Endeavour finally reveals why Morse never speaks about Thursday
Big spoilers ahead for the Endeavour finale, Exeunt – which is now available to stream on ITVX.
Warning: Contains major spoilers for Endeavour's season 9 finale Exeunt.
It's been the question increasingly at the forefront of our minds as we've gone into the ninth and final season of Endeavour: what happens between Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) and Fred Thursday (Roger Allam) that meant Morse never mentions Thursday in the John Thaw version's later years?
In the emotional final episode, we finally got our answer, and like series star Roger Allam had previously teased to RadioTimes.com and other press, a "huge crisis" in the Thursday family leads to a parting of ways for our two detectives.
Allam had said: “I mean, there is a bit of a crisis with Sam. There's my actual son who's drinking far too much this time... Well, there's a huge crisis in the family because of the drinking and the chaos that ensues from that."
He added: "Unless I tell you the story of the other two episodes, I mean, it is very, very, rocky. And there is something – something goes wrong in it that, in the end, results in a kind of parting of the ways for Morse and Thursday. So it's big, it's massive."
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Read on to find out what happened between Morse and Thursday in the final ever Endeavour.
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Why do Endeavour Morse and Fred Thursday part ways in the finale?
In the finale, entitled Exeunt, Fred’s son Sam (Jack Bannon) was out drinking earlier, after having taken money from Fred's wallet. Fred questions Win (Caroline O'Neill) about it that evening, who says that Sam only did so until he gets some money of his own. But Fred is annoyed, leaving the house to go and find Sam himself.
But it's back at the pub's yard that trouble starts to brew, with Tomahawk continuously looking in Sam's direction. We initially see Sam go to use the outside toilet, and then elsewhere, Endeavour visits the Thursday household with some information on a letter published to The Oxford Mail. Fred comes home and is clearly very annoyed by Endeavour turning up to his home at night so snaps at him.
But in the film's final moments, we learn about what actually transpired, leading to Fred's surprisingly angry demeanour that evening.
Endeavour figures out that Fred killed Tomahawk, a member of a biker gang involved in drug dealing who had also killed several people. Tomahawk had threatened Sam before he went into the toilet and looked set to attack him with a knife but coming up behind him, Fred tells Tomahawk to go on his way. But Tomahawk tries to stab Fred, leading to Fred stabbing him instead.
He did so in defence of Sam, who was too drunk to defend himself, saying he'd "do it again in an instant".
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Endeavour found one of Sam's jacket buttons at the scene of the crime and earlier in the episode, noticed that Sam's demeanour was off in Joan and Strange's wedding rehearsal. When talking to Sam in the church yard, he says they should catch up and go for a drink but their conversation is cut short when a member of the biker gang rides past, prompting Sam to bolt up and leave.
Because of Tomahawk's death, Sam is clearly now at risk. While the biker gang has never seen Fred, Endeavour says that Fred wouldn't be able to defend his son against the mob, who would see killing Sam as an "eye for an eye".
Endeavour tells Fred that he must go into hiding and they can never see one another again, prompting Fred to rethink their family plans of moving to Carshall and saying they'll have to move much further away now.
Because Joan (Sara Vickers) and Jim (Sean Rigby) aren't connected to the crime, Endeavour says the newlyweds are safe and that he'll "always" keep an eye on them. Before they go their separate ways, Fred gives Endeavour his gun and Endeavour says “Goodbye sir” to Fred just as Inspector Lewis said to Morse when he died.
Shaking hands one last time, Fred affectionately refers to Endeavour by his first name, but the Detective Sergeant replies: “Morse, sir. Just Morse.”
Roger Allam previously revealed that the team wanted to achieve a sense of finality with these final three films of season 9, saying: "From my point of view I also wanted something that had emotional heft that gave a good reason why Morse never mentioned Thursday in the later John Thaw years. Which I think we do satisfactorily in this. I think we covered all of those bases very well."
He continued: “Thursday says to Chief Supt Reginald Bright (Anton Lesser) in this series that Endeavour is the soul of discretion and if a secret wants keeping, Morse will take it to the grave. And, as the audience will discover, there is something about Thursday that Endeavour will, indeed, take to his grave.
"There are also echoes of Inspector Morse in the final episode which I hope will be emotionally satisfying for the audience.”
One thing's for certain, as well as being a fitting end to the long-running crime drama, the final film definitely delivered the kind of emotional send-off warranted from a momentous relationship like Endeavour Morse and Fred Thursday's.
Endeavour's season 9 finale and all episodes are available to stream on ITVX now. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
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