History Recap / EndeavourS1E02Fugue

* AwfulWeddedLife: The Balfours; Evelyn isn't even smiling in the wedding photograph.

The Oxford City Police are up against a murderer who is as clever as Morse but far more ruthless. Thursday asks Bright to allow Morse to be taken off of general duties in order to help investigate the case. It's not long before Morse himself is attacked, and the trail ultimately leads to a piano recital at which someone will be forced to re-enact a scene from ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}'' by being thrown off a roof (or so the killer wants them to think -- he has a different death from the same opera in mind).

* DeadPersonImpersonation: An interesting variant -- Mason Gull (the murderer) intends to kill his psychiatrist, Dr Cronyn, but steals his identity ''before he has actually killed him''. Posing as Dr Cronyn, he gets himself involved in the investigation. When he does kill Cronyn, it is by way of pouring acid over his head, making it impossible for the police to figure out the impersonation.

* DuringTheWar: In 1943, teenage musical prodigy Mason Gull attacked and killed his mother. As an American general was staying with the family (and quite possibly having a sexual relationship with the mother), the whole thing was hushed up, and it's only by chance that Dorothea Frazil finds out about it from her predecessor who saw the murder scene and took some pictures before the government put a D-notice on the whole thing.
* FriendshipMoment: When Morse becomes weak following his being attached, Thursday brings him home, lets him sleep in the lounge and then has him stay for dinner.

* LastRequest: In order to buy time when he's AloneWithThePsycho on the college roof, Thursday asks if he can smoke his pipe. This enables Morse to get to him before "Dr Cronyn" can kill him.
* MistakenForJunkie: The actual Dr Cronyn is assumed to have been addicted to morphine due to the amount in his bloodstream when his body is found, in addition to several syringes. What actually happened was that Gull imprisoned him in his own (isolated) house and injected him with repeated doses of morphine to subdue him until the time was right to kill him.

** When Dr Cronyn (or rather, the psychopathic murderer who's posing as Dr Cronyn) talks of other serial killers and cases, he refers to "the bodies in the swamp at Fairvale", suggesting that the events of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' actually happened in the Morseverse.

** The tense and ambivalent relationship between Morse and "Dr Cronyn" is reminiscent of the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter in ''Literature/RedDragon''.

* WickedCultured: Mason Gull is a musical prodigy who was institutionalised for killing his own mother. Getting released by faking being cured (and stealing the identity of his former therapist, who he intends to be one of his victims), he embarks on a twisted killing spree, basing his murders on deaths from famous operas to create his own treble clef, EGBDF -- this being the first names of his victims in the order in which they're killed. All of them are somehow linked to his incarceration -- in addition to Cronyn, Nimmo was a witness to the original murder, as was Evelyn Balfour's mother, while Grace Madison's brother-in-law was the magistrate who signed the committal papers. Fred Thursday is the intended final victim as a stand-in for the (long since dead) arresting officer.

The Oxford City Police are up against a murderer who is as clever as Morse but far more ruthless. Thursday asks Bright to allow Morse to be taken off of general duties in order to help investigate the case. It's not long before Morse himself is attacked, and the trail ultimately leads to a piano recital at which someone will be forced to re-enact a scene from ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}'' by being thrown off a roof.

** The intended final victim is Fred Thursday, who was to be thrown off a roof like Scarpia, the villainous police chief in '' Theatre/{{Tosca}}''.

* SignificantAnagram: The Opera Phantom gives as a clue two anagrams pointing to a library where another clue will lead to a kidnapped girl. Even more significant, the name "Keith Miller" that he gives as the supposed real name of the serial killer is an anagram of "I'm the killer."

** Nimmo’s neighbour complains about him playing classical music very loudly — something that Morse’s neighbours will have cause to complain about in "Masonic Mysteries", although as is the case here, he’s not actually responsible for the music.
** The climactic struggle on the roof could well explain Morse’s fear of heights in later life.
** We also see Morse not buying the drinks when it’s his round, to Strange’s disappointment; he does this to Lewis [[RunningGag a lot]] in the original series.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: An interesting variant — Mason Gull (the murderer) intends to kill his psychiatrist, Dr Cronyn, but steals his identity ''before he has actually killed him''. Posing as Dr Cronyn, he gets himself involved in the investigation. When he does kill Cronyn, it is by way drugging him with morphine and pouring acid over his head, making it impossible for the police to figure out the impersonation.

