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| “ | You think you're going to appeal to his nobler instincts, his better angels? He doesn't have any. The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is he will kill again. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Daniel Cronyn to the police, describing the Opera Phantom. |
| “ | I'M THE KILLER. | „ |
| ~ The anagram as well as hidden message of Keith Miller, provided by the fake Dr. "Daniel Cronyn" which hinted his true identity. |
| “ | You think it's the end? This is where it starts. [...] We're the same, you and me. We bear the same burden; intellegence. To be clever is to be alone, forever. I see it in you. I know who you couldn't save, Morse. | „ |
| ~ Gull taunting Morse after his arrest. |
Mason Gull, also known as Dr. Daniel Cronyn and the Opera Phantom, is an antagonist and serial killer in the Series 1 of Endeavour, serving as the main antagonist in its second episode, "Fugue".
He was portrayed by Geoffrey Streatfeild.
Biography
Past
Mason Gull was a musical prodigy institutionalized for killing matricide when he was fifteen. He spent ten years in the institution until he was released by faking being cured.
After that, Gull adopted what was known later the Opera Phantom persona (named by Peter Jakes based on the Phantom of the Opera) and became a serial killer, with his MO being based on famous opera to create his own treble clef, EGBDF, chosen from his victims' first name. His main intention was to to prove his genius to the world and take revenge against those whom he believed was responsible for his imprisonment, including those who testified against him.
First Four Killings
The Phantom's first murder victim was Evelyn Balfour, whom he strangled near the train station and wrote a line from Verdi's Othello that was from the final scene of the opera, of whence Othello strangled Desdemona to her death, Othello's final words "Un bacio ancora" (Italian for "One more kiss", the opera's final line). This was also a reference that the victim cheated on her husband, in order to pin it on either the victim's unnamed husband or her lover Roy.
Immediately after Roy's arrest for being a suspect, the Phantom claimed his second victim, who was botanist Grace Madison, who was poisoned by with Datura leaves in her tea, before leaving clues about the final scene of Léo Delibes's Lakmé, of whence the titular female protagonist poisoned herself with Datura leaves, and it was Lakmé's final words. Morse, as an opera fan, immediately found this connection out and deduced the killer's murder theme.
The third murder case was around Ben Nimno, whose information was left by the killer on Grace's calendar. After being abducted by the killer, Ben was chained inside his own basement, got sealed up behind a brick wall, before he slowly and eventually dehydrated to his death. When Morse and Thursday arrived in Ben's house, they heard there were music playing, which was the song from Verdi's Aida depicting Radamès being sealed alive.
On Ben's body, Morse discovered a copy of score, which was "Koko's Song" from Arthur Sullivan's The Mikado. The song's central theme was anyone who was on the executioners' theme would not escape from their fate, thus it was clear that the killer was keeping a list of his victim, and was using the song to challenge the police. It was also discovered that the killer kept a photo of Morse he cut from a newspaper.
Later, the police invited therapist, Dr. Daniel Cronyn, who revealed to the police about his past patient, Keith Miller, a musical prodigy that was under his therapy after killing his mother when he was fifteen. However, the police cannot find anything about this Keith Miller until they recieved Dorothea Frazil's ask for help, because she had received a Russian score of an unknown opera (later revealed to be Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden) and was afraid that she would become the next target. In the meantime, Morse had deduced from the names of the victims that the killer's killing was themed after a treble clef of EGBDF.
Immediately afterwards, the fourth victim appeared. After they had kidnapped a young girl called Debbie Snow, the killer left a message with two unrelated sentences (which were actually written with same letters, different orders) on it. However, Morse managed to decipher the victim's message through anagram, pointing to Bodelian Library, before finding out that they should rescue Debbie by dawn, because the Snow Maiden's final fate was being melt under the dawn's sun. Morse then arrived in the Bodelian Library to search for Keith Miller, and the librarian had confirmed that such a person existed and borrowed a score of The Snow Maiden from the library, but before he could capture the killer, Morse failed and was attacked by him.
