History Recap / EndeavourS8E01Striker

* AlwaysMurder: A given with ''Endeavour''. This episode has two murders, neither of which are connected to each other in terms of motive -- the only link is that one of the perpetrators of the first murder is the chairman of the football club at which the second one takes place. A third murder is attempted by the perpetrator of the second, but is prevented by Morse and Thursday. Another police officer is shot in the denouement, although it's stated towards the end that he has survived and will likely "pull through".

* TheBusCameBack: Joan, who was absent for Series 7, has returned. In-universe, she was away working in Stevenage but [[WatsonianVersusDoylist in actual fact]] Sara Vickers, the actress who plays her, did not work on Series 7 as she was away on maternity leave.

* HiddenDepths: Strange, it seems, is something of a ladies' man if what Joan says to him is anything to go by. All we have previously seen of this is that he dated a friend of Joan's in "[[Recap/EndeavourS2E02Nocturne Nocturne]]" and was trying to cook a romantic meal for ''someone'' in "[[Recap/EndeavourS7E02Raga Raga]]", although we never found out who.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: There are plenty of references to Britain adopting decimal coinage, "Decimal Day" being 15th February 1971. The Max Bygraves song "Decimalisation", part of the substantial public information campaign, is played shortly before the parcel bomb explodes. There was also a postal strike in Britain at the time, which plays a key role in the investigation of the parcel bomb as it -- and the Valentine's card Maggie opened just before the bomb went off -- could not have been delivered by post. It's also speculated that the parcel bomb could be the work of the Angry Brigade, a RealLife far-left terrorist group operating in Britain in the early 1970s. Their bombing campaign targetted banks, embassies and Conservative [=MPs=], resulting in property damage but no deaths -- the latter of which is suggested by Morse as a reason for the Lonsdale bomb ''not'' being their work as it was clearly intended to kill. He's right.

* CallForward: To the novels and the [[Series/InspectorMorse original series]]. Widdowson, the surname of the first murder victim, is also the surname of a female character in ''Last Bus to Woodstock'' -- although she was called Sue in the novel and Mary in the TV adaptation. In the novel, she was the murderer, although in the adaptation it was a case of accidental death.

* CallBack: To [[Recap/EndeavourS1E01Endeavour the pilot episode]], when Thursday says of Morse that he's "no more the kid who got off the coach from Carshall Newtown".

February 1971. A parcel bomb explodes and kills Maggie Widdowson, a young secretary at Lonsdale College. Meanwhile a threat is made by the Provisional IRA on the life of Northern Irish footballer Jack Swift, who plays for local side Oxford Wanderers. Morse is assigned to protect Swift, which he is not happy about due to his lack of interest in football and the fact that he would rather be investigating the death of the secretary. Still reeling from the events of "Zenana", he's drinking more heavily than normal.

* TheAlcoholic: Morse is starting to show signs of this, swigging from a hip-flask while on duty.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Surprisingly little is mentioned of the climax of Series 7, which saw Morse travel to Venice to arrest Ludo and Violetta, and Thursday follow him out there. It ended with Ludo shooting Violetta, who died in Morse's arms, following which Ludo himself was shot by Thursday -- although whether or not he died wasn't confirmed. Morse was also shown in what looked like an Italian police interview room. None of these various loose ends are tied up (or in some cases even acknowledged) in this episode.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Both football matches — the original [[UsefulNotes/TheFACup FA Cup]] fixture between Oxford Wanderers and Cowley Town, followed by the subsequent replay — are settled by Jack Swift scoring from a direct free kick in injury time; the equaliser for the first match (thus setting up the replay), the winner for the second.

