As the finale of Better begins, Vernon Marley (Anton Lesser) is brought to the station so he can be interviewed by DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) and Philip Cowper (Gavin Spokes). While DCI Sandy Mosby (Lucy Black) watches from another room, Vernon tells the detectives what happened last night. Vernon is asked about the illegally-owned Smith and Wesson revolver he used to shoot Bulgey with. He didn’t shout a warning because Peter had broken into his house and tried to kill him. Lou reminds him that he is under no obligation to say anything without a solicitor. She says people usually regret waving their rights and these are serious charges.
Vernon knows what he is doing. He admits to having run-ins with Bulgey over the years. He tried to export him many years ago. There was an altercation and Bulgey come off worse so he never forgave Vernon. When asked about burning his house, Vernon admits he was trying to cover his tracks until he realized how stupid that was. When he came to his senses, he called it in. Vernon says he can’t remember any women coming to his house. Phil says they found a fragment of glass with a scrape of nude nail polish on it. Vernon claims he picks up a sex worker every now and then from Holbeck. He asks Lou if she is Bill Slack’s girl. Once Lou says yes, Vernon demands to have her removed.
Lou collects herself in the bathroom until Sandy comes looking for her. In her office, Sandy asks what happened during the interview since she only asked Vernon about getting him a brief. Lou says Vernon seemed weird to her so it was a duty of care. Sandy reveals Esther is going on long-term sick leave due to stress. She put her ticket in because she thinks she is no longer making a difference. Lou pretends to know nothing about that or the Col stop. Sandy says she will find out what she isn’t being told. Curtis tells Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan) about Vernon Marley. Col says Bulgey was the hardest man he ever met, but there were many things he couldn’t do.
He couldn’t cook, swim, ride a bike, or tie his own tie. Col says you need a childhood to learn those things. Lou receives charter and data download for Peter Donovan. She sees all the texts he sent to burner phones including those she was using. DC Niall Ibbotson (Anthony Lewis) thinks it is pointless to follow up on them unless they know who the texts were sent to. She tells him he should drop it. Later, Phil asks Ibbo if he can look into Davis. Lou confronts Phil later to ask about Vernon’s interview. He tells her there he got a full confession although it was bollocks. Vernon is in a secure med unit at Scarborough. Lou says she wants to step off the taskforce and the murder.
She believes Phil is capable of handling it on his own. She apologizes for going too far, but Phil has dealt with bullies all his life so he is used to it. Vernon is moved to a comfortable room in a medical unit. He is told he’ll be moved again when his arm is better. Ibbo wants to take Lou out drinking to see if she’ll tell them why Esther quit. Lou says she can’t help them. Lou goes to Esther’s place and asks her mother to tell Esther that she is too good to lose. They need people like her or else nothing will ever change. Lou offers to quit if Esther comes back. Esther (Olivia Nakintu) comes out and tells Lou that she doesn’t care what she does because she is done.
She complains that Lou twisted everything and made her a part of it. Reporting it is the right thing to do, but nothing good will happen if she does. When Owen (Zak Ford-Williams) and Ceri (Samuel Edward-Cook) get home, they find Lou sitting on the couch. Ceri believes Owen is still hoping James will show up. He questions whether Donal will try to get back at them, but Lou doesn’t know if that’ll happen. Lou says Esther resigned because of her although she doesn’t think she is going to grass. Ceri suggests she’ll have to live with the guilt. If she wants to make up for it, she is in the right line of work. If it catches up with her, there are other ways to be good. They get the money which is almost 80 grand.
Ceri wants to burn it, but Lou believes it could be used for good. She says they can give it away. Ceri questions if they can keep enough to pay off the car. As they begin getting rid of the money, Lou calls a lawyer to tell him that Mehmood Zada is innocent. She explains that Kevin Pearson is the one who did it. Later, Lou puts in a personal visitation request with Vernon Marley only to learn that the prisoner refused the request. Lou arrives at the scene of a police chase and learns that the driver ran off with drugs. The young men nearby curse the cops and refuse to help. Lou walks around and finds Artem who brushes past her and leaves.
After that, Lou visits Noel Wilkes (Kaya Moore) who already knows about Bulgey. They talk about the courses Noel is taking. After Noel confirms he is clean, Lou introduces him to Gwen who is from the Yorkshire Resettlement Project. She explains that they help prisoners settle in after leaving prison. Noel wonders if Lou’s son hates her because he is trying to play mom with him. He refuses to accept their help. That night, Ceri takes Lou to a fancy restaurant. Ceri admits he never wanted any of this, but he wanted her. Curtis checks on Col who is working outside in the rain. He tells Col that Vernon has been moved into a proper nick. Col tells him to handle it and he’ll back his call regardless.
