Cheers!
--
Herman van der Woude
hvdwoude @ zonnet.nl
spaties toegevoegd om spam te vermijden/spaces added to avoid spam
Martin Underwood
already seen the episodes...
"Herman van der Woude" <hvdwoude @ zonnet.nl> wrote in message
news:mn.e5357d721...@zonnet.nl...
> Last Sunday night I saw 'Old School Ties', apparantly the second episode
> of the first series of 'Lewis'. I did only see the second half of the
> first episode of this first series, which was on air on February 18th, as
> I chose to watch a competing episode of 'Waking The Dead' ('Yahrzeit') on
> BBC television. I prefered 'Waking The Dead', which is not a real honest
> statement as I did not really get into the 'Lewis' plot because of my
> choice. (I did not regret my choice for 'Waking The Dead' as it turned out
> to be one of the finest episodes of that series in years!)
Indeed it was - Jahrzeit was a very powerful story. I had the luxury of
being able to record both Lewis and WTD on different VCRs (I watched Lewis
live and WTD the following day), but without two satellite decoders I can
see that this would be difficult for you. ITV's website says that at some
unspecified time in the future they will be repeating Lewis on ITV3 so
you'll get change to see Whom the Gods Would Destroy in its entirety.
> That second half of the first 'Lewis' however had all the ingredients
> which made Morse great, as I noticed. Fabulous English houses with nasty
> people living in them.
Yes. The guy in a wheelchair really was an obnoxious person.
> The same is there to say about last Sunday's 'Old School Ties', which was
> completely set in one of the colleges of Oxford and in the town of Oxford
> itself.
>
> In the pilot film of Lewis (not the one I refered to as being put on air
> on February 18th, but which was shown in Febrary /last year/), we saw the
> comeback of Lewis to Oxford and one can say that his first case in Oxford
> was still solved by Morse in a way. Lewis is now beyond that point. He has
> become a well thinking detective on his own with very common sense (unlike
> his dead chief). That is in the same time his weakness. He lacks
> compassion for booze and good music (Wagner) - it could be compassion for
> anything else, but he hasn't shown it (yet?). Therefore he still is a
> 'bleak sergeant' in stead of a colossus of a personality as Morse was.
I agree with you there. He's humane and compassionate, as shown by the way
he didn't want to prosecute the wife for apparently planning her husband's
death in advance and sending the note to Lewis before the "accident" with
the dogs happened. However he's not really *passionate* and hasn't got the
charisma of Morse. The plots, the production standards, the supporting cast,
the locations - all these are just as good as Morse, but still there's
something missing. But that's not enough to put me off watching each episode
avidly.
> Strangely enough we learn more and more about DS Hathaway. He is a strange
> sergeant. A 'failed' preacher with a passion for music. And he has an
> university background, almost like Morse. Will he be the man for the
> future, perhaps? I know that Martin Underwood finds him to much a mumbling
> person, but last Sunday I didn't notice that. And believe me, as I am not
> a native speaker of English as a born Dutchman, living in the Netherlands,
> thinking and speaking in Dutch in the first place, I would be the first to
> notice that someone cannot be understood because of mumbling. Is Laurence
> Fox improving? I hope so!
I think Laurence Fox may be improving. My parents (neither of whom is hard
of hearing) found him a lot harder to hear and to understand in episode 1
than in episode 2 - maybe in episode 1 there was a different dubbing mixer
who set the level of effects and music compared with dialogue slightly
differently. Unlike the pilot, I personally didn't have any problem with
Hathaway this time, though I always listen on headphones rather than through
the TV speaker on the other side of the room, which probably helps.
> The story I saw last Sunday was good, very good indeed, worthy a true
> Morse! If Lewis gets the chance to develop more personality as DI Robert
> Lewis, the series can be good for the future. There is some chemistry
> between Lewis, Hathaway and Super-Intendant Innocent...
Yes, I think Innocent is more human and likeable in this series than she was
in the pilot - more inclined to tease and cajole rather than just to be
interested in budgets and quick results.
It also helps that we're seeing an off-duty side of Lewis's life as well: I
felt that the relationship between him and Diane (Gina McKee) could easily
lead to something if they had both let it. Next week's episode shows him
getting rather close to another woman - see the photos on my site when I
publish them next Sunday evening. It shows him as a man who is not blind to
the attractions of women even if he is still grieving for his wife.
