Inspector Morse

Lady Laird likes him. I've been struggling for a correlative...

Lady Laird likes him. I’ve been struggling for a correlative…

Sorry if I was late approving comments over the Easter weekend. It was good and bad for us. Lady Laird was ill on Saturday and come Sunday I had what she had. Put me right out of the picture. A great time was had by all but me, though I did get to hear the kids laughing in the yard.

Good news is this. I am now in possession of my iPad model Hal 9000, which is guaranteed to make me smartester, insightier, and more intellectuallyier (came across that word for the first time at Hotair yesterday.)

So I have a pent up bunch of posts. But I’m posting this one first. Because we’re watching another episode of Inspector Morse.

Know him? He has mysteries as long as the Midsomer Murders, with nearly as many casualties, as British justice works its way relentlessly to the truth. The hook is that it takes place at Oxford, the town containing the famous university Inspector Morse got “sent down” (i.e., expelled) from before he got so old and, uh, sad looking.

The Brits loved it for years. Lady Laird loves it. What’s wrong with me?

I dunno. He’s such a hangdog. Hornier than he ought to be for a guy who’s never been loved, meaner than he ought to be to his faithful working dog sergeant, who looks exactly like this:

Sergeant Lewis

Sergeant Lewis

What annoys me most, I guess, is that he’s a domineering failed toff, a cop who sees himself as an Oxford Don and is therefore neither aristocratic wolfhound nor tail-wagging English Sheepdog but a grumpy, unkempt mongrel.

The corners of his mouth are always turned down. He's too good for his inferiors -- and his betters.

The corners of his mouth are always turned down. He’s too good for his inferiors — and his betters.

He’s as good a detective as it’s possible to be when you start panting for every bitch in the case and never land one. He never discovers they’re guilty, till the last moment or later, when one or two extra people have been killed. But he gruffs and growls and curls up in his bed with opera recordings and ale that’s hardly ever good enough for his palate.

I think Lady Laird likes him because he loves Wagner. I consent to watch because he has this car, wildly out of date even in this somewhat older TV series.

So. He can't be all bad.

So. He can’t be all bad.

Also gives me my only non-canine correlative; he’s Jeremy Clarkson without the sense of humor.

By all means, watch. We still have some too many episodes to go ourselves.

Not interested in English crap. My royal coat is matted and untended. While they watch this daft bilge on Netflix.

Not interested in English crap. My royal coat is matted and untended. While they watch this daft bilge on Netflix. They wonder why I groan at night and shriek in the morning.

13 thoughts on “Inspector Morse

  1. Very funny. I especially like the dogs. But you are right, many more episodes of Morse, who is definitely intellectuallyier than the usual Chief Inspector.

  2. So you’re saying that Lady Laird is easier to please…?

    You got me into Midsomer nicely, but my in-laws (who are pure murder-and-justice junkies on both the US and UK sides) couldn’t get us into Morse in the same way.

    • She wouldn’t say so. She constantly questions my criterion of having to like one of the principal characters. Which makes me a sentimentalist. I watched two seasons of The Killing for her. She appreciates my tolerance of darkness, which can never equal her Dostoevskian attraction to it.

        • Excuse me? I watch a TV series for my wife, so I should watch one for you? Ha.

          Flyers down 2-1. Catch me when I’m in a better mood…

          • Not for me, for her! From everything you’re saying about Inspector Morse, T.D. is right up her alley. Just looking out for you, boss.

            Sorry about the game last night. Tough break with two would-be goals hitting the crossbar. Not over yet, though.

            And since you mentioned hockey: you know I love the sport but I have decided that Canadians are insane. Saw the ten minute opening ceremony for the Montreal game the other day. One might have thought the Winter Olympics were starting again. No Nelly Furtado or K.D. Lang, but still way too much over-the-top theatrics for game 3 of the first round of the playoffs. Round two ceremonies may involve people getting crushed to death in the stands like what happens at soccer games.

          • Thanks for clarifying. McConnahey does nothing for her. Harrelson less than nothing. And we don’t subscribe to HBO.

            Hockey. Maybe it’s time we heard from Puck Punk again. What do you think?

  3. I love Morse! He loves letting the Toffs think they are putting stuff over on him and he lets them think he is a failure. By their standards he is, he should be a House of Lords member or some ranking, privileged big snot.
    He likes women but he just doesn’t get that they can be very wicked, he has hope. They seem to burn him every time.
    If you see the prequel movies of his early years you will lean what formed him to be as he is, why he is the man he became. Prequel is Endeavor.
    I prefer BBC mysteries so much more than American which seem to focus on the sex and bloody guts more.
    What do I know, I watch Korean Dramas also.

    • We’ve seen all of Endeavour. Movie and series. Give me my due. A man should know how to close the deal eventually, shouldn’t he? And not just be pissed off all the time? Traviata’s great. So is “I Will Always Love You,” Dolly or Whitney version.

      You’re distracting me. Wait for my next.

    • Heartless wench. Have you no feeling for the hapless Lewis? My heart aches for the guy. : )

      • Life is a harsh mistress. Lewis will be a better man for all the experiences.
        My best teacher never let me get away with any thing. He expected great things and pushed me and loudly discounted the pathetic ramblings of my young mind.
        He pissed me off on a regular basis, he challenged me to do it myself and not follow the heard.
        “Think” was his favorite put down.
        I may have disappointed him, but I still hear him!

  4. “And we don’t subscribe to HBO.”

    Ah, I should have mentioned that I don’t, either. So okay, it’s not worth paying the subscription fee. I forgot that HBO has become pretty ruthless with controlling how people can watch their shows.

    Did I mention we like the Chicago Code? Good catch.

    I see if I can get a hold of Puck Punk. Not sure what he’s been up to, but I do know that he does not know what format he should use to write a post for this site.

    • He could write it as an email. That’s how easy it is here. But I’m thinking Puck Punk has had some hard times, jailed in Winnipeg for illegal kerosene heaters, up on charges in Calgary for,betting on the Blackhawks. His wife left him, I heard, for a baseball player. He was supposed to be on a reality show about Canadians ‘passing’ as Americans, but he failed the French test; all he had was the accent. Lots of other stuff too. Don’t know. But thinking he’s a survivor. And passionate as ever.

Comments are closed.