Happy Valley [BBC 1] [ Spoilers ]

06-02-2023 11:27am

https://twitter.com/wafflingon/status/1622516358217875457?s=20&t=mPgHMOLXR5NjYMc9HsCl1w

Brilliant tv drama, going to rewatch all three series again!

jos28 · 06-02-2023 2:55pm

Well my predictions were all sh1t, didn't get anything right. I thought the ending was brilliant, I'm glad they didn't go for the typical stand off between Catherine and Tommy. I agree with Heidi about calling for back up after she was in the house, I think part of her wanted to tackle him on her own.

I'm glad herself and Claire made up. The thing that stuck out most for me is that Catherine finally realised that Ryan was nothing like his father. If you think back to the first series, that was a huge concern for her. She was watching him like a hawk for signs. She raised him along with Claire, they gave him a good life and he was nothing like TLR

JP Liz V1 · 06-02-2023 3:04pm

I wanted a 90 minute finale, my only gripe

cobham · 06-02-2023 3:20pm

I see it will be back on Netflix.... early series were there but then whoosed when new series coming and only on BBC iplayer. Yes need to watch the early ones again... too long ago to remember the plot twists that carried on into new episodes.

Rfrip · 06-02-2023 3:39pm

The most satisfying ending to a tv show ever I think. I was absolutely wrecked after watching it. Ah it was just so good.

06-02-2023 3:40pm

When are series one and two back on Netflix? I have them on dvd anyway but Netflix is handier!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 06-02-2023 4:10pm

I was just thinking about how when Claire was explaining to Catherine why she took Ryan to see Tommy, and she said something about how maybe Ryan could be the one good thing in Tommy's life, and keep him from doing more bad things. Catherine scoffed at the idea but in a way Claire was kind of right.

Obviously Tommy's still got everything twisted up into something else, but at the end of the day he did stop himself from doing the first thing that he'd planned, and it was because of Ryan.

At the same time, Catherine was right when she told Claire she'd forgive him when he asked for forgiveness, but he never would because he's a psychopath. And we saw that when he forgave her 😄 and acted like he was giving her Ryan, or his permission to keep Ryan, even though Ryan was never even thinking about going with him.

There's just been so many layers to everything throughout the whole series, but this year in particular.

The Black Oil · 06-02-2023 4:19pm

Beautifully personal finale for Catherine, bracing too and hit the right beats. Packed a punch with the violence early on and the main confrontation.

cml387 · 06-02-2023 4:55pm

The whole series opened years ago with Catherine confronting a character who was threatening to burn himself to death with petrol.

And that's how it ended.

06-02-2023 10:22pm

https://twitter.com/QueenLancashire/status/1622383719645331457?t=Sjof_ZNKZ18VSzzJxgN0JQ&s=19

(Fan account).

06-02-2023 11:24pm

It's a TV character ffs but I'm so irritated by the absolute masses of women who "felt sorry for" Royce. The poor murdering rapist. We women are more easily duped into being nurturing, and that's why there were female worshippers of Ted Bundy, who wanted to mother him.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-02-2023 12:11am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120209650#Comment_120209650

You can feel for a character without condoning what he did or wanting to "fix him". I think the writing and performance in that last episode was pretty perfect in that respect. I think you'd be pretty hard hearted to not have felt something towards him last night, even if it was just pure pity at how pathetic he was.

07-02-2023 12:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120209805#Comment_120209805

I'm hard hearted so for not forgetting him running over a woman with a car until her innards came out, and abducting and imprisoning/raping another woman. 😁

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-02-2023 12:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120209840#Comment_120209840

Not at all what I said.

Basq · 07-02-2023 6:39am

Great series, and ending.

My only criticism was the whole teacher/wife murder/pharmacist storyline felt like fodder by the end.

While it pretty much dominated the opening two episodes, it was inexplicably resolved in a passing conversation in the closing moments - where did the "pictures of boys on his phone" angle for the teacher come from?

cml387 · 07-02-2023 9:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210093#Comment_120210093

It was hinted at, remember the comment that the teacher loved to tear down vulnerable boys so that he could nurture them and build them up again (I can't remember what the exact quote was). Surely classic grooming behaviour.

As for Tommy, the genius of the writing was that, yes, he was a psychopathic monster but he was also sad, pathetic in his genuine love for his son, and how it all went so wrong. There was to be no mano a womano scene between Catherine and TLR and that was just right.

After the fiasco of Line of Duty one feared for a similar let down but this was absolutely perfect.

The Black Oil · 07-02-2023 9:12am

Even made Newsnight.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1622738598150782976?t=fCg_kGsmBSpXmA9n2PyYWQ&s=19

HeidiHeidi · 07-02-2023 9:38am

I saw the still on that tweet (partially obscured by the play button, in my defence), and thought it was Sarah Lanchashire! And if I wasn't watching, I'd have thought it was her listening to it as well!

