Inspector Morse - The Daughters of Cain

Rating:
Summary: Morse vs The Women
Review: "The Daughters of Cain" is one of the most clever of all Inspector Morse's adventures. Not only is he up against three women with a deadly purpose, he is somewhat sidetracked by the seductive one of the trio, Ms. Kay Brooks. The mature Morse pitted against a gorgeous girl "on the game" who is half his age? We have lots of sidelines (all of which fit nicely with the plot) like the political correctness of university fundraising, a teenage hoodlum in love, drug dealing, a terminal illness, spousal abuse, and the Ashmolean in danger of being burglarized! This one is sexy and cool, expertly delivered. And no one can express disillusionment (and touch our hearts) like the forthright Sergeant Lewis.

Rating:
Summary: Morse vs The Women
Review: "The Daughters of Cain" is one of the most clever of all Inspector Morse's adventures. Not only is he up against three women with a deadly purpose, he is somewhat sidetracked by the seductive one of the trio, Ms. Kay Brooks. The mature Morse pitted against a gorgeous girl "on the game" who is half his age? We have lots of sidelines (all of which fit nicely with the plot) like the political correctness of university fundraising, a teenage hoodlum in love, drug dealing, a terminal illness, spousal abuse, and the Ashmolean in danger of being burglarized! This one is sexy and cool, expertly delivered. And no one can express disillusionment (and touch our hearts) like the forthright Sergeant Lewis.

Rating:
Summary: Daughters of Cain
Review: A thoroughly well-crafted and intriguing mystery. Though the focus is on "payback" by women, the wonders of figuring out how and when the deadly deed was committed, make for a great film-watching journey for any Morse or mystery lover. Performances are especially well-given and the cast is a little larger than usual. I especially liked the Shakespearean themes interwoven. The Lady MacBeth touches are irresistible. If you like good plotting this is for you. There's always a side story going on about the lives of Morse and Lewis. In this one, Lewis faces some career challenges.

Rating:
Summary: Women Outsmart Morse
Review: The beauty of this story is that Morse acknowledges he is being outwitted by three interesting women. The plot starts in such a simple way with an unlikely friendship between a cleaning lady and a teacher. When it progresses to include a high priced girl "on the game", Morse becomes entranced as well as baffled. Everything works here - the writing, the directing, the acting. Morse is intrigued and so are we. Our wonderfully honorable Sergeant Lewis struggles with the politics of police work, disillusioned and hurting. Thaw and Watley have excellence to work with in this episode and they pull it off with exceptional skill.

Rating:
Summary: Women Outsmart Morse
Review: The beauty of this story is that Morse acknowledges he is being outwitted by three interesting women. The plot starts in such a simple way with an unlikely friendship between a cleaning lady and a teacher. When it progresses to include a high priced girl "on the game", Morse becomes entranced as well as baffled. Everything works here - the writing, the directing, the acting. Morse is intrigued and so are we. Our wonderfully honorable Sergeant Lewis struggles with the politics of police work, disillusioned and hurting. Thaw and Watley have excellence to work with in this episode and they pull it off with exceptional skill.

Rating:
Summary: More than just a who-done-it
Review: The highlight of this episode is Phyllis Logan. She does a good job of being an ordinary person. You never "see" Lady Felsham in her character. One amusing part of the story is the ceaseless lampooning of academia using the theme of fund raising at Oxford. The basic detective story involves multiple murders and the ways the murderers use to escape justice or receive it themselves by what could be judged as divine guidance of the affairs of mortals.

Rating:
Summary: More than just a who-done-it
Review: The highlight of this episode is Phyllis Logan. She does a good job of being an ordinary person. You never "see" Lady Felsham in her character. One amusing part of the story is the ceaseless lampooning of academia using the theme of fund raising at Oxford. The basic detective story involves multiple murders and the ways the murderers use to escape justice or receive it themselves by what could be judged as divine guidance of the affairs of mortals.

Rating:
Summary: justice frustrated
Review: This entry in the series focuses on the conspiratorial efforts of three women to exact vengeance upon Ted Brooks, a thoroughly repulsive character who is a murderer, drug dealer, and abusive husband. The mystery opens with the murder of a popular academic who was particularly adroit at fundraising for the colleges. In fact, university fundraising is repeatedly satirized in this episode, as one aspect of this drama involves the tendency of college officials to conveniently abandon higher principles (such as an obligation to report suspected criminal activity) if it might discourage potential financial donors. In any event, the professor's murder acted to cement an alliance among the three women, an alliance undertaken for the purpose of ensuring that Ted Brooks paid for his transgressions. The organizer of the conspiracy is a terminally ill teacher, who realizing she has very little to lose, resorts to various measures (including seduction of a teenage student) to accomplish the trio's objectives. Predictably, Ted Brooks is murdered during the course of the episode; however, the viewer is presented with several possible combinations of suspects before the crime is solved. This episode includes numerous details (student suicide, an allegedly stolen bicycle, and an apparent museum theft) which add interest to this mystery and facilitate plot development. The teacher who organized the conspiracy was described as "clever." Just how clever she was is illustrated by the manner in which this drama ends-- with two of the three conspirators escaping justice. Despite (or perhaps because of) the unusual ending, this entry in the Morse series is very entertaining and satisfying.