Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Sean Rigby, Abigail Thaw, Caroline O’Neill, Naomi Battrick, Lucy Briers, Holli Dempsey, Ryan Gage, Richard Harrington, Stephanie Leonidas, Reece Ritchie, Carol Royle, Angus Wright, Sam Ferriday, Lucy Farrar, Oliver Boost, Beverley Klein, John Hales, Nicola Duffett, Flora London, Chris Foster, Susan Legg, Ben Alden.
A new decade, a new belief put into practice – this was the effect that the late 1960s held over the opening days of its following decade, the optimism of a new way of thinking and the memory of the hippy revolution, all combining to usher forward the mind into the place to which the long awaited Age of Aquarius would sweep away such things as murder; and yet nothing changes except the date, and for Endeavour Morse, change of a year does not mean change in fortune when it comes to love, nor finding ways to Oxfordshire free of the criminal act of murder.
If only we could consult the Oracle of old, the ones who would warn of the futility of expecting transformation to come just because a new year has started, the heralds of such enterprise to which murder could be explained and how rational some will make it appear when they talk of it as confession to an awaiting audience. Murder in the 1970s was just as undeserving as it had always been, but instead and with the insane attitudes that prevailed at the time of how women were perceived in the function of the home and in academia, Oracle shows just how far the nation had actually turned in such a short period of time.
The new series of Endeavour opens with the young detective enjoying a winter break in Venice, a new love, secretive and more than just a little bit racy than Oxford would dare to open its eyes to, and it is those scenes where the British reserve is beaten down by continental Europe’s amour to which the whole idea of sex and the notion of perceived love becomes apparent.
The dichotomy is not lost upon the viewer, the Victorian attitude that has forever hung over the British like a bad smell when it comes to such matters makes the act itself dirty, and for some who see themselves, even now as having a right over a woman’s right to choose, the episode shows exactly why such out-dated discussions and arrogance has no place in society.
Whilst the series will always have the detection of the murderer at its very core, Oracle is also an episode that plays with the idea of how we see ourselves in the modern world, and with the great Ryan Gage joining the series as the flamboyant and mysterious Ludo, and with a stunning, if yet disturbing performance by Angus Wright as Professor Blish, Endeavour’s return is both welcome and satisfying; you certainly don’t need an Oracle to foresee that Sundays in February have been given a boost.
Ian D. Hall