One interesting thing: in the Call Sheets for Episode 2, the actress who
played his wife during Morse appeared for one day's filming. I was expecting
some sort of naff flashback scene, but that didn't happen. I wonder if it
was simply so they could take the still photograph of Lewis and his wife
that we see on his desk and in his house.
@zonnet.nl Herman van der Woude
> I'm about to discuss the plot of Lewis, so don't read on it you've not
> already seen the episodes...
I do agree. Please don't read on as I will give some commentary as
well. In my first contribution I did everything to avoid anything
leading to what plot whatsoever, however, though I try to do so again,
you may find our discussion disturbing you if you didn't see the
episodes we write about.
> "Herman van der Woude" <hvdwoude @ zonnet.nl> wrote in message
> news:mn.e5357d721...@zonnet.nl...
>> Last Sunday night I saw 'Old School Ties', apparantly the second episode of
>> the first series of 'Lewis'. I did only see the second half of the first
>> episode of this first series, which was on air on February 18th, as I chose
>> to watch a competing episode of 'Waking The Dead' ('Yahrzeit') on BBC
>> television. I prefered 'Waking The Dead', which is not a real honest
>> statement as I did not really get into the 'Lewis' plot because of my
>> choice. (I did not regret my choice for 'Waking The Dead' as it turned out
>> to be one of the finest episodes of that series in years!)
>
> Indeed it was - Jahrzeit was a very powerful story. I had the luxury of being
> able to record both Lewis and WTD on different VCRs (I watched Lewis live and
> WTD the following day), but without two satellite decoders I can see that
> this would be difficult for you. ITV's website says that at some unspecified
> time in the future they will be repeating Lewis on ITV3 so you'll get change
> to see Whom the Gods Would Destroy in its entirety.
I am glad to know, but knowing ITV (a bit), I didn't expect them to do
otherwise. A good episode of a good series cannot be repeated enough as
it always attracks advertisers and viewers again. How many time did
they repeat Morse? And I suppose we stil haven't had the last of him...
>> That second half of the first 'Lewis' however had all the ingredients which
>> made Morse great, as I noticed. Fabulous English houses with nasty people
>> living in them.
>
> Yes. The guy in a wheelchair really was an obnoxious person.
I can't say that I loved the scene with the killing by the dogs
(parents, keep your children away from the screen), but it was
powerful.
>> The same is there to say about last Sunday's 'Old School Ties', which was
>> completely set in one of the colleges of Oxford and in the town of Oxford
>> itself.
>>
>> In the pilot film of Lewis (not the one I refered to as being put on air on
>> February 18th, but which was shown in Febrary /last year/), we saw the
>> comeback of Lewis to Oxford and one can say that his first case in Oxford
>> was still solved by Morse in a way. Lewis is now beyond that point. He has
>> become a well thinking detective on his own with very common sense (unlike
>> his dead chief). That is in the same time his weakness. He lacks compassion
>> for booze and good music (Wagner) - it could be compassion for anything
>> else, but he hasn't shown it (yet?). Therefore he still is a 'bleak
>> sergeant' in stead of a colossus of a personality as Morse was.
>
> I agree with you there. He's humane and compassionate, as shown by the way he
> didn't want to prosecute the wife for apparently planning her husband's death
> in advance and sending the note to Lewis before the "accident" with the dogs
> happened. However he's not really *passionate* and hasn't got the charisma of
> Morse. The plots, the production standards, the supporting cast, the
> locations - all these are just as good as Morse, but still there's something
> missing. But that's not enough to put me off watching each episode avidly.
No, it's still good stories to watch and while watching them you can
try to step into the shoes of Lewis and Hathaway, trying to solve the
mystery yourself (not easy, though). A slight point of critic: Morse
was always 1h45 minutes, Lewis is a quarter of an hour shorter, which
means they have to skip one or two red herrings or another sideline.
Pity.
