This episode sees Morse investigating two murders; first a Librarian is stabbed to death in the Bodleian Library; the only obvious clues some muddy boot prints and a scrap of paper with a word written on it in Hebrew. Then a year old tower block partly collapses; there are many fatalities but the most notable is a man who was found shot dead in the basement; he'd been there, set in concrete, since the tower was built. He was also killed by the same gun as PC George Fancy. It turns out he was a surveyor for the local council and as the investigation proceeds intense pressure is exerted to get enquiries dropped... Morse isn't about to stop though even though he is unsure if he can still trust his Mentor DI Thursday.
This was, to my mind, the best episode of the current series. The case of the University librarian is classic Inspector Morse and the tower block disaster, a clear reference the Ronan Point collapse in 1968, gave the episode a good sense of the time. There are plenty of suspects and motives; red herrings and misdirection. As the story progresses the tension rises and while viewers know certain characters must survive as they were in 'Inspector Morse' I was genuinely concerned for key characters who don't have such guarantees. The ending nicely wraps up the various plot lines; both those raised in the episode and others that have been there since the murder of PC Fancy in the previous series. All the main cast; Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Sean Rigby and James Bradshaw; as Morse, Thursday, Bright, Strange and Dr DeBryn are on great form and the supporting cast are equally solid. Overall a really fine episode that left me looking forward to the next series.
