Title: Reputation
Directed by: Bill Anderson
Written by: Russell Lewis (story), Stephen Churchett (screenplay)
Air Date: January 29, 2006
Previous: none (series premiere)
Next: Whom the Gods Would Destroy
Guest Starring: Charlie Cox, Jack Ellis, Jemma Redgrave, Michael Maloney
"Reputation" is the pilot episode of the British series Lewis, aka Inspector Lewis in the United States.
Robbie Lewis (Kevin Whately) comes back to the sleepy college town of Oxford, which despite being a sleepy college town has a higher mortality rate than the Eastern Front of World War II. Detective Inspector Lewis has spent two years on detached duty in the British Virgin Islands, and five years since the death of his wife Valerie in a hit-and-run accident.
Lewis is picked up at the airport by Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), who is temporarily without a partner as his partner, DI Knox, has gotten busted on a DUI. The chief of Oxford police, Chief Superintendent Innocent, isn't all that excited about DI Lewis being assigned to her and seems to think he should retire. But in the meantime, simply because he's sharing a ride with Hathaway, Lewis picks up a case.
An American math student, Regan Peverill, has been shot dead while she was in a sleep cubicle at an Oxford lab that studies the science of sleep. Who did it? Was it her casual boyfriend, Danny Griffon (Charlie Cox)? Danny's key code was used to access the sleep institute and someone wearing a hoodie just like his was seen on the CCTV. Danny is born to wealth, the heir to Griffon Motors. His father, Jack, died in a mysterious car crash a few years ago and Danny's uncle Rex took over the company—but control reverts to Danny in a year when he turns 21. Danny hates his uncle because he thinks Rex killed Jack, and because he thinks Rex is sleeping with Danny's mother, Trudi.
But as it turns out Danny might not be the killer as he is murdered halfway through the episode. So who did it? Rex, who takes permanent control of Griffon Motors with his nephew's death? Tom Pollock, CFO at Griffin, who has a secret? Tom's 16-year-old daughter Jessica, who has a thing for Danny and was unhappy with him seeing Regan? Surely not kindly Professor Ivor Denniston, the math teacher who instructed both Danny and Regan.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The title "Reputation" appears nowhere in the credits and in some home video presentations this one is simply called "Pilot Episode". "Retribution" is an unofficial title which appears in the actual scripts.
- Asshole Victim: Regan Peverill turns out to have been this, for not only cheating on Danny Griffon with at least two other guys, but e-mailing their professor to brag about disproving the theory which made him famous, along with generally mocking him and calling him an idiot while bragging about her own intellect.
- Book Ends: For the entire run of Lewis. In this first episode, Hathaway picks up Robbie Lewis from the airport. The last episode of the series ends with Robbie and Dr. Hobson going off into retirement together, as Hathaway drops them off at the airport.
- Crime After Crime: Denniston killed Regan to protect his reputation as a math genius, killed Danny when Danny started to figure things out, and then killed Tom to make Danny's murder seem like a murder-suicide.
- Da Chief: CS Innocent, a mild version. She's not all that enthusiastic about having old warhorse Robbie Lewis assigned to her squad and suggests not so subtly that Robbie should retire. She tries to take Lewis off the case and only lets him investigate temporarily while the guy whom Hathaway is supposed to be partnered with is unavailable. She also keeps pressuring Lewis to call Danny the killer and close the case.
- Decoy Protagonist: Danny seems to be the Hamlet in this episode's Whole-Plot Reference of Hamlet—until he's killed halfway through.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The killer was none of the likely suspects and the murders had nothing to do with the professional and sexual jealousies around Griffon Motors. It's gentle, unassuming Prof. Denniston! Regan the math whiz was about to punch a hole in the math proof that won Denniston the Fields Medal. Then he killed Danny because Danny finally read Regan's email and figured everything out, and killed Rex to make it look like Danny killed his uncle in a murder-suicide (except that Denniston really killed Tom by mistake!).
- The Faceless: The hooded figure seen murdering both Regan and Danny.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: The bells of Oxford tolling in the opening sequence set an ominous mood, which is appropriate, as we're watching a murder mystery show.
- Girls With Mustaches: CS Innocent, who seems to think part of her job is insulting Lewis, meets him at the site where Danny's body was found and asks "Have you shaved this morning?" Dr. Hobson overhears this and snarks "She hasn't."
- Grave-Marking Scene: The first thing Lewis does after setting foot in England is stop by his wife's grave to lay flowers.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: Lewis gets in the back seat of Hathaway's car at the airport. He says "Home, James! I've always wanted to say that."
- Murder by Mistake: After killing Danny, Denniston immediately killed Rex to make it look like Danny killed his uncle and then himself in a murder-suicide...except he didn't kill Rex at all. It was Tom, not Rex, who was Trudi's lover, and who was lounging in the tub in Trudi's bathroom when Denniston shot him.
- Murder-Suicide: Lewis and Hathaway come to Denniston's house to arrest him. They say they'll wait until Social Services come by to look after Denniston's wife, who is wheelchair-bound and terminally ill with a nerve disease. Denniston says "Don't bother with Social Services. We share everything." Then he collapses to the floor just as Hathaway slaps the mug out of his hand. Denniston has killed his wife and then himself, with poison.
- Never One Murder: Established the trope that would be found in every single episode of Lewis. This one is typical, as there's an opening murder, a murder at the halfway point, and another murder towards the end.
- No Romantic Resolution: Romantic sparks fly between Lewis and the director of the sleep institute, Dr. Kate Jekyl. The character of Kate was intended as a Love Interest for Robbie Lewis, but reportedly Kevin Whateley objected to Lewis coming back to England and immediately getting a new girlfriend. Kate was never seen again and it would take some time for Lewis to get a new love interest.
- Pilot: This was actually a one-off pilot that aired over a year before the first proper season of Lewis ran.
- P.O.V. Cam: Briefly seen from the hooded figure that is creeping around the institute, before they murder Regan.
- Punk in the Trunk: Tom Pollock's corpse is found stuffed in the trunk of his own car.
- Slain in Their Sleep: Regan is shot in the back of the neck as she sleeps in a cubicle at the sleep institute.
- Surprise Incest: Why is Trudi extremely unhappy with Jessica's interest in Danny, reacting very badly when she sees Jessica planting a big kiss on him? Because she knows that Danny's real father is Tom Pollock, so Danny and Jessica are half-siblings.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The plot is a gloss on Hamlet, which Hathaway notes In-Universe. There's the father that died mysteriously, father's younger brother who took control (and is named "Rex") and might or might not be dating his brother's wife, and the dead father's son who thinks that uncle did it and swears revenge. There's also the young girl who loves the son and who walks into water to drown herself—but in this instance the Ophelia is saved.