* FalseFlagOperation: The IRA threat against Swift is eventually revealed to have been one of these. The threat was actually made by a ''loyalist'' terrorist group, who planned to have Swift killed for raising money for the IRA -- although he had actually taken part in a charity event to raise money for Northern Irish youth groups and had been unaware that the IRA had taken a cut of the proceeds. Given the threat, his death would have likely been blamed on the IRA.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: There are plenty of references to Britain adopting decimal coinage, "Decimal Day" being 15th February 1971. The Max Bygraves song "Decimalisation", part of the substantial public information campaign, is played shortly before the parcel bomb explodes. There was also a postal strike in Britain at the time, which plays a key role in the investigation of the parcel bomb as it -- and the Valentine's card Maggie opened just before the bomb went off -- could not have been delivered by post. It's also speculated that the parcel bomb could be the work of the Angry Brigade, a far-left terrorist group operating in Britain in the early 1970s. Their bombing campaign targetted banks, embassies and Conservative [=MPs=], resulting in property damage but no deaths -- the latter of which is suggested by Morse as a reason for the Lonsdale bomb ''not'' being their work as it was clearly intended to kill. He's right.

* FictionalCounterpart: As with Oxford colleges in the Morseverse, so with [[UsefulNotes/BritishFootyTeams football teams]]. Oxford Wanderers, the team Jack Swift plays for, is this for the real-life Oxford United, with whom they share club colours (although Oxford United were actually in the Second Division in 1971).

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Surprisingly little is mentioned of the climax of Series 7, which saw Morse travel to Venice to arrest Ludo and Violetta, and Thursday follow him out there. It ended with Ludo shooting Violetta, who died in Morse's arms, and then getting shot by Thursday although whether or not he died wasn't confirmed. Morse was also shown in what looked like an Italian police interview room. None of these various loose ends are tied up (or in some cases even acknowledged) in this episode.

* AlwaysMurder: A given with ''Endeavour''. This episode has two murders, neither of which are connected to each other in terms of motive (the only link is that one of the perpetrators of the first murder is the chairman of the football club at which the second one takes place); a third is attempted by the perpetrator of the second, but is prevented by Morse and Thursday. Another police officer is shot in the denouement, although it's stated towards the end that he has survived and will likely "pull through".

* UsefulNotes/BritishFootyTeams: Of the fictional variety. Jack Swift plays for Oxford Wanderers of the First Division. John Paul Martinelli, a younger player tipped to replace Swift, plays for the lower-division Cowley Town ... who happen to be playing Wanderers in an [[UsefulNotes/TheFACup FA Cup]] tie which goes to a replay. It's speculated that if Wanderers sign Martinelli, Swift will be loaned out to [[ComicBook/{{Viz}} Fulchester]]. Said speculation is rendered moot when Martinelli is murdered shortly after the replay.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Both football matches — the original cup tie between Oxford Wanderers and Cowley Town, followed by the subsequent replay — are settled by Jack Swift scoring from a direct free kick in injury time; the equaliser for the first match (thus setting up the replay), the winner for the second.

* FictionalCounterpart: As with Oxford colleges in the Morseverse, so with football teams. Oxford Wanderers is this for the real-life Oxford United, with whom they share club colours (although Oxford United were actually in the Second Division in 1971).

* MistakenIdentity: It is initially assumed that Martinelli is killed because he is mistaken for Swift, given that he's found dead wearing Swift's number 10 shirt (the two had swapped shirts at the end of the match) -- despite the fact that it would be very difficult to mistake the two as they do not look like each other. Ultimately subverted, though, as the killer ''really was'' going for Martinelli here, although he also intends to kill Swift, albeit for a completely different reason.

*** Frazil quotes from "Morte d'Arthur" when referring to John Paul Martinelli looking to become 'the new Jack Swift'.

* FictionalCounterpart: As with Oxford colleges in the Morseverse, so with football teams. Oxford Wanderers is this for the real-life Oxford United.

* ShoutOut: Among the fictional [[UsefulNotes/BritishFootyTeams football teams]] that exist in the Morseverse is Fulchester, the side Billy the Fish plays for in ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Surprisingly little is mentioned of the climax of Series 7, which saw Morse travel to Venice to arrest Ludo and Violetta, and Thursday follow him out there. It ended with Ludo shooting Violetta, who died in Morse's arms, and then getting shot by Thursday although whether or not he died wasn't confirmed. Morse was also shown in what looked like an Italian police interview room. None of these various loose ends are tied up (or in some cases even acknowledged) in this episode.

