Endeavour & Joan - Missing Scene
It all started with this print (© The Red Dress London on Etsy):
I noticed that the moment depicted between Endeavour and Joan was not included in Season 6, which this artwork was commissioned to advertise. I didn't think much about it until the wonderful @sircolinmorgan posted this image from shutterstock:
Finally! Evidence that the deleted scene existed! But where from? Some investigation was required...
Okay, so when lightened up a bit, what you can tell just from that pic alone is that there’s a blackboard in the background, someone sitting at a desk, and you can see the edge of a camp bed (you can also see that she’s holding his other hand!) All of that of course suggests ‘Deguello’ and the aftermath of the tower collapse in the gymnasium. As far as I can tell there’s only one scene in the episode at this location and it’s when Endeavour escorts a child to a waiting parent and then Strange and Thursday are there and reach for him (quite a lovely caring moment):
Compare the first of these three pics and you’ll see the blackboard, the person at the desk, and that the blue area in the shutterstock pic is the privacy screen next to the blackboard.
Endeavour is wearing his blue shirt that’s consistent with both images, but he never takes his jacket off in the actual scene and it’s very odd that Strange touches Endeavour’s shoulder and he turns around, only for the scene to immediately cut to the makeshift morgue scene with DeBryn. You never see another scene at that location as far as I can tell. Does that imply something was cut there? The shutterstock pic shows Joan at that location, but she was never there in the episode.
The next scene with Endeavour is when he visits the little girl in hospital and meets Joan there:
Their conversation is extremely brief with Joan telling Endeavour he should be at home:
Morse: I wanted to see if she was all right. How is she? How's her mum?
Joan: Hanging in there. You should be home.
Morse: Home. So should she. So should her mother. So should everyone.
Morse: Yeah, not like this. You know, somebody's got to be responsible. Is there anything I can do?
Joan: You've done your bit and more.
Joan is of course wearing the same as in the shutterstock pic. The next time we see Joan she runs into Endeavour when he’s investigating the surveyor and she’s changed clothes:
They talk about the survivors and then have this little exchange:
Joan: How are things with you?
Morse: Oh, one day's much the same as the next.
Joan: I didn't mean work, I meant you.
Morse: Oh, it's the same thing, isn't it? Have you seen your father lately?
Morse: Well, I just wondered if he was all right. He hasn't seemed himself lately.
Morse: Anyway, there it is.
It’s extremely halting and Endeavour leaves looking all awkward and uncomfortable. Make of that what you will because neither of the filmed scenes between Endeavour and Joan play like they could have had such a close moment as in the shutterstock pic with Joan touching his face and holding his hand. Obviously one was switched out, but it seems to me the entire tenor of their interaction in 'Deguello' was changed. These are the only scenes they had together and Joan isn’t in the rest of the episode or the next season for that matter! I wonder if it played a part that Sara Vickers wasn’t available - I have no idea how far in advance they could have known. It's also possible they felt that a romantic moment would have been out of place in the midst of a tragedy, or perhaps they simply decided against allowing Endeavour and Joan to be close. No matter the reason, it's a real shame - it looked like a beautiful scene!
Anyway, that was my little Sherlockian endeavour (snort!) into the missing Endeavour/Joan moment everyone was robbed of. I think it’s probably much like the sigil scene in BBCs ‘Merlin’ where a totally different version was filmed with a very different feel, and we don’t know why that was swapped out either! Damn my favourite shows.