I am so delighted to hear her say there will be no more, you have to know when to quit (when you're miles ahead), and the risk of the show becoming "a pale shadow of itself". How many series have we seen that happen to?

I now have even more respect for the writer.

tinytobe · 07-02-2023 10:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210093#Comment_120210093

I think the ending could have been a bit different. They should have arrested the pharmacist for murder.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-02-2023 10:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210336#Comment_120210336

They will have arrested him after Catherine gave them the new information to connect him to the pills and to Joanna.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-02-2023 10:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210093#Comment_120210093

Joanna mentioned to Faisel that Rob would get obsessed with some lad at school and that's when he'd get particularly violent at home. Ryan also mentioned in the first episode the rumour that he was having an affair with another teacher, but was also gay. And then we saw him take an interest in Ryan when he realised he was having problems at home and was in a vulnerable situation.

I forgot too that they mentioned he was Joanna's teacher when they met, so he's got history with pupils.

07-02-2023 11:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120209919#Comment_120209919

You said you'd have to be pretty hard hearted not to feel anything for him. I didn't feel anything for him though. Narcissists manipulate people into feeling sorry for them too, and genuinely think they're the victim.

I don't think those saying they felt sorry for him are condoning what he did of course, but they're easily duped.

extra gravy · 07-02-2023 11:25am

"I think I might have singed one of your crochet blankets"

Gonna miss Catherine.

The Black Oil · 07-02-2023 12:04pm

The teacher and the CSA material - hiding in plain sight.

MICKEYG · 07-02-2023 12:58pm

The ending scene between Catherine and TLR was exceptional. Acting at its finest.

I felt the Pharmacist and Teacher side stories were odd. The show would have worked without them. It also tied things up too quickly and conveniently at the end. It was like there was an episode missing. It left the following open questions for me;

Did the teacher just get done for the images on his phone (a very last minute curve ball that seemed too convenient)
It was also very convenient for a parole officer to source drugs from the same pharmacist and carelessly leave them at a parolee's house
Will the pharmacist get done for the murder. There was no indication of any evidence to put him at the scene of the crime. He may confess but previous scenes saw him with a bit more back bone.

There is also the question about convicting Darius. Is the TLR confession enough? TLR was drunk, high on drugs, suicidal and on the run. I imagine that would reduce any prosecutors confidence in using it.

These open questions and poorly reduced my enjoyment of the ending and of an overall amazing show.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-02-2023 3:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210901#Comment_120210901

Catherine gave enough information on Faisel to the investigation, for me, that it seems logical he'll get done for the murder. He used the syringe to kill her and then threw it in beside the washing machine in her kitchen. So I assume they'd find that and he's not exactly a criminal mastermind, once they start questioning him properly he'd crack.

Darius was connected to so many other things that it wouldn't just be the murder of Gary Gagovski they charge him with. The two dummies that were arrested at the start of the episode tie him to the dead woman from the flats, the drug money, and helping TLR escape.

Radio5 · 07-02-2023 4:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210901#Comment_120210901

There had to be a backdrop to that inevitable final encounter between Catherine and TLR. The series would have been different if it was just a story of a prison escape followed by a 'cat & mouse' between TLR and the police (Like Sherwood but with a different location).

It was speculated early on that Hepworth might be grooming Ryan. They reshowed a clip of that meeting in a way that left no doubt (to me) about what was suggested. There may be some question of one of the daughters being a victim, based on her behaviour towards her dad. When he went to the granny Hepworth's house, granny said that Poppy wouldn't talk to her and while the other daughter ran over and embraced him, Poppy didn't go near him. Maybe that related to what she'd seen him do to JoannA, maybe there was more to it.

It was a coincidence that the probation officer had the same supplier as Joanna but surely the police would've been looking at all pharmacists in the town as a matter of course. The female employee at Faisel's recognised the 2 guys that were arrested as the 2 who'd come in to the shop with their 'friend'. So if the police came to the shop, she would've told them thus pointing to Faisel having some contact with Darius's gang. The coincidence with the probation officer just speeded up to make the link before the end of the series. I would have liked to see Faisel getting arrested though.

tinytobe · 09-02-2023 12:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210901#Comment_120210901

In all the Happy Valley series there was always one murder going on besides the history of TLR his son and Catherine. And such was the case in the third series of the murdering Pharmacist.

I also felt there were a couple of things left a bit open. Maybe there will be a fourth season? Catherine coming back from retirement to solve some old murder case from years gone by and where her experience and knowledge is needed?

I suppose the Pharmacist would get arrested in the first or second episode and Darius getting arrested and tried as well.