* AlwaysMurder: A given with ''Endeavour''. This episode has two murders, neither of which are connected to each other in terms of motive, although the killer is the same; a third is prevented by Morse and Thursday. Another police officer is shot in the denouement, although it's stated towards the end that he has survived and will likely "pull through".

* AlwaysMurder: A given with ''Endeavour''. This episode has two murders, neither of which are connected to each other [[spoiler: in terms of motive, although the killer is the same]]; a third is prevented by Morse and Thursday. Another police officer is shot in the denouement, although it's stated towards the end that he has survived and will likely "pull through".
* BlackmailBackfire: Maggie Widdowson found out about a nefarious plot between [[spoiler: the Master of Lonsdale College (her boss) and the chairman of Oxford Wanderers]]. She tried to blackmail them ... and they decided to kill her rather than buy her silence.

* CallForward: To the novels and the [[Series/InspectorMorse original series]]. Widdowson, the surname of the first murder victim, is also the surname of a female character in ''Last Bus to Woodstock'' -- although she was called Sue in the novel and Mary in the TV adaptation. [[spoiler: In the novel, she was the murderer, although in the adaptation it was a case of accidental death.]]

* FalseFlagOperation: The IRA threat against Swift is eventually revealed to have been one of these. [[spoiler:The threat was actually made by a ''loyalist'' terrorist group, who planned to have Swift killed for raising money for the IRA -- although he had actually taken part in a charity event to raise money for Northern Irish youth groups and had been unaware that the IRA had taken a cut of the proceeds. Given the threat, his death would have likely been blamed on the IRA]].

* IsThisThingOn: Maggie found out about [[spoiler: Fenner and Stamfield's]] plan [[spoiler: to let the football club's lease on their ground expire and then sell the land to property developers, netting a tidy profit for both of them]], because [[spoiler: Stamfield left his dictaphone on while they had their conversation. Maggie, being Stamfield's secretary, collected his dictaphone tapes to type up his letters as per usual, and so found out about their plan by accident. She then decided to blackmail them, which [[BlackmailBackfire didn't end well]] for her]].
* MistakenIdentity: It is initially assumed that Martinelli is killed because he is mistaken for Swift, given that he's found dead wearing Swift's number 10 shirt (the two had swapped shirts at the end of the match) -- despite the fact that it would be very difficult to mistake the two as they do not look like each other. Ultimately subverted, though, as the killer ''really was'' going for Martinelli here, [[spoiler: although he also intends to kill Swift, albeit for a completely different reason]].
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: There are plenty of references to Britain adopting decimal coinage, "Decimal Day" being 15th February 1971. The Max Bygraves song "Decimalisation", part of the substantial public information campaign, is played shortly before the parcel bomb explodes. There was also a postal strike in Britain at the time, which plays a key role in the investigation of the parcel bomb as it -- and the Valentine's card Maggie opened just before the bomb went off -- could not have been delivered by post.
** It's also speculated that the parcel bomb could be the work of the Angry Brigade, a far-left terrorist group operating in Britain in the early 1970s. Their bombing campaign targetted banks, embassies and Conservative [=MPs=], resulting in property damage but no deaths -- the latter of which is suggested by Morse as a reason for the Lonsdale bomb ''not'' being their work as it was clearly intended to kill. He's right.

* UsefulNotes/TheTroubles: The threat made against the life of Jack Swift, a Northern Irish footballer, comes from the Provisional IRA [[spoiler: although it's actually loyalist terrorists who want to kill him]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Surprisingly little is mentioned of the climax of Series 7, which saw [[spoiler: Morse travel to Venice to arrest Ludo and Violetta, and Thursday follow him out there. It ended with Ludo shooting Violetta, who died in Morse's arms, and then getting shot by Thursday although whether or not he died wasn't confirmed. Morse was also shown in what looked like an Italian police interview room]]. None of these various loose ends are tied up (or in some cases even acknowledged) in this episode.