The Loyal – The finale begins with Henry Thompson (Alfie Lawless) in a daze after accidentally firing a shot into the passing police cruiser. Stevie Neil (Martin McCann) and Grace Ellis (Sian Brooke) are equally stunned but otherwise unharmed. It doesn’t take Stevie long to send the emergency alert to the Blackthorn Station and draw his weapon on Henry who has now walked outside in a bit of a stupor. By this time the situation has become a bit of a spectacle amongst the locals. Margaret ‘Mags’ Thompson (Seana Kerslake) arrives shortly after police backup, which only manages to make the standoff more intense. Despite that, Grace manages to keep Henry calm enough to retrieve the weapon without further incident.
Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) and DS Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood) butt heads as they are called into Chief Nicola Robinson’s (Andrea Irvine) to discuss how to proceed with shooting. Canning is all for ramping up surveillance on Lee Thompson (Seamus O’Hara) and Craig McQuarrie (Craig McGinlay), whereas McNally wants to bring McQuarrie in immediately and have forensics tear his house apart. After Nicola puts a quick end to the bickering and orders them to bring McQuarrie in, Canning insists he is assigned to the task.
While Lee learns about the incident via a video clip from Stacey (Klsae Knox), Stevie and Grace try to shake off their nerves back at the station. Grace appears to be more shaken than she lets on. The entire department is soon called into the briefing room where Sandra Cliff (Andi Osho) stresses the importance of maintaining the integrity of the crime scene before introducing them to Sergeant McCloskey (Neil Keery) who has been brought in to run tactical on the ground. He wastes little time letting them know he’s in charge and everything goes through him.
After the briefing, Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin) teases Tommy Foster (Nathan Braniff) about his relationship with Aisling (Darhaile McKinney), while McNally recruits Grace to interrogate Henry. Grace says she’ll do her best before remembering to give the USB drive of the doorbell footage to David ‘Jonty’ Johnston (Jonathan Harden) who immediately relegates the task to Tommy.
Lee cleverly edits the video footage he received from Stacey to only highlight the parts that show the police in the worst light. He then sends a copy of that footage to his men and tells them to get word out that Henry was playing with a fake gun. As that occurs, Canning shows up respectfully with backup and hauls him and McQuarrie in for questioning. Before Lee is carted off, a very upset Robert ‘Rab’ McKendry (Dan Gordon) causes a bit of a stink over Lee putting Henry in danger.
When Jonty and Grace sit down with Henry and Mags, it immediately becomes clear that Henry only views his Uncle in the best possible light and isn’t willing to say anything that might hurt him with the police. This eventually leads to Jonty and Grace pulling Mags outside and asking if there is anyone who might be able to get through to Henry. It is Rab who shows up sometime later and manages to get through to him by sharing the gut-wrenching truth behind his imprisonment.
Jen Robinson (Hannah McClaen) and John Desai (John Mayagam) meet with Happy Kelly (Paddy Jenkins) to learn that he’s being paid off to keep quiet. Much to their surprise, he not only signs a nondisclosure and takes the payment, but he orders what appears to be a substantial payout to go to the Central Soup Kitchen. Jen becomes tearful when Happy claims he’s accepting the deal in part to keep her safe.
The Mount Eden crime scene is already bustling with upset residents by the time the Blackthorn Department arrives. It is Shane Bradley (Frank Blake) who soon figures out why and shares the video with Sandra.
Although Canning and McNally question Lee and McQuarrie separately, Aodhan McAllister (Matthew Forsythe) represents them both. It doesn’t take long before Canning and McNally realize they practically have nothing. Lee uses the defense that the apartment, money, cash, and gun weren’t his. McQuarrie’s interview reveals most of this to be the truth and even has the gun certificate to prove it. He claims the money was from his time in the military and he has a healthy distrust of baking institutions.
The situation on the ground in Mount Eden grows to the point when the riot squad has to be called in. When Grace pleads with Mags to turn over evidence that will put Lee in custody, she learns about Canning’s earlier visit to the Loyal Pub. Canning turns to Lee who does agree under the condition that he and McQuarrie be released immediately. Canning takes the offer to Nicola and she appears to be considering it when Tommy and Grace interrupt with a possible lead. Using the doorbell footage, Tommy discovered that McQuarrie was wearing a particular military scarf on the night Jim ‘Dixie’ Dixon’s (Chris Corrigan) house was bombed. The hope is that they might be able to pull DNA evidence from it.
McNally sends DCI Marshall (Julian Moore-Cook) and forensics a photo of the scarf which they manage to find just as Rab attempts to get a handle on the situation outside. He ends up getting hit with a Molotov cocktail. Despite Stevie’s best attempts, Rab dies.
Robin Graham (Derek Thompson) shares the truth about the chips bombing with Happy after Jen introduces them. Happy asks him if not stopping the bomb was worth it. Despite all the good that he and his source did in the years following the bombing, Robin admits that not intervening wasn’t the right call. Much to Robin’s surprise, Happy forgives him and even shakes his hand before leaving.
Sometime later, after learning of all the evidence stacked against him, Aodhan recuses himself as McQuarrie’s counsel. Despite Marshall and McNally’s best efforts, McQuarrie refuses to provide anything damning against Lee.
At a later meeting with Jonty, Canning, and McNally, Nicola thanks Canning for all his work and praises him for doing exactly what he would do for the department. She then dismisses him and asks McNally if she is 100% sure about the timeline on the day of the incident. After McNally says she is, Nicola tells her to make the call. After dismissing them, Nicola calls Jen to tell her that she is proud of ever and sorry that she never told her that before.
Lee doesn’t receive the reception that he was expecting when he returns to Mount Eden. Things only get worse when he finds Mags in the Loyal Pub who has shared the truth about the bombing and Lee’s exploits with the locals. Ultimately, he’s run out of town the same way he previously ran so many others out.
Canning receives a surprise visit from Geraldine Gilroy (Aoibheann McCann) who requests to see the documentation from his meeting with Lee.
Most of the Blackthorn Department gathers at the Orpheus Ballroom of Romance to celebrate. Annie appears to arming back up to Shane while Sandra admits to Jonty that she read his letter. The night ends with Stevie and Grace sharing a cab.
Blue Lights Review
First of all, I want to say that I enjoyed the episode. I enjoyed the entire series, as far as that goes. However, I don’t feel that the finale really lived up to ‘finale-hype.’ Maybe I was expecting too much. As far as wrapping up the storylines and happy ending go, the episode delivered supremely. On other accounts, I felt like it failed. Throughout the entire series, once I got past what I felt was agenda-based/equality; I was continually blown away by the performances of the cast.
Maybe it is being from America, but I really admire the seriousness everything is given. Yeah, there are plenty of underlying jokes, but everything appears to be taken extremely seriously. I can appreciate that. Henry MUST be commended for the incredible job he did. I felt that his mannerisms and the way he would confer with Mags before responding to the police were so lifelike that it was nearly mind-blowing.
I guess my biggest complaints would have to be the less-than-dramatic ending to Lee’s reign and the even less fulfilling tie-up to Canning’s story. It’s probably obvious that Lee’s run on the series is done, but Canning’s character might be able to pull out another season. The finale earned a 6.4 out of 10.
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