But all of these side-stories seemed inconsequential, almost irrelevant at times, to what was the main event. The other loose ends? The two thugs got theirs, Rob Hepworth was arrested – not for the murder of his wife, but for having indecent images on his computer – and Alison helped the police locate Faisal. “We’ve had another tussle,” she said matter-of-factly, through the tears. And afterwards, Catherine strode down the street, as she always does, but this time collapsing as her colleagues surrounded the house. In the end, Tommy Lee Royce set himself on fire after telling Catherine what the Kneževićs had done. Emotionally charged with two people so obviously hating each other – Catherine because of what Tommy did to Becky and her family, Tommy because he claimed that he loved Becky and that it was Catherine who had ruined his life. There was no fight, no Catherine in peril. When the showdown came, Tommy was on his last legs. Perhaps that’s Sally Wainwright’s greatest achievement in all of this – giving Tommy Lee Royce grey areas, human areas, hitherto unexplored. Whether this was because of guilt and remorse or self-pity we don’t know, but it was a poignant moment nonetheless. He also saw pictures of Becky, and he wept. As a father, as someone who hadn’t thrown his life away. There he saw his son as a baby and perhaps saw in that moment what things could have been like for him. There he sat in Catherine’s empty house, bleeding out and knowing that he was close to death, poring through the photo albums that Catherine had herself leafed through earlier. She also heard from Ryan what she needed to hear: that he never had any intention of running off with his dad, he just wanted to see for himself what he was like.Īnd so back to Tommy Lee Royce. Up until that point Catherine had been in reflective mood, visiting Becky’s grave and aware that it was her last day on the job before retirement. He went to the only place he knew that would be empty: Catherine’s house. His plan of escape was in tatters, his life on the line. Tommy was stabbed in the stomach but prevailed. He and the driver then tumbled out of the car into a field (with sheep all around) and battled to the death. Fearing for his life as they drove along the back lanes, he decided to take the initiative, repeatedly stabbing the thug in the back seat and then slicing the throat of the person in the passenger seat. He went back to the safe house, took a knife from the kitchen and then concealed it up the sleeve of his hoodie. The Kneževićs wanted to move him from the safe house after their two hapless thugs were caught with the money, but seeing a car full of gangsters who initially wanted him to get into the boot of their car presented a number of red flags. The first big unexpected element to this final was the fate of Tommy Lee Royce. And they were – in unexpected, moving, and very human ways. The showdown with Tommy Lee Royce, the fate of the lead characters, the Kneževićs and the Faisal case… all of these had to be tied up. Perhaps not a happy ending – when and what in Happy Valley has ever been happy? – but something satisfying, and emotionally engaging. Leading up to the finale, I was well aware that it had a lot to clear up, and I really hoped that it could land successfully. I’m all for it, and it’s a testament to Sally Wainwright’s writing and, certainly, Sarah Lancashire’s iconic performance as Catherine Cawood that this has been the case. It’s great to see it transcend genres, get huge press coverage and get people talking about what’s going to happen in the finale. I’ve thought long and hard about Happy Valley over the course of the week. The final episode of one of the most talked-about and critically acclaimed British crime dramas of all time.
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