After surviving the attack, Morse visited Dr. Cronyn, who deduced that the killer was a cold and arrogant man without conscious, and his murder was a game he played with the police themselves. Through the Phantom's latest message and Dr. Cronyn's deduction, Morse discovered the current location of Debbie Snow. The police rescued Debbie from a church in time, but turned out it was actually the Phantom's ruse. The real victim was in fact Dr. Daniel Cronyn, whose corpse was disfigured by the killer with choloric acid. The killing corresponded with the melting of the Snow Maiden.
Final Phase
After Dr. Cronyn's death, Morse visited Faye Madison, the niece of Grace Madison who witnessed the deaths of both her aunt and Dr. Cronyn. In the latter's case, the other witness was her brother Philip, who was a skilled pianist. Faye revealed to Morse that Phillip was a patient of Dr. Cronyn and would make a recital next day. Later, forensic analysis showed that Dr. Cronyn was killed not by acid, but by an overdose of morphine injection, and the acid only disfigured his corpse.
Later, Frazil brought her discovery over the musical prodigy who killed his mother in 1943, revealing his name being Mason Gull instead of Keith Miller. At first, Morse and Thursday were at a lost. On the next day, Morse received a mysterious phone call which was the recording of the final part of Tosca, where Floria Tosca proclaimed her final words before leaping to her death from a castle.
As he and his colleagues were discussing the final victim, Morse suddenly remembered the anagram message the killer sent, and deciphered that "Keith Miller" was actually an acronym of "I'm the killer", revealing that the killer, Mason Gull, was actually posing as Dr. Cronyn and manipulating the police all along, whilst the real Dr. Daniel Cronyn was abducted and killed by Gull by constant injection of morphine.
Upon digging into Cronyn's files, Thursday discovered that most of Mason Gull's previous victims in Opera Phantom case were witnesses testified against him after he murdered Mrs. Gull, and Evelyn was the daughter of barmaid Gertrude Tate who was also amongst the witnesses. The judge on this case was Justice Philip Madison Senior, the father of Faye and Philip Madison. After that, the police came to conclusion that Faye Madison was the next target.
The police soon followed Morse's deduction and set out for Alfredus College, where Philip would gave his recital, because Alfredus College was the base of The Oxford Scohlars Choral Association, of which its acronym formed TOSCA. They later discovered Faye being abducted, tied up and gagged in the alley. They saved her but Morse discovered that this somehow didn't fit with Tosca's ending.
Nevertheless, Morse immediately remembered the character Vitellio Scarpia, the main antagonist of the opera who was a police officer killed by Tosca near the end of Act 2. He quickly concluded that it was all a trap. Gull was in fact basing his final murder over Act 2 instead of Act 3 (the final act of Tosca) and was chasing after Thursday, whose full name was Fred Thursday, a high-ranking police officer like Scarpia.
When Thursday went on the roof to find the killer, Gull revealed himself and attempted to stab Thursday to death, just like how Tosca killed Scarpia. In addition, Thursday was actually a substitute of the late Inspector Chief Foxley, who arrested Gull for matricide years ago and died before his release. His themed serial killing was set both for revenge and his road towards the fame through making the world to acknowledge his talents through his nefarious plans. As for his purpose of keeping Morse alive, Gull claimed that he needed Morse to bear witness his own story towards legendary. Above all, Gull revealed that for ten years in the institute, he had been pretending to be cured by the real Dr. Cronyn, so that he would be released and free to kill once more.
Thankfully, Morse arrived in time to intervene, helping Thrusday to escape and subdued Gull long enough for Jakes, Bright and Strange to arrest him, just in time when Phillip successfully finished his recital. Upon his arrest, Gull taunted Morse about the burden his cleverness brought, and claimed there was only one person Morse could not save (which was Morse himself) before being taken away.
Gallery
Trivia
- There are certain forshaowing that Dr. Cronyn has been impersonated by Gull, most notably his apparent fear and even admiration towards the killer, despite claiming the killer was one of his former patients. Besides, the real Dr. Cronyn had his body disfigured with acid, and that was not the cause of his death, making it more apparent that the real killer was hiding the fact that he was impersonating Dr. Cronyn all along.
- The opera pieces chosen by Gull were mostly with tragic endings.
 Villains
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Inspector Morse Accomplices Non-Culprits Lewis Endeavour Culprits Non-Culprits | ||