>> Strangely enough we learn more and more about DS Hathaway. He is a strange
>> sergeant. A 'failed' preacher with a passion for music. And he has an
>> university background, almost like Morse. Will he be the man for the
>> future, perhaps? I know that Martin Underwood finds him to much a mumbling
>> person, but last Sunday I didn't notice that. And believe me, as I am not a
>> native speaker of English as a born Dutchman, living in the Netherlands,
>> thinking and speaking in Dutch in the first place, I would be the first to
>> notice that someone cannot be understood because of mumbling. Is Laurence
>> Fox improving? I hope so!
>
> I think Laurence Fox may be improving. My parents (neither of whom is hard
> of hearing) found him a lot harder to hear and to understand in episode 1
> than in episode 2 - maybe in episode 1 there was a different dubbing mixer
> who set the level of effects and music compared with dialogue slightly
> differently. Unlike the pilot, I personally didn't have any problem with
> Hathaway this time, though I always listen on headphones rather than through
> the TV speaker on the other side of the room, which probably helps.
With two people watching and hearing in our living, it is a bit selfish
to use headphones, I think. lol
>> The story I saw last Sunday was good, very good indeed, worthy a true
>> Morse! If Lewis gets the chance to develop more personality as DI Robert
>> Lewis, the series can be good for the future. There is some chemistry
>> between Lewis, Hathaway and Super-Intendant Innocent...
>
> Yes, I think Innocent is more human and likeable in this series than she was
> in the pilot - more inclined to tease and cajole rather than just to be
> interested in budgets and quick results.
Maybe in the pilot she was only the female imitation of good old
Strange (when they started producing 'Lewis', they still had James
Grout in mind as one of the old crew, but alas, he was - is - too ill),
now she had the chance to become a character of her own. An
improvement. We will see how things will go on in the future. I do like
the little joke to continue funny names like changing Strange into
Innocent.
> It also helps that we're seeing an off-duty side of Lewis's life as well: I
> felt that the relationship between him and Diane (Gina McKee) could easily
> lead to something if they had both let it.
A Morse-like development, yes, it crossed my mind.
> Next week's episode shows him
> getting rather close to another woman - see the photos on my site when I
> publish them next Sunday evening. It shows him as a man who is not blind to
> the attractions of women even if he is still grieving for his wife.
Ah, well, life must go on, as they say. Probably another Morse-like
development, and if not, boys will be boys, even grieving.
> One interesting thing: in the Call Sheets for Episode 2, the actress who
> played his wife during Morse appeared for one day's filming. I was expecting
> some sort of naff flashback scene, but that didn't happen. I wonder if it was
> simply so they could take the still photograph of Lewis and his wife that we
> see on his desk and in his house.
Oh, that must have been the case. Lewis is still a family-man, as his
phonecalls with his daughter tell us. I can see him chasing in the
future for women (in vain off course), not for lust (like Morse), but
for love and the need for a proper household.
Now there is my last, more or less serious, point of critic. I still
cannot understand why they changed the real policeforce from Thames
Valley Police to the (non-existent) 'Oxfordshire Police'. Morse and his
DS Lewis belonged to Thames Valley Police, and I don't think anyone
ever objected to that, not even the Chief Constable of Thames Valley
Police. So, why this change? I don't see the point. When I meet with
Colin Dexter again (I hope next October during our annual meeting of
the Inspector Morse Society) I will most certainly ask for the reasons
why. If they would change things back from 'Oxfordshire Police' to
Thames Valley Police, I don't thinke ordinary viewers would see the
difference, but to me and I suppose many Morse and Lewis viewers, it
would feel better.
--
Herman van der Woude
hvdwoude @ zonnet.nl
Martin Underwood
mn.080d7d73e...@zonnet.nl:
> Martin Underwood schreef op woensdag, 28-2-2007, het volgende:
>
>> I'm about to discuss the plot of Lewis, so don't read on it you've
>> not already seen the episodes...
>
> I do agree. Please don't read on as I will give some commentary as
> well. In my first contribution I did everything to avoid anything
> leading to what plot whatsoever, however, though I try to do so again,
> you may find our discussion disturbing you if you didn't see the
> episodes we write about.
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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>> Yes. The guy in a wheelchair really was an obnoxious person.
>
> I can't say that I loved the scene with the killing by the dogs
> (parents, keep your children away from the screen), but it was
> powerful.
There were one or two points about episode 1 that I still don't fully
understand.
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
(you have been warned!)
