Regarding the tracked mud, the prints were made by lug sole shoes so it's not entirely unlikely that work or hiking boots, which can have very deep indentations, could retain enough mud to make tracks for quite a distance. Granted though, this is probably one of the many detective story details that require more faith than reason!

Hi, merry!

Very true, what you stated.

The tracks appeared to have a decidedly wet-mud look to them, and like it was a semi-limitless supply of such mud, rather than some-drop-off-here-and-there dry or dryish residual type mud. The tracks came off looking like someone had literally, everywhere they walked indoors, stepped straight out of a soppy mud puddle.

Genplant29, in this particular case, don't forget the sand in question was a type that retains much more moisture than the type that was contractually specified for the concrete mix, thus causing the structural problem of corroded rebar in the housing development. So I think the wetness of the tracks is actually an important plot point that helped Morse solve the mystery.

Good point, merry, and you may well be on to something there.

By the way, the housing complex part of the episode certainly was riveting and powerful!

That councilman guy, I kept wishing someone would smack the smug look off his face!

I want to watch the finale again because I'm confused about a few other aspects of the plot. For example, I don't understand why Bright, now in traffic control and no longer Morse's superior, was pressured to stop Morse's doggedness.

(I also need to re-watch the previous episode, Confection, to try to understand the crossword clue Morse so easily figured out! It must've been a cryptic crossword puzzle because it confounded me...)

Will DCI Ronnie Box return in Season 7? If he survives, it seems he may be sufficiently redeemed and chastened to join the team.

I remember someone stating, regarding Box, during the latter part of the finale episode, that "he has a 50/50 chance". I for some reason suspect he'll be back in Season 7.

I'd like to rewatch Season 5, in order to look/listen for subtly presented clues regarding who we now know was the culprit in George Fancy's murder.

I watched the finale again last night On Demand. A few points [that contain SPOILERS]:

It seems Bright was just as surprised, since he was no longer Morse's superior, as I was that HE was being pressured by his boss ACC Bottoms and the corrupt pol Burkitt to get Morse to back off. I wonder why Thursday wasn't pressured before him? In any case, I suppose in order to involve Bright in the Mexican Standoff scene near the end it was necessary for him to have been pressured. As well, I suppose the unequivocal animus he expressed to Burkitt after shunning the pol's attempts at bribery were necessary in order for him to have been threatened by McGyffin's thugs (BTW I agree with you genplant29 that the scene when the autograph-seeking school children came to Bright's rescue just in the nick of time seemed implausible, nevertheless it was a rather sweet development!).

I was slightly wrong about the sand -- it was the unwashed beach sand's salt content that led to the corrosion of the rebar. Would the salt retain more moisture than usual, allowing for the duration of wet footprints??? Also, during my initial viewing I didn't understand what sparked Morse's obvious interest when he looked at his car's exterior. Turns out it was his notice of the lug sole footprint left by the thug who kicked the car door shut at the concrete worksite.

I do think Ronnie Box will return. Thursday seemed to display a fatherly concern for him when he was shot, in spite of the entanglement with corruption that Box caused, just as he seems to have a fatherly relationship with Morse.

And yes, the house purchased by Morse is the one he ends up living in until the very end!!! I guess only a cop would dare to live in a place where he'd recently seen dead junkies lying about...

I've gotten to thinking more about the wet sand issue: I grew up with us spending much time at the beach, and we never still had wet sand (nor dripping water) on our flip flops or shoes beyond max of about 5 minutes of exiting wet sand, as it would dry out very quickly, plus simply walking would result in the majority of sand readily dropping off. Wet trails of sand all over floors is something that never occurred, other than, to limited extent, somewhere like in the entrance of a shop immediately contiguous to a boardwalk - in other words literally steps from the beach.

I'm glad that you mentioned that the house Morse moved in to at the very end of the season finale is the same house that the dead junkies were in, as I actually hadn't realized that was that house. (You're definitely correct though.) It wasn't until I saw the "SOLD" sign out front at the very end, and him arriving with his suitcase, that it suddenly dawned on me that the place looked generally familiar from the Inspector Morse series. It makes sense that he's now moving in there, as the year (1969) in which Endeavour is now set (by Season 7 may be 1970) is not overly far removed from the year (1987) in which the classic Morse series begins. By the time that earlier series began he obviously was already well-established in that home for years.

