Without doubt the worst Lewis episode by a very long way and it even eclipses the very worst of Morse. It is simply a diatribe of extreme right-on-ness devoid of dramatic merit, plausibility, wit, elegance, decent plot, or anything else one might reasonably expect in 1.5 hours of prime-time drama.
Every character is a crude caricature, including Lewis and Hathaway. In Hathaway's case, ludicrously implausible elements of his back story are conjured from nowhere to bolster the polemic that masquerades as a script.
This episode also distils to a potent degree another favourite trope of Lewis ( mercifully absent from Morse ) namely that everyone aged 40 or over is bad while anyone aged 39 or younger is good. The desperation of the writers/producers to be seen as hip in this respect is highlighted by making both Lewis and Hathaway exceptions to the rule.
The attempt to create a dramatic climax is based on such absurd implausibility that one can almost dismiss the awfulness of the rest of the episode on the grounds that none of it should be taken seriously but it actually is a serious abuse of the trust and affection that many viewers have for both the programme and the main characters to use them in this way.
As with countless other episodes of various murder series I could just about forgive the profound ignorance displayed by the scriptwriters of all things church if only they would stop referring to clergyman as Rev Surname: not much to ask is it?
