History Recap / EndeavourS7E01Oracle

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A rare Morseverse example -- Sally Alexander, one of the organisers of the Women's Liberation Movement meeting -- Creator/JohnThaw's first wife, and Abigail Thaw's mother.

-->'''Thursday''': Anything in it, do you think? I mean this sixth-sense business. I've always had it down as a load of old baloney. I mean, if you had the gift of second sight, or whatever it is, you'd be down the bookie's, wouldn't you? Not trying to see what Mr. Brezhnev's got in his briefcase.

** The friendship between Morse and Ludo (the latter claims they knew each other at university years before, although the former clearly can't remember him) seems to echo the friendship between Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', which is also (partly) set in Venice.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A rare Morseverse example -- Sally Alexander, one of the organisers of the Women's Liberation Movement meeting -- Creator/JonThaw's first wife, and Abigail Thaw's mother.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The (fictional) opera attended by Morse in Venice is entitled "La Sposa Del Demonio" ("The Demon's Bride") and is subtitled "The Cure For Love", [[spoiler: titles all too appropriate in the light of events which occur at the end of the final episode of this series]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A rare Morseverse example -- Sally Alexander, one of the organisers of the Women's Liberation Movement meeting.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Jenny Tate's visions.

** The friendship between Morse and Ludo (the latter claims they knew each other at university years before, although the former clearly can't remember him) seems to echo the friendship between Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', which is also partly set in Venice.

* CallBack: When Ludo visits Morse's house and checks out his record collection, he comes across a Rosalind Calloway LP. She was the opera singer who appeared in the pilot episode and turned out to be the murderer; after her arrest, Morse failed to prevent her from committing suicide. Which may explain why Morse casually gives the record to Ludo, claiming he hasn't listened to it for years.

* StoryArc: The investigation into the towpath murders will last for the whole of Series 7.

January 1970. Morse, on holiday in Venice, strikes up a sexual relationship with an Italian lady called Violetta. During Morse's absence, Thursday investigates the murder of Molly Andrews on a towpath and suspects her boyfriend, Carl Sturgis, but he has an alibi.

-> ''The good ended happily and the bad unhappily; that's what fiction means. When the overture begins, you don't know what the opera might be or where the story might take you. Whether it'll be comedy or tragedy. This is a story about love.''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The (fictional) opera attended by Morse in Venice is entitled "La Sposa Del Demonio" ("The Demon's Bride") and is subtitled "The Cure For Love", [[spoiler: titles all too appropriate in the light of events which occur at the end of the final episode of this season.]]

** The edgy friendship between Morse and Ludo (the latter claims they knew each other at university years before, although the former clearly can't remember him) seems to echo the friendship between Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', which is also partly set in Venice.
** The influence of ''Film/DontLookNow'' is very strong. The film involved a man having second sight without knowing it; this episode involves a girl who may have the same gift, but who is never believed. The film features a woman's corpse being retrieved from a Venetian canal; this episode features a woman's corpse being found by the side of an Oxford canal. At the climax of both stories, a man has his throat cut by someone who is not what he (or she) seems to be. Also, several locations from the film are used for this episode's Venice scenes.

** The edgy friendship between Morse and Ludo - who claims they knew each other at university years before, although Morse clearly can't remember him - seems to echo the friendship between Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', which is also partly set in Venice.
** The influence of ''Film/DontLookNow'' is very strong. Roeg's film involved a man having second sight without knowing it; "Oracle" involves a girl who may have the same gift, but who is never believed. Roeg's film features a woman's corpse being retrieved from a Venetian canal; "Oracle" features a woman's corpse being found by the side of an Oxford canal. At the climax of both stories, a man has his throat cut by someone who is not what he (or she) seems to be. The early scenes of Morse in Venice tend to confirm that deliberate homage is intended, as several of Roeg's locations are employed.

** The edgy friendship between Morse and Ludo - who claims they knew each other at university years before, although Morse clearly can't remember him - seems to echo the friendship between Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in "The Talented Mr. Ripley", and seems similarly likely to turn nasty in the near future.
** The influence of "Don't Look Now" on this "Endeavour" story is very strong, albeit in an indirect way. Roeg's film involved a man having second sight without knowing it; "Oracle" involves a girl who may have the same gift, but who is never believed. Roeg's film features a woman's corpse being retrieved from a Venetian canal; "Oracle" features a woman's corpse being found by the side of an Oxford canal. At the climax of both stories, a man has his throat cut by someone who is not what he (or she) seems to be. The early scenes of Morse in Venice tend to confirm that deliberate homage is intended, as several of Roeg's locations are employed.

* ShoutOut: Fred Thursday's uncharacteristically crude quip -- directed towards ''his wife'', of all people -- about where he's going to keep the canaries he's just bought refers to the 60s and 70s TV magician David Nixon.

* CallBack: When Ludo visits Morse's house and checks out his record collection, he comes across a Rosalind Calloway LP. She was the opera singer who appeared in the pilot episode and turned out to be the murderer; after her arrest, Morse failed to prevent her from committing suicide.

* CallBack: A couple.
** When Ludo visits Morse's house and checks out his record collection, he comes across a Rosalind Calloway LP. She was the opera singer who appeared in the pilot episode and turned out to be the murderer; after her arrest, Morse failed to prevent her from committing suicide.

* BrandX: Lady Matilda's College is this to the real-life Oxford college of St Hilda's, which was a women's college (with students nicknamed "Hildabeasts") from its founding in 1893 until it started admitting male students in 2008.

** There have been several references to students of Lady Matilda's College as "Matilda-beasts" throughout the show.
* CallForward: A couple.
** In the pub where Morse interviews Jenny Tate, bottles of Radford's beer can be seen. Morse investigates a murder at the Radford's Brewery in the [[Series/InspectorMorse original series]] episode "Sins of the Fathers".
** The women-only Lady Matilda's College also appears in the ''Series/{{Lewis}}'' episode "Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things" in which it is the last Oxford college to go co-educational.

--->'''Fred''': Where are we going to keep them? Up my arse, Winifred! That’s where we're going to keep them. Like David Nixon!

* RememberTheNewGuy: Ludo tries this one on Morse after he gets his wallet stolen. It seems to work.