I hear what you're saying about the sand issue genplant29. But flip flops generally don't have the deep indentations and traction that lug sole work/hiking boots have. If the person who left the tracks mainly rode in a truck or car after stepping in the wet sand, and only briefly walked around the crime scenes, it's possible he could've left wet tracks. Have faith!!!

IMO there's something bittersweet about Morse buying the house. On one hand, he's finally settling down. But on the other, there's an element of resignation : his behavior with Joan Thursday has become increasingly strained, and he unwittingly hooked up with a murderer in the previous episode!!! If he were trying to make a home with the intention of luring a mate, I doubt if he would've chosen a former flop house for junkies -- and junkies who died there to boot! SO, I found it a bit sad, knowing as we do that he'll become a cynical curmudgeon who lives the rest of his life alone there. It said a lot, without a bit of dialogue. Bright went home to a gravely ill wife and Thursday went home to a forgiving one. Strange went home having finally closed the book on George Fancy. No dialogue in those instances either. Well done all around I thought, and a poignant ending for a season finale.

Good points you've made, merry.

By the way, have you ever noticed the array of highly unusual (not ones I've personally ever known, or even otherwise heard of, anyone of) surnames characters in this series have: Strange, Fancy, Thursday, Bright, Box? And of course the given name of our main character is perhaps even more unique: Endeavour. Meanwhile, in the wonderful Lewis series (which is my very fave series in the extended Morse-inspired franchise), the Chief Inspector's (first name Jean) last name is Innocent.

Something I like about the Endeavour theme music is that it includes a tidbit of what sounds to me to probably be Morse Code. Clever little touch!

@genplant29 said:

Something I like about the Endeavour theme music is that it includes a tidbit of what sounds to me to probably be Morse Code. Clever little touch!

As you know, from the beginning and all through the "Inspector Morse" theme music, you can hear a repeating sequence of notes (motif), sounding like morse code: the letters of his surname "M.O.R.S.E.".

This motif can also be heard in the "Endeavour" theme music.

That's neat to know. I've actually forgotten what the Inspector Morse series' theme music sounds like (despite that I have three Morse series DVDs in a boxed set - and that I watched one of them - 1995's "The Way Through the Woods" - within the last couple of months). I'll need to get out one of those discs and have a new listen.

Yeah, it would be hard not to notice the common noun (as opposed to proper noun) nature of so many of the surnames. I haven't read the Inspector Morse novels by Colin Dexter but I know that at least Strange was a character in them. Since I'm not familiar with the source material I'm not aware that Dexter gave any other major characters common noun-sounding surnames, so maybe this is characteristic of [Endeavour] writer Russell Lewis alone. A real fanatic may know better!

Isn't the Inspector Morse theme music very similar, featuring a guitar and the Morse Code-tempi strings? I love classical guitar, opera and sacred music too -- now that I think of it music may have been a major hook that made me an avid fan from the very beginning, way back when.

I, too, am a fan of classical music, classical guitar, and sacred choral music.

I always watched the Inspector Morse series - probably all of its seasons - back when it originally aired. I can't recall though: Prior to the Endeavour series, was it known that Morse's given name is Endeavour, or is that a detail the prequel series newly revealed? I recall seemingly all characters, in the original series, always calling him either "Morse" or "Inspector Morse". Seems like even women romantically in his life called him "Morse".

@genplant29 said:

I always watched the Inspector Morse series - probably all of its seasons - back when it originally aired. I can't recall though: Prior to the Endeavour series, was it known that Morse's given name is Endeavour, or is that a detail the prequel series newly revealed? I recall seemingly all characters, in the original series, always calling him either "Morse" or "Inspector Morse". Seems like even women romantically in his life called him "Morse".

I'll post the answer on the "Inspector Morse (1987-2000)" message board, here.