* DuringTheWar: In 1943, teenage musical prodigy Mason Gull attacked and killed his mother. As an American general was staying with the family (and quite possibly having a sexual relationship with the mother), the whole thing was hushed up, and it’s only by chance that Dorothea Frazil finds out about it from her predecessor who saw the murder scene and took some pictures before the government put a D-notice on the whole thing.

* TheGhost: Benjamin Nimmo was this to his neighbour, who didn’t see him once in the three years they lived across the corridor from each other.

** The whole Keith Miller story turns out to have been this — Gull made him up, and with the records having been conveniently destroyed (probably by Gull, although it’s not stated) there is no way of proving that Miller never actually existed.
* RunningGag: This time, it’s luncheon meat in Thursday’s sandwich.

* MundaneSolution: Full-on defied. Jakes may give Morse's arcane opera theory short shrift after the first murder (when everyone apart from Morse thinks the victim's lover did it), but the younger man is right when other bodies start to show up.

* LastRequest: In order to buy time when he’s AloneWithThePsycho on the college roof, Thursday asks if he can smoke his pipe. This helps to buy the time needed for Morse to get to him.

* MundaneSolution: Full-on defied. Jakes may give Morse’s arcane opera theory short shrift after the first murder (when everyone apart from Morse thinks the victim’s lover did it), but the younger man is right when other bodies start to show up.

The opera serial killer episode. First broadcast 23 April 2013.

* ShoutOut: When Dr Cronyn (or rather, the psychopathic murderer who's posing as Dr Cronyn) talks of other serial killers and cases, he refers to "the bodies in the swamp at Fairvale", suggesting that the events of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' actually happened in the Morseverse. The [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]] references continue when Morse goes to the Bodleian Library; the two female assistants have the surnames Crane and Thornhill, the surnames of major characters in ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' and ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'' respectively.

* ShoutOut: When Dr Cronyn (or rather, the psychopathic murderer who's posing as Dr Cronyn) talks of other serial killers and cases, he refers to "the bodies in the swamp at Fairvale", suggesting that the events of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' actually happened in the Morseverse.

July 1965. Evelyn Balfour is found murdered inside a disused railway wagon with the words ''un bacio ancora'' ("one kiss more") written on the back of the door. Morse thinks there is a connection to the [[Music/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] opera ''Theatre/{{Otello}}''. Shortly afterwards, second body shows up; this time, the victim appears to have been killed in a manner reminiscent of another opera, Delibes' ''Lakmé''. A young girl is kidnapped, and the police only have a few hours to find her before she dies.

The Oxford City Police are up against a murderer who is as clever as Morse but far more ruthless. Thursday asks Bright to allow Morse to be taken off of general duties in order to help investigate the case. It's not long before Morse finds that he himself appears to be a target and will be forced to re-enact the final scene from [[Music/GiacomoPuccini Puccini's]] ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}'' by being thrown off a roof.

* AloneWithThePsycho: Thursday ends up trapped on a rooftop with the killer. Luckily, Morse isn't far behind.

* BuriedAlive: One of the victims undergoes this, in order to match the heroine's death in Verdi's ''[[Theatre/AidaVerdi Aida]]''.

* DuringTheWar: In 1943, teenage musical prodigy Mason Gull attacked and killed his mother. As an American general was staying with the family, the whole thing was hushed up, and it’s only by chance that Dorothea Frazil finds out about it from her predecessor who saw the murder scene and took some pictures before the government put a D-notice on the whole thing.

* MundaneSolution: Full-on defied. Jakes may give Morse’s arcane opera theory short shrift, but the younger man is right.

* RedHerring: Evelyn Balfour's husband naturally comes under suspicion after her body is found. As does Roy Adamson, her lover. When the opera theme starts to get taken seriously, the odd behaviour of Philip Madison, a talented but highly-strung classical musician, briefly brings him into the realms of this trope.

