As the finale begins, Emer (Angeline Ball) arrives at the suicide scene and speaks with Sarah (Elaine Cassidy). Sarah gives her a brief rundown of her chat with Patrick. She explains that all eyes had to be on Patrick in life and death. Then, she insists she needs to speak with Nuala (Lisa Hogg). After the intro, the two sisters chat about Patrick’s suicide. Nuala seems happy that he is gone for good. Nuala tells Sarah that they couldn’t approach her about the deal, because she was too protective of the company. Finally, Nuala offers to show Sarah the property in question. Meanwhile, Margaret Kroll (Adjoa Andoh) enters Anna’s (Kate Moran) office. She ridicules her investigation and forces Anna to destroy all of the evidence. The investigation is officially stalled.

Nuala and Sarah arrive at the property. They enter through a fence and are promptly stopped by another. A security guard arrives and stops them from going any further. Sarah notices that the man has a notebook full of license plates and names. She believes the book might contain Lee’s name, if he were there at one time. She tells Nuala that the notebook would be how Hoffman (Morten Suurballe) knew Lee (Paul Popowich) was investigating. We see that Hoffman has destroyed the vehicle that killed Deirdre (Catherine Walker). Sarah meets with Mila Beck (Madeleine Knight) and Detective Dusquene (Geordie Johnson). While the detectives have captured the man responsible for shooting Lee, they have no intention of going after Hoffman.

Emer meets with Anna and learns that the FBI has pulled her from the investigation. She breaks the news to Sarah. Emer promises that she isn’t letting Hoffman go. Meanwhile, Beck and Dusquene say their goodbyes. Before Beck leaves, they see a stack full of evidence without any traces to either of them. Beck inclines that Dusquene should do the right thing with it. Sarah prepares the children for the upcoming funeral. Emer visits the property and speaks with the security guard. She manages to get a good look inside the book. Nuala finds out that the property was once owned by the Gates of Mercy charity. It housed pregnant, unwed women that had nowhere else to go. Sarah recalls Lehane saying that phrase. Emer arrives outside. As Emer steps inside, Dusquene approaches and sticks the evidence in the mailbox.

They search the charity and learn about its closure many years ago. There was a missing persons inquiry. Emer spots Detective Heffernan in the newspaper. They speak with Marie (Dearbhla Molloy) moments later. Marie refuses to tell them anything about the missing girl. She insists that the staff left the door open and the girl never came back. Emer threatens to take the investigation further. Marie admits the place was meant for the outcasts that nobody else wanted. Later, Sarah gets the case files from the mail. Hoffman begins preparing for a small vacation. Seconds later, he gets a visit from Sarah. Sarah accuses Hoffman of using Lee to swing contracts in his favor. She explains that it is about him this time. Sarah ridicules Hoffman for experimenting on the residents of the Gates of Mercy home. before she leaves, she tells Hoffman that she will find out what he is hiding.

Sarah leaves. Hoffman tracks her down at the canal. He tries to strike up a deal. He promises to resign from his position after returning from his vacation to Spain. Emer arrives just as Hoffman begins approaching Sarah aggressively. Sarah, Emer and Nuala visit the charity property. They look around and eventually find a hidden graveyard in the ground. Many bodies are found inside. Hoffman boards his plane and leaves. One of the bodies is the young girl from the beginning of the series. Hoffman shot her to keep her quiet about what was going on at the facility. A news report tells us about the investigation. We also learn that Hoffman’s plane went down and he is suspected dead. Afterwards, Sarah and the family attend Lee’s funeral. Sarah doesn’t turn on the alarm. She insists she doesn’t want to continue looking over her shoulder.

Sarah tells Nuala that she needs to get on with her life. Nuala tells her that she should put Lee’s lies behind her. The sisters embrace before the finale ends.

 

Acceptable Risk Review

All in all, I thought the Acceptable Risk finale was pretty good. The episode did a good job wrapping everything up. However, there is a possibility that Hoffman set up his own death and is still out there somewhere. The truth behind Lee’s slaying was certainly different than I expected. I originally thought the young girl at the beginning of the series was Sarah, but I suppose I was wrong. While Acceptable Risk wasn’t my favorite show, it was still good by all means.

The finale scores a 7 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of Acceptable Risk now!