BBC Happy Valley: Sally Wainwright has just ended her popular drama with the most satisfying twist
Sally Wainwright #SallyWainwright
Happy Valley has just ended after three series, a seven-year gap and countless hours of friends, families and colleagues throwing around theories of how Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) would see out the BBC drama, which has been gaining plaudits from fans and critics alike.
But writer Sally Wainwright taught all of us Happy Valley conspiracy theorists a lesson and ended the Yorkshire-set drama with a satisfying twist – there wasn’t really one. No, Neil wasn’t Tommy’s dad, Clare nor Ryan didn’t get killed by Tommy and Catherine and Tommy’s showdown wasn’t explosive in the way that many of us thought it would be.
The much-talked-about and anticipated ending did see Tommy lash out at the Knezevics in the most violent way as he suspected betrayal from the family who got him out of prison in that, slightly unbelievable, court escape. It also saw Catherine more or less apologise (without actually saying sorry) to sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) for falling out with her after she took grandson Ryan to see his dad in prison. But Catherine and Tommy’s much-anticipated showdown was played out in a clever and far more understated way than viewers believed it would be.
Read more: BBC Happy Valley: The standout moments from the final ever episode you won’t be able to stop thinking about
“I’m glad it didn’t end how people predicted. It’s a writer’s vision and we should just let the story be told how Sally envisioned it. No point moaning that things you wanted to happen didn’t. Loved it,” said one.
Another said: “Amazing finale to #HappyValley. Kitchen scene was edge of your seat stuff!” A third tweeted: “#HappyValley Nailed it. THAT is how to end a series. Happy retirement Sgt Cawood.”
One pointed out: “Nurture over nature wins out. Enjoy the Himalayas Catherine, god knows u deserve it. Knew Hepworth was an absolute danger.”
And: “Not many series have a showdown like that. Brilliant end to a brilliant show. #HappyValley.”
During the finale on Sunday, February 5, we almost saw Tommy and Catherine come face-to-face when the former – injured and on a mission to get to the copper – breaks into her home while she’s sleeping after a beautiful moment which saw her looking at picture albums of her late daughter Becky and Ryan (Rhys Connah) as a youngster. Read more on that here.
But the expected crescendo of the entire show – the much-desired showdown – saw Catherine discover a very injured Tommy who has just downed a load of pills with whisky at her kitchen table. Standing there, taser at the ready, Catherine contains her fury and remains the ultimate police professional in front of the man who’s ruined her life and ruled her thoughts for 17 years.
Instead of seeing Catherine kick Tommy into next week, the pair had a conversation throughout which our feelings towards the criminal swayed once more – the beauty of Wainwright’s writing and Norton’s acting is that we know Tommy Lee is awful, but there are flashes of why and this is no more evident than his under-developed clapbacks to Catherine when she hits the nail on the head and calls him a “toddler brain”.
The villain finally realises that Ryan is best off where he is, stops himself from burning the house down and doesn’t want Catherine going to prison for tasering him while covered in petrol, because ultimately he loves Ryan. But despite the fact he’s done ‘right’ by Ryan, he still cannot see himself for what he is. “You got me all wrong you old b*tch!” he cries as Catherine lists his misdemeanours against her, Ann Gallagher, et all, and claims he loved her daughter, Becky, because she was was the only one who made him “feel normal”.
But it was the dig about Tommy being a non-entity to Ryan and being nothing like his biological dad that sees Tommy and Catherine on the same page, of sorts.
“It’s been a real pleasure to watch the scales fall from his eyes,” says Catherine. “I’m glad that he’s been to see you and make up his own mind so he knows that you’re just f*cked up, deluded, nasty little toddler brain in a big man’s body. How much he’s nothing like you. Oh I’ve worried for long enough but now… That boy is a prince. For all his ups and downs he’s about as unlike you as it’s possible to be.”
Tommy appears clearly relieved to hear his son is nothing like him. He confesses he was going to burn the house down, but realised that he’d be ruining his child’s happy place. And then he sets fire to himself, which is incredibly shocking, but not the outcome we were expecting.
In Wainwright’s universe, everything gets righted as it should be. Tommy should be the one that dies. His death announced as an underwhelming aside via text, with not even his full name, alongside the fates of Rob Hepworth and Faisal Bhatti, briefly mentioned in an ‘oh by the way, fashion’ – the bad men don’t deserve to be the sign-off of such an amazing series.
The brilliant Catherine Cawood, her sister Clare – the backbone of the show – and Ryan’s ultimately morally good and thoughtful character, are our eternal takeaways from this brilliant show – one of the GOATs of UK drama, no question.
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