Col agrees to let him sort things for a while now that Bulge is dead and Lou is no longer cooperating. Before Curtis leaves, he tells Alma that they’re all good. Vernon grabs food and takes it back to his cell before he is confronted by Noel who has a shank. Vernon suggests they talk to the guards and get moved to another nick. However, Noel worries they’ll kill both of them or his mom. Vernon asks him not to mess it up. He begins screaming for help as Noel repeatedly stabs him. Lou learns what has happened moments later. Vernon was gone before the medics reached his cell. When Lou goes to his funeral, she is told his effects still haven’t been claimed. She takes the items and hears a woman sniffling behind her.
Lou visits her mother so she can thank her for being so good with Owen. She has been thinking about dad recently and thinks she might’ve been too young to get to know him properly. Zaara (Souad Faress) believes he is in heaven even though he didn’t believe. She doesn’t think anyone is beyond saving. At home, Lou talks to Ceri about the bloke who was shot in Seacroft a few weeks ago. She says Vernon was helping her figure out what to do with Col. Lou tells him how Bulgey tried to kill her and Vernon killed him. Then, Col got Noel to kill Vernon as payback. Lou believes all of this happened because of her so she needs to stop him for good.
Ceri is going to take Owen to his mom and dad’s place. Lou speaks to Owen to tell him what is happening. Later, Lou retrieves a hidden gun. She calls Col and says there is something she needs to give him. Lou also tells him that Aoife left a note. She lied about it, but thinks he should have it if they’re really finished. Although she says she still has it in her hand, her hand is empty. When he meets with her later, she pulls out the gun and tells him that Vernon was her friend. Lou tells him what went down and admits she is out of ideas. She is convinced she has to stop him since she is the only one who can. Once she points the gun at him, Col urges her to do it. She doesn’t.
Lou confesses that she isn’t going to shoot him because he is like a brother. Tomorrow morning, she is going to go to her DCI and super and tell them everything. She will cooperate in any investigation they cook up to put him away. Lou knows it may not work and she has nothing concrete on him, but she is going to do it anyway. Lou is only asking that he doesn’t hurt her family. After giving him the gun, she says he always had the power. Col points the gun at her and says he wants to see the note. Lou says there is no note and she just needed to make sure he came. Col knew she was lying because she wasn’t the first one to find her.
He returned home that night and found her. Col lets Lou look at the note Aoife left them. The short letter says Aoife is not meant to be there. Col got into his car and just kept driving. When he eventually snapped out of it, he called Lou to ask her to check on Aoife. He couldn’t go back and didn’t want anyone to know about the note. Once they buried her, Col knew he had to keep going because so much relies on him. The fire went out when he saw his daughter. He claims he is gone and can’t pretend anymore. He wanted Aoife to be the one to take over one day. Col thought she was using drugs to hurt him, but she was just trying to get away.
He knows about the promise she made to Owen when he was in the hospital. Lou questions what they do now. Col says everything he has a big pile of nothing. Lou urges him to come in with her tonight so they can tell them everything. She questions what they’ve got to show for what they’d done. Col can’t believe she is serious. Lou says they both want it to end and they’ll both have to pay. She suggests this is what they’ve been waiting for. Col throws the gun into the water before agreeing to go with her. As they drive together, Lou questions whether this is real. They go inside the police station and wait to speak to someone.
Better Review
The final episode of Better could’ve been better, but it is hard to deny that the ending was original. There were many more exciting ways for this to end so it does feel like a bit of a letdown for Col to agree to turn himself in and tell detectives everything. Plus, it is difficult to believe that a long-time gangster would suddenly have a change of heart and throw everything away on a whim.
The lack of character development from the beginning made it hard to genuinely care about the fate of any of the characters. The camera work and soundtrack were good most of the time although some scenes appeared to be drained of color which was odd. A lot of viewers are going to have an issue with the ending including those who loved the first four episodes. It could’ve worked if the series had focused more on Col’s relationship with his daughter and showed signs of a possible switch much sooner, but there was no foundation for that.
The performances were pretty good although Andrew Buchan seemed to be the only one to really get an opportunity to shine. The series wasn’t terrible as a whole, but the finale was uninspiring, uneventful, and unbelievable. It scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Better are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent website at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
I just finished watching episode 5, which I agree was unbelievable, but not quite as ludicrous as a lot of reviewers said. I think the scene when Col and Lou met in the woods with a gun was far fetched, as was the handing themselves in part at the end. But what I wanted to say was the final scene of episode 4 was as near to perfection as any TV scene I’ve ever watched. Lou has just come home from witnessing Bulgey getting shot dead by Vernon who then sets his house on fire and sits outside watching the blaze. She drives home, dazed and stunned. She goes into her living room, where Owen puts his legs on her lap and asks for a massage, and Cer sits on the other side of her…I forgot what he was doing…but it was all so normal, and she was sitting there in the middle just staring into space totally dazed. I thought they should have finished the series at that point.
Despite it all, I really didn’t mind it so much. Easy to watch, decent story, and some fine performances. Andrew Buchan was really great as the menacing gangster. Anton Lesser was fun as well. Too bad the ending wasn’t better and didn’t set up another season.