** Evelyn Balfour had a handkerchief embroidered with the letter D placed in her mouth after she was strangled to death. That, and the fact that the words ''un bacio ancora'' ("one kiss more") are written on the back of the door of the disused train carriage in which her body is found, leads Morse to make Morse to make a connection to the [[Music/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] opera ''Theatre/{{Otello}}''.

* MistakenForAddict: The actual Dr Cronyn is assumed to have been addicted to morphine due to the amount in his bloodstream when his body is found. What actually happened was that Gull imprisoned him in his own (isolated) house and injected him with repeated doses of morphine to subdue him until the time was right to kill him.

* RedHerring: Evelyn Balfour's husband naturally comes under suspicion after her body is found. As does Roy Adamson, her lover. When the opera theme starts to get taken seriously, the odd behaviour of Philip Madison, a talented classical musician, brings him into the realms of this trope.

** The whole Keith Miller story turns out to have been this — Gull made him up, and with the records having been conveniently destroyed (probably by Gull, although it’s not stated) there is no way of proving that Miller actually never existed.

** The List Song from Theatre/TheMikado becomes something of a theme after the score of this is found on Nimmo’s body.

* WickedCultured: Mason Gull is a musical prodigy who was institutionalised for killing his own mother. Getting released by faking being cured (and stealing the identity of his former therapist, who he intends to be one of his victims), he embarks on a twisted killing spree, basing his murders on deaths from famous operas to create his own treble clef, EGBDF -- this being the first names of his victims in the order in which they're killed. All of them are somehow linked to his incarceration — in addition to Cronyn, Nimmo was a witness to the original murder, as was Evelyn Balfour’s mother, while Grace Madison’s brother-in-law was the magistrate who signed the committal papers. Fred Thursday is the (intended) final victim as a stand-in for the (long since dead) arresting officer.

** Nimmo’s neighbour complains about him playing classical music very loudly — something that Morse’s neighbours will have cause to complain about in "Masonic Mysteries" — although as is the case here, he’s not actually responsible for the music.

** Daniel Cronyn (the actual Daniel Cronyn) has acid poured over him, causing him to (sort of) melt, like the Snow Maiden.

* CallForward: A couple to [[Series/InspectorMorse the original series]].
** Nimmo’s neighbour complains about him playing classical music very loudly — something that Morse’s neighbours will have cause to complain about in Masonic Mysteries — although as is the case here, he’s not actually responsible for the music.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: An interesting variant — Mason Gull (the murderer) intends to kill his psychiatrist, Dr Cronin, but steals his identity ''before he has actually killed him''. Posing as Dr Cronin, he gets himself involved in the investigation. When he does kill Cronin, it is by way drugging him with morphine and pouring acid over his head, making it impossible for the police to figure out the impersonation.

** The whole Keith Miller story turns out to have been this — Gull made him up, and with the records having been destroyed there is no way of proving that Miller actually never existed.

** Even the killer gets in on the act, as the abduction of Debbie Snow turns out to be an example of this. He fully intended for Morse to solve the puzzle and find her.

** Daniel Cronin has acid poured over him, causing him to (sort of) melt, like the Snow Maiden.
* WickedCultured: Mason Gull is a musical prodigy who was institutionalised for killing his own mother. Getting released by faking being cured (and stealing the identity of his former therapist, who he intends to be one of his victims), he embarks on a twisted killing spree, basing his murders on deaths from famous operas to create his own treble clef, EGBDF -- this being the first names of his victims in the order in which they're killed.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: An interesting variant — Mason Gull (the murderer) intends to kill his psychiatrist, Dr Cronin, but steals his identity ''before he has actually killed him''. Posing as Dr Cronin, he gets himself involved in the investigation.

The opera serial killer episode.

* RedHerring: Evelyn Balfour's husband naturally comes under suspicion after her body is found. As does Roy Adamson, her lover. When the opera theme starts to get taken seriously, the odd behaviour of Philip Maddison, a talented classical musician, brings him into the realms of this trope.

** Grace Maddison is killed by poison (specifically, the leaves of the detura plant) in a manner reminiscent of another opera, Delibes' ''Lakmé''; as with the Balfour death, a line from that opera is found not far from where Mrs Maddison was killed.

** Nimmo’s neighbour complains about him playing classical music very loudly — something that Morse’s neighbours will occasionally have cause to complain about.