In contrast to seemingly everyone else, I hated this episode. Really, really hated it. Mostly because Morse acts like a complete idiot the entire time.
He fawns over Susan, the woman from his past who left him for another man, like a love-sick puppy dog. It looks like he wants to lick her boots half the time, he's so infatuated. And all the time he acts like an idiot, disregarding the case and police procedure completely.
And for what? A woman that manipulates and twists and turns people around her little finger out of some need to have people worship at her feet.
The evil ladies don't stop there, with Miss Moneyponey herself giving particularly evil and spiteful life to an amazingly distasteful character.
The only ones I feel sorry for are Lewis (who needs to solve the case himself cause Morse doesn't have enough blood to operate his brain), and poor old David Haig, playing a very pathetic and easily manipulated man burdened by guilt he doesn't really deserve.
Morse has always had spectacularly bad taste in women. And this cements that as his biggest failing.
He can't see two feet in front of his nose when an old flame is involved, and he turns from dedicated, clever detective to a numpty of epic proportions. Susan is a selfish, horrible woman who almost destroys Morse here, and he lets her like the good little loyal puppy he is.
There's a fine line between being a gentleman and just being an idiot when it comes to love, and Morse crosses that line by about 100 thousand miles.
Awful episode.