How did Anne Sadikov actually get her dogs to attack her husband Theodore
Platt? She made that comment to him that "I think they've heard you", but
did we see her do anything to incite them to attack him? She claimed to the
police that they'd attacked him because he was trying to attack her - of
course the police have no way of proving that this wasn't the case.
Who actually murdered Sefton Linn? I know that Platt tried to get Bundrick
to do it, but he refused. So did Platt do it himself, despite being
wheelchair-bound. Or did Tina Daniels do it, despite her protestation at the
end that neither she nor Anne actually killed anyone, just set the wheels in
motion for one Twice Born to murder another?
>
> No, it's still good stories to watch and while watching them you can
> try to step into the shoes of Lewis and Hathaway, trying to solve the
> mystery yourself (not easy, though). A slight point of critic: Morse
> was always 1h45 minutes, Lewis is a quarter of an hour shorter, which
> means they have to skip one or two red herrings or another sideline.
> Pity.
That's probably because the rules on the amount of advertising that ITV is
allowed to carry changed round about the time that Morse ended. For many
years, there had been a maximum of three advert breaks per hour, very
roughly at xx:00, xx:20 and xx:40. The total amount of advertising meant
that a programme that was nominally "one hour" long actually lasted for 52
minutes and a "two-hour" programme lasted for 104 minutes: 1 hour 44, as you
say.
Then a complicated deal was struck: in exchange for the ITV news returning
to its old 10 PM slot (ITV had just experimented with delaying it until 11
but this was universally unpopular), they were allowed to carry more
advertising, with four breaks per hour rather than three.
It was interesting to see how quite a few scenes were shot that didn't make
it to the screen: in episode 1 there were quite a few little scenes with
Ingrid Nielson surreptitiously watching the Twice Borns - at one point she
was seen peering through the window of Bundrick's green van and watching the
shop from behind it. Looking at the call sheets, quite a few other little
scenes were dropped. Probably they err on the side of caution and film too
much rather than too little, to give the editor a free rein with what to
take out when he's cutting to fit the time slot.
Having sorted the scenes in the call sheets into scene number order, it was
interesting to follow the story when I watched it a second time and compare
it with the scheduled scenes.
>>> Strangely enough we learn more and more about DS Hathaway. He is a
>>> strange sergeant. A 'failed' preacher with a passion for music. And
>>> he has an university background, almost like Morse. Will he be the
>>> man for the future, perhaps? I know that Martin Underwood finds him
>>> to much a mumbling person, but last Sunday I didn't notice that.
>>> And believe me, as I am not a native speaker of English as a born
>>> Dutchman, living in the Netherlands, thinking and speaking in Dutch
>>> in the first place, I would be the first to notice that someone
>>> cannot be understood because of mumbling. Is Laurence Fox
>>> improving? I hope so!
>>
>> Next week's episode shows him
>> getting rather close to another woman - see the photos on my site
>> when I publish them next Sunday evening. It shows him as a man who
>> is not blind to the attractions of women even if he is still
>> grieving for his wife.
>
> Ah, well, life must go on, as they say. Probably another Morse-like
> development, and if not, boys will be boys, even grieving.
Yes. He is very much the family man. We heard him on the phone to his
daughter in the pilot and again in epsiode 2. I'm sure a day will come when
he starts looking for companionship and love. The "will he manage it this
time?" and the slight clumsiness of Morse's "technique" was one of his
endearing qualities, and something similar (though different because Lewis
is a different temperament) is something that will endear us to Lewis in the
same way. Maybe we need a bit of the old Lewis prudishness too - remember
how whenever he talked to Morse about sex, he always used euphemisms such as
"kinky rumpy-pumpy" or "when they were... you know".
>> One interesting thing: in the Call Sheets for Episode 2, the actress
>> who played his wife during Morse appeared for one day's filming. I
>> was expecting some sort of naff flashback scene, but that didn't
>> happen. I wonder if it was simply so they could take the still
>> photograph of Lewis and his wife that we see on his desk and in his
>> house.
>
> Oh, that must have been the case. Lewis is still a family-man, as his
> phonecalls with his daughter tell us. I can see him chasing in the
> future for women (in vain off course), not for lust (like Morse), but
> for love and the need for a proper household.
