As the finale of Crime begins, Sally Hart (Laura Fraser) asks Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) about his father’s upcoming funeral. He explains that his dad’s first love was football. He begins talking about him and Les hanging out on the day before the match. In a flashback, we see Ray have to stop Les as he demands fellatio from a girl. When she asks what made Les so aggressive, Ray believes it was the shame as always and caused by what happened to them in the tunnel. He explains that Les was playful and happy before the incident, but it turned him into a bully. He notices the notepad she is using and immediately asks about it. Sally admits they’re popular before recalling she ordered the notepad from a stationery trade catalog. Everything she does ends up in those pages. The conversation turns to the tunnel although Ray doesn’t want to talk about that right now.

Sally wonders what the incident turned Ray into since it turned Les into a bully. He says a cop who has to get back to work. Once he leaves, he remembers Les putting lighter fluid on a bird and setting it on fire. Next, Dougie Gillman (Jamie Sives) joins Amanda Drummond (Joanna Vanderham) and Bob. He learns that Gareth (John Simm) does 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups compulsively. Although he wasn’t in the force, Gareth has become a fitness junkie. Bob (Ken Stott) argues the TA is a classic finishing school for inadequate prevents before Gillman says he was a member. Then, Gillman reveals he has found old photos of Gareth when he was heavy so he was likely bullied. Around the time Gareth started eating right and exercising, the murders started. He wonders if Gareth was trying to get revenge for being bullied while heavy. Stuart McCorkel (Michael Abubakar) and Gill tell Ray and Amanda that they haven’t found anything on Gareth’s laptop.

Gill doesn’t believe someone could’ve done all that meticulous planning inside their head. Ray theorizes that the plans could be in the yellow notebooks. He believes they’ll find out what happened to all those girls if they can find the notebooks. Next, Ray and Amanda sit down with Gareth and ask him about the dossiers he previously mentioned. When Ray asks where the notebooks are, Gareth says he’ll find out soon enough and promises he was very meticulous. When Amanda speaks, Gareth tells her he doesn’t like talking to a woman unless he has his hands around her throat. Drummond leaves the room before Ray asks if these are the types of games he played with his ex-wife. Gareth responds that these are obviously the kind of games Ray plays with his girlfriend. Mark McKendrick visits Trudi (Angela Griffin) to talk to her about Estelle (Allison McKenzie).

He knows she knew they were having an affair and they were good friends. Trudi headbutts him and yells that he should’ve done the right thing and resigned too. The other women begin speaking up and bashing Mark for his behavior. Trudi screams at the higher-ups that this is what happens when you ignore stuff like this. Ray talks to Ken about Gareth’s ex-wife and gets Ken to arrange a meeting between them. Stuart stops Amanda in the hallway to question whether she could ask Ray if he can come down to Leeds with them. He believes it would be a good experience for him, but another IT person is sick so he’ll have to stay and focus on Confectioner’s laptop. Sophie enters and Amanda promptly introduces her to Stuart since they’re going to be working together. Ray and Amanda meet Ken Custer who says she is willing to meet although not too happy with the idea.

Two officers make fun of Custer and his recent Tinder date. Once they arrive at the ex-wife’s house, Custer says he’ll do the introductions and let them get on with the interview. She explains she divorced Gareth years ago so they’re strangers to each other now. She believes they always were before describing Gareth as a boring, OCD civil servant. Amanda wonders if there was something about him in her eyes. She tells them about her prior boyfriend who was a drug addict so Gareth was a rebound. When she asked to split, she was humiliated because he barely batted an eyelid. Gareth even helped her pack her belongings. Ray asks about their sexual relationship. She doesn’t want to talk about it, but eventually says he liked it when she was on top.

Ray doesn’t believe that and asks if she was as hard as nails. She denies it and claims it was like Gareth was always somewhere else. Amanda is reminded that she knows how Gareth looks at women especially the pretty ones. Ray asks if Gareth had any sