Happy Valley: The Finale

Olivia Kershaw

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The dust has now settled on BBC’s heart-stopping Happy Valley, after three masterful series. Its thrilling final episode was one of the most keenly anticipated TV drama finales for some time.

With live viewing figures of 7.5 million, it is clear that the nation was on tenterhooks to discover the fate of Sgt Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton). But was it worth the wait?

Unpredicted and Character-driven

Despite a litany of fan theories, writer Sally Wainwright had artfully wrong-footed viewers – this was not the blazing fireworks ending many predicted.

“there was no need for Wainwright to serve up far-fetched twists”

Instead it was a taut yet understated, character-driven finale, befitting what has always been a character-driven drama. There was no need for Wainwright to serve up far-fetched twists. There were scores to be settled between Catherine and Royce and the episode created space for the two to fight this out, each simply speaking their own truth to the other.

The episode absolutely belonged to Lancashire and Norton, whose propulsive performances will surely make them BAFTA contenders.

Building Tension

The ultimate trick is that Wainwright subverted our expectations of a violent showdown. We all knew this was hurtling towards some kind of confrontation and thought we knew what shape it must take. One only needed to witness Royce viciously dispatch four of crime boss Knezevic’s gangster cronies (in a moving car, no less) early in the episode to be reminded that this was a very dangerous person with a startling capacity for brutality – and a vendetta against Catherine.

The two characters were on a collision course with each other, and from the moment an injured Royce headed for Catherine’s (presumed to be empty) house, the tension ramped up. It culminated in Catherine, armed with a taser, confronting her unwelcome visitor, who was sitting at the kitchen table, washing pills down with alcohol in an attempt to pull through his injuries.

Final Scene

“ferocious final exchange”

And here it came – the ferocious final exchange, an excruciatingly tense 15 minute scene which seemed certain to erupt into violence – but never did.

The pivotal moment came when Royce decided to “forgive” Catherine and said he didn’t want to hurt her anymore. He had looked through her photo albums and realised the happy upbringing she had given his son, Ryan. But Catherine wasn’t having any of it – the grief and fury that has haunted her through the trilogy was unleashed as the two swore, spat vitriol and goaded one another. Nothing was left unsaid. In a final, savage insistence on doing things his way, a defeated Royce doused himself in petrol and went up in flames.

Reception

Some might argue that this ending punctured all the terror surrounding Royce, U-turning at the last moment to draw him as a pathetic, even sympathetic figure, laughing and crying over family photo albums and lamenting the childhood he never had. But I’m not so sure this was about painting our villain as sad and misunderstood.

“we are led to realise he’s more than just a violent psychopath”

Isn’t Royce more terrifying if we see his damaged, human side, if we are led to realise that he’s more than just a violent psychopath, that evil deeds can rub up against the genuine affection he appears to feel for his son, the only pure thing in his life?

There wasn’t a glimmer of redemption for Royce in this scene – it was clearly his narcissistic version of events, and Catherine went to great pains to remind him of every single horrendous crime – but it did feel, in amongst all that, like we saw a hint of vulnerability.

Wainwright’s Writing

Nothing has ever been black and white, nobody is all good or all bad in the world of Happy Valley – and Wainwright’s writing is alert to this. It has never shied away from the messiness of ‘family’ and it effortlessly mingles the mundane with the spectacular and devastating.

The final confrontation across Catherine’s kitchen table served as a literal reminder that this was always personal – always a kitchen sink drama. It is these moments where her identity as a mother, grandmother and sister are thrown into tension with the line of duty, that Happy Valley comes alive.

As Catherine reconciles with Clare, folded into a sisterly embrace, she sums it up in one final characteristic understatement: ‘We’ve had another bit of a tussle. I won, obviously. I think I singed your crochet blanket’.

Loose Ends

Admittedly, there were plenty of loose ends for Wainwright to tie up – and I’m not entirely convinced the 70 minute finale (despite the treat of an extra ten minutes!) was enough to do justice to it all. In particular, the murder subplot concerning Joanna Hepworth, her abusive PE teacher husband Rob and dodgy pharmacist Faisal, felt side-lined.

“it was disappointing to get little more than a cursory mention in the final minutes”

After a lot of time had been spent on this, it was disappointing to get little more than a cursory mention in the final minutes. Reassuring though it was to know that the police were onto Faisal, the detail about Rob being arrested for possession of indecent images came out of nowhere and felt slightly contrived. However, there was some narrative poignancy when Catherine expressed concern about the fate of the two young Hepworth girls, who, like Ryan, had suffered a dead mother and violent father. She was simply told ‘They’ve got a grandmother’ and straight away, we knew they’d be okay.

In a way then, this storyline existed to form a peculiar constellation with Catherine’s own tragedies and sacrifices.

Happy Valley may be ironically named, but in the end, Catherine did get a happy ending. But, for TV audiences, Sunday nights at 9pm may never again hold such caustic wit and breathless intensity.

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Featured image courtesy of Illiya Vjestica via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.