Lewis

[altariel]

I really do like Lewis, which is as enjoyable and attractively made as Inspector Morse, but doesn’t have that miserable misogynist snob spoiling my fun. I like it even though they cruelly bumped off Lewis’ missus at the start of the first episode, just so that he could pretend he was mourning her and not Morse, which I probably shouldn’t like for all sorts of reasons.

I also like how the Lewis-Hathaway relationship replicates the Morse-Lewis one, only this time the over-educated misanthrope is the junior partner. It makes you believe that this dynamic stretches back and back, even unto the Middle Ages, where the medieval equivalent of a grumpy grammar school boy and a put-upon working class boy are forever together in the green wood, fighting crime.

Last week’s episode, “The Point of Vanishing” made much use of The Hunt in the Forest by Paolo Uccello. It made me think of Pauline Baynes’ illustrations for the Narnia books, particularly the end of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the young kings and queens of Narnia go on a hunt in a forest and vanish from the world. Lewis did an episode about the Inklings at the start of the season: I’m surprised that’s not turned up in the Morse-verse before.

Comments

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

I also like how the Lewis-Hathaway relationship replicates the Morse-Lewis one, only this time the over-educated misanthrope is the junior partner. It makes you believe that this dynamic stretches back and back, even unto the Middle Ages, where the medieval equivalent of a grumpy grammar school boy and a put-upon working class boy are forever together in the green wood, fighting crime.

A STORY ETERNALLY RETOLD. It could be like Highlander! There can be only one over-educated misanthrope at a time! Did the junior partner cut off Morse's head?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

They are Sith Lords!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Or that!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Which means it all carries on into the Future! Or into a galaxy far far away at any rate.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

But I think you'll find that all happened a Long Time Ago! This is so confusing.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Curse you, time, and your bewildering ways! *waves puny fist*

[kathyh]

doesn’t have that miserable misogynist snob spoiling my fun.

LOL. Yes. I don't think I realised it while I was watching it but Morse really was a misery. With "Lewis" I can sit back and enjoy the series, the slightly unlikely mysteries and the Lewis-Hathaway dynamic without cringing for poor Lewis the entire time.

the medieval equivalent of a grumpy grammar school boy and a put-upon working class boy are forever together in the green wood, fighting crime.

Ever thought of writing a history mystery :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I can sit back and enjoy the series, the slightly unlikely mysteries and the Lewis-Hathaway dynamic

Also, Laurence Fox is easy on the eye.


Ever thought of writing a history mystery :)

:-) Too lazy to do the research!

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Pauline Baynes’ illustrations for the Narnia books

How did she manage to make Lucy dark and Susan blonde, when Lewis clearly says it's the other way around? And why didn't he notice and get it corrected?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I had never noticed either.

[owl]

Isn't Susan dark in the illustrations?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My books are all packed away at the moment and I can't check.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. It's harder to tell than with Lucy, who is definitely dark where Lewis has her "gay and golden-haired". But in my copy of The Horse and His Boy, Susan looks pretty blonde to me, and he just as definitely says she is dark-haired (at the end of the first book).

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Lewis's initials aren't CS by any chance? Or could he be CS's child or grandchild?

It makes you believe that this dynamic stretches back and back, even unto the Middle Ages, where the medieval equivalent of a grumpy grammar school boy and a put-upon working class boy are forever together in the green wood, fighting crime.

Robin Hood and Little John might fit those descriptions, except that Robin Hood isn't normally portrayed as particularly grumpy. He has generally come across as being quite posh, though.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

He is Robbie Lewis, I think. Also a Geordie - although he's Welsh in the earlier books. (Or possibly a Yorkshireman, my memory is packing in. No, I'm sure he's Welsh.)

Robin Hood and Little John might fit those descriptions, except that Robin Hood isn't normally portrayed as particularly grumpy. He has generally come across as being quite posh, though.

Yes, the Earl of Huntingdon! Robin Hood and Much might be another pair. Or, now I think of it, Michael Praed and Ray Winstone as Robin and Will Scarlett.

[paranoidangel]

I'm not sure I watched that much Morse - I don't remember watching much of it anyway. But Lewis is really good and I really enjoy it. I like Lewis complaining about all the academics etc and having to deal with all these supposedly intelligent people. Also these days I can spend lots of time going 'been there' at large parts of it.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, I deeply sympathize with Lewis on that score too.

Morse I watched a lot of when it was on, and I watched a lot of repeats recently on ITV3. It can be a bit slow, often the plots are samey, but it's beautifully made. The early ones are definitely the best, particularly as John Thaw still looks a bit like Regan from The Sweeney, and he gives Morse this slightly harder edge.