>
> Now there is my last, more or less serious, point of critic. I still
> cannot understand why they changed the real policeforce from Thames
> Valley Police to the (non-existent) 'Oxfordshire Police'. Morse and
> his DS Lewis belonged to Thames Valley Police, and I don't think
> anyone ever objected to that, not even the Chief Constable of Thames
> Valley Police. So, why this change? I don't see the point. When I
> meet with Colin Dexter again (I hope next October during our annual
> meeting of the Inspector Morse Society) I will most certainly ask for
> the reasons why. If they would change things back from 'Oxfordshire
> Police' to Thames Valley Police, I don't thinke ordinary viewers
> would see the difference, but to me and I suppose many Morse and
> Lewis viewers, it would feel better.
When I saw the police car outside Bundrick Bikes taking Harry Bundrick away
(actually the first scene to be filmed at that location - nice to see the
ending before the beginning!) I noticed the Oxfordshire Police stickers on
the car. I wasn't sure at the time whether in Morse they'd worked for Thames
Valley Police, but then I saw that article which I posted the other day
explaining the change of name. It does seem very petty, and makes you wonder
what sanctions Thames Valley Police could have used if the producers had
simply ignored the request. They'd probably have made it difficult for some
of the filming in the centre of Oxford to take place, or something really
childish like that - there were a couple of police officers helping to
control the crowds and sort out disputes between the crew and drivers that
chose to leave their lorries in shot, and that goodwill might not have been
so evident if the producers had "disobeyed" the request.
@zonnet.nl Herman van der Woude
Well, that's for me to find out when they'll repeat this episode. I
didn't record it (couldn't record it) as you remember.
>> No, it's still good stories to watch and while watching them you can
>> try to step into the shoes of Lewis and Hathaway, trying to solve the
>> mystery yourself (not easy, though). A slight point of critic: Morse
>> was always 1h45 minutes, Lewis is a quarter of an hour shorter, which
>> means they have to skip one or two red herrings or another sideline.
>> Pity.
>
> That's probably because the rules on the amount of advertising that ITV is
> allowed to carry changed round about the time that Morse ended. For many
> years, there had been a maximum of three advert breaks per hour, very roughly
> at xx:00, xx:20 and xx:40. The total amount of advertising meant that a
> programme that was nominally "one hour" long actually lasted for 52 minutes
> and a "two-hour" programme lasted for 104 minutes: 1 hour 44, as you say.
>
> Then a complicated deal was struck: in exchange for the ITV news returning to
> its old 10 PM slot (ITV had just experimented with delaying it until 11 but
> this was universally unpopular), they were allowed to carry more advertising,
> with four breaks per hour rather than three.
Ah, well, it is commercial television we are talking about, and someone
must pay the bill - at the end with commercial television it will
always be the viewers!
> It was interesting to see how quite a few scenes were shot that didn't make
> it to the screen: in episode 1 there were quite a few little scenes with
> Ingrid Nielson surreptitiously watching the Twice Borns - at one point she
> was seen peering through the window of Bundrick's green van and watching the
> shop from behind it. Looking at the call sheets, quite a few other little
> scenes were dropped. Probably they err on the side of caution and film too
> much rather than too little, to give the editor a free rein with what to take
> out when he's cutting to fit the time slot.
One always hopes that a release on DVD will give you a "director's
cut", but I've never seen it done till now with television series.
Perhaps there will be exceptions? I hope so with Lewis.
> Having sorted the scenes in the call sheets into scene number order, it was
> interesting to follow the story when I watched it a second time and compare
> it with the scheduled scenes.
I do believe you.
I still hear Morse laugh when he heard prude Lewis, "You are a married
man, for God's sake!"
I don't see Lewis as a womaniser... He'll be as clumsy as Morse was.
The only difference is that I cannot see him fall in love with a
potential suspect (/every/ potential suspect) as Morse tended to do.
And when Lewis will have found his new love, he will stick with her -
unless she is unfaithful, of course...
Maybe so, maybe you are right, but it still doesn't explain why they
always allowed Morse and Lewis and Strange to be part of Thames Valley
Police, 13 years long! After all, it was good advertisement for Thames
Valley Police as one of the few policeforces with a high rate of solved
crimes!