As the finale of The Light in the Hall begins, it is 18 years earlier. Ela (Ella Peel) hears Gafyn (Aneirin Hughes) accusing Sharon (Joanna Scanlan) of shagging someone else downstairs. She tells Greta (Glory Lewis-Rowe) to go upstairs. Ela hears that they were having sex when her dad was still alive so she bursts in to confront them. When she calls Sharon a slag, she is slapped. Ela eventually leaves. After the intro, Cat (Alexandra Roach) returns to the hideout to see Joe (Iwan Rheon) who isn’t there.

Nina (Lisa Palfrey) tells Izzy (Hannah Daniel) that it is over now that Wyn killed himself. Izzy argues it can’t be over when he is still out there. Once the police leave, Joe goes into the house to look around. He drinks and remembers his dad calling for him. He grabs a pocket knife before remembering being abused and Shelley running. Joe reminds himself that Wyn is dead and nobody cares because he is a monster. He hears Wyn calling him a shameful little pervert. When Cat wakes up, she finds a message from DCI Parry (Ioan Hefin) reminding her that Joe is dangerous.

She also looks at a picture of the ring. Cat visits Nina who said she thought Joe had stolen jewelry from her. Once Nina confirms the ring was hers, Cat tells her that Wyn gave it to her before he shot himself. Cat and Nina can’t explain why he’d give it to her, but Nina wants the ring back. Cat wants to know what Wyn was talking about when he said he had a deal with Nina. She believes Wyn killed Ela. Nina suggests that’d be great for her story although she still believes Joe did it. Nina finds Izzy outside so she asks her to come back inside.

Sharon reads Ela’s diary to Gafyn and Greta. She mentions that Ela kept writing about green eyes even though Joe doesn’t have green eyes. Cat ignores a call from Parry and returns to her flat. He shows up outside because he wants to have a look around. Parry asks her about the slur and being spotted on CCTV yesterday at the hospital when Joe absconded. Cat admits she was there because she wanted to talk to Shelley. Parry asks if she has seen or spoken to Joe since the night of the fire. When she says no, Parry admits he doesn’t believe her.

Cat shows him a picture of Wyn and explains he was in the woods when Ela disappeared. Parry says they looked into Wyn who had an alibi and nothing indicated he was involved. When she mentions the sexual abuse complaint, Parry reminds her that the evidence still points to Joe. He tells her that Joe’s mother made the call to the misper hotline to say he was dangerous. When Joe wakes up, he cuts his hand and wraps it. He finds a flyer for Nina’s campaign before a police officer drops Shelley off outside.

Sharon approaches Gafyn to say she wants to tell Greta the truth about the morning Ela left. Greta (Annes Elwy) interrupts to say she already knows about that morning. She never said anything because she wanted Sharon to believe it was different. After a call, Sharon meets with Cat to give her Ela’s diary. Sharon tells her that she and Caryl made Ela feel vulnerable. She asks Cat to find out who it was and find her daughter. The police gave up her Ela a long time ago, but Sharon believes Cat might have a chance with the diary.

As she reads the diary, she learns that Ela was going to meet Caryl who left her a note. She visits Caryl’s workplace and learns she might be up by the lake. Cat tracks her down and confronts her about the graffiti, dog crap, and trashing her car. She also believes Caryl (Sian Reese-Williams) knows something about Ela’s death. Caryl asks if anything touches her. She accuses Cat of manipulating them so she could be the leader. Caryl claims she is nothing and Cat just left her there. Cat knows what she was now and just wants to talk. Nina sees Joe outside so she grabs a knife and confronts him.

Joe remembers Izzy flirting with him when he was working there. He yells that he just wants to know what happened. Nina tells him he murdered that poor girl. Joe recalls Izzy running after Ela in the woods. Cat thought it was normal teenage drama until she read it from Ela’s point of view. They did the worst thing possible by excluding her like that. Caryl confesses that she didn’t even meet Ela that day. She was going to meet her to make it up to her, but was selfish in the end and didn’t. Caryl wonders if it would’ve been different if she had.

She reveals that Ela liked Cat more than just as a friend. When Cat shows her the ring, Caryl confirms it is the one she saw. Cat visits Nina to ask what she got from the deal, but Nina isn’t willing to tell her anything. Once Cat learns about the knife and Joe being there, she rushes inside to look for Izzy. She finds pictures of Izzy and Ela kissing. Cat realizes that Izzy gave Ela the ring and was in the woods that day. Nina says she went to the woods and Joe is out there too. When Joe sees Izzy in the woods, he remembers her being with Ela on the day in question.

Cat arrives and finds Joe trying to get the truth from Izzy. Joe asks if she saw him kill Ela. Izzy says she didn’t mean for it to happen. In a flashback, Ela goes to Izzy’s place to tell her about her mom hitting her. Ela tells her about Sharon and Gafyn too. Izzy claims that Joe told her he wanted to have sex with her. Ela gets upset and says he isn’t going to get away with it. In the present, Izzy admits Joe didn’t touch her. Izzy tried to stop her. Wyn watches them walk toward the caravan as Ela begins yelling for Joe. She goes inside and starts hitting Joe who pushes her. Ela hits her head and falls.

Joe flees the caravan so Izzy yells for Ela who begins getting up. When Ela walks outside, Izzy confesses that she was just joking with her. Ela gets mad at her before calling her a sad, spoilt, pathetic little brat. Izzy says at least her mom isn’t a wh0re before they begin fighting. Ela stabs her and walks away. Izzy pushes her down causing her to hit her head on a stump nearby. In the present, Izzy admits it was just a stupid lie. Joe throws the pocket knife to the ground. Izzy tried to stop it, but they wouldn’t let her. In a flashback, Wyn convinces Nina not to call the police and instead offers to help her sort it out.

He takes the necklace and ring that Ela was wearing. Nina tells Wyn she wants him to help and she’ll do whatever it takes. In the present, Nina tells Parry that Izzy was her daughter and anyone would’ve done the same. Later, Joe tells Cat that Shelley went back since her family was waiting for her. Cat suggests she can help people find answers by shining a bit of light on things. That’s what she wants to do. She asks Joe if he has thought about talking to Sharon. Greta gets married. Ela is finally given a gravestone. When Sharon goes home, she removes the tape from the switch and turns the light off.

As Cat talks about her journey to find the truth, Joe meets with Sharon for a chat.

 

The Light In The Hall Review

The finale of The Light in the Hall was mostly satisfying although the journey could’ve been cut short much earlier. Viewers will likely predict from the beginning that Joe is going to be innocent since the show probably wouldn’t have worked any other way. Nevertheless, there were enough twists and turns to keep things interesting up until the last second.

The performances were pretty good, especially from the main characters, including Iwan Rheon and Joanna Scanlan. It never feels like Joe gets to show his true potential though since so much focus is placed on Cat’s investigation and Sharon’s struggle. The Light In The Hall may not leave a lasting impact, but it will prove to be a decent binge for viewers who can handle the bleak atmosphere and often tough subject matter.

The finale was easily the best episode of the season so viewers will be rewarded for sticking with the series. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Light in the Hall are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link. Want to learn more about advertising with Reel Mockery? Click here.