Also funny to see workplaces and offices from immediately before computers became ubiquitous!

[paranoidangel]

Ooh, I will definitely look out for Morse and fill my PVR with episodes.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Exactly what we did! :-D

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Yes, I enjoy it too (though it clashes with RamotsweThe No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and so I am behind on watching it).

I've noticed the re-emergence of Morse's Law (Our Hero is about to become romantically embroiled with either the next victim or the killer). On the contrasts front, Chief Superintendent Strange has been replaced by a more politically correct boss; whilst I can imagine her taking the afternoon off, it wouldn't be to go Golfing with the Lord Lieutenant (unless that's a euphamism with which I am unfamiliar).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Golfing with the Lord Lieutenant

Heh!

Yes, I was a bit worried about the reappearance of Morse's Law, although IIRC it was a variation on it, in that Lewis ran for the hills at the first mention of a possible relationship with the woman concerned. But it still meant that she had a massive black X on her forehead for the rest of the episode.

How are you liking Ramotswe? I'm in two minds, I can't decide whether or not it's irredeemably daft. But I love Mma Makutsi.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying it, though it is daft and perhaps even more lightweight than the books.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

It's one of my few Must Watches, on account of being cheery & predictable, yet well made. I didn't like the way they de-gayed Hathaway in 'The Point of Vanishing', though perhaps looking back he was only ever gay in my head.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

In Your Head is Good Enough.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Given that they're doing the RTD-thing of giving everyone a soapy back-story, I wonder whether that train of thought might return in the future. After all, he's very enigmatic.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

I can never go into the Ashmolean (one of the joys of living in Oxford, it's almost as much fun as the Fitz) without going to have a look at A Hunt in the Forest. There's something about that very extreme use of perspective, with everything shrinking away towards the vanishing point in the darkness, that almost literally tries to suck you into the painting - it's addictive.

And you're quite right, though I'd never thought of it before, there is something reminiscent of Baynes - her drawing of human figures is rather graceful in a Uccello way, though I think Uccello is more robust, particularly in his use of colour. (I've always found Baynes's illustrations rather weedy for my taste somehow: I don't mind them in Narnia too much, but when applied to Middle-earth they always feel twee beyond belief.) As you say, I'm sure in that particular painting it's the combination of the dark forest setting and the vanishing motif which particularly says "Narnia!"

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I love her Narnia illustrations - I couldn't imagine the books without them, to be honest. But absolutely not right for Middle-earth, too whimsical.

[sherlock1.livejournal.com]

Loving Lewis, although it's 50% great fun and 50% shite. The interplay between Hathaway and Lewis provides most of my joy I think. Read an interview with them awhile ago in the Radio Times, and they are obviously hugely fond of one another in real life.

Felt a bit of deja vu at Sunday's plot (old rockers). Sure I've seen an almost identical Midsomer Murders story. Still, think Lewis is morphing into Midsomer Murders, so it's hardly surprising.

Maybe one day they'll have a one-off drama about a police conference in, say, the Cotswolds, and Barnaby will turn up, along with Lewis, Hathaway, everyone from New Tricks (who have also done an 'old rockers' episode if I'm not mistaken) and Frost. And Miss Marple will happen to be staying at the same hotel, and Columbo will turn up to do a masterclass in how to interrogate suspects without them realising they're being interrogated. Brilliant.

On another note (well, not really), how did you enjoy the series of L&O UK as a whole?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ideally "The Belz" would turn up in that crossover as John Munch, and then all UK cop shows would become linked to the massive alternate universe that is US cop shows... Well, I can dream.


how did you enjoy the series of L&O UK as a whole?

I thought it quickly gave up on mediocrity and settled for crap. A wasted opportunity. Bloody Chris Chibnall.

What did you think?

[sherlock1.livejournal.com]

It was quite pants in many ways. I've never liked the "law" part of it, so always get a bit bored once the lawyers take over. And I think the lawyers' lines were the more cliched (though both sets of characters had more than their fair share). The main non-pants aspects were, for me, that Bradley Walsh actually turned out to be very watchable, and that I got to look at Jamie Bamber being pretty. Though frankly they could have at least TRIED to have a few scenes in which he took his shirt off. (Having finally watched series 1 of Battlestar Galatica, the lack of bicep display was rather painful).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Bradley Walsh carried the show, I think. Bill Paterson and Harriet Walter were criminally underused - but then they didn't seem to have thought through how to use them. I'm afraid I don't think Freema Agyeman is very good.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, what do you think of BSG? I have Strong Opinions, based on not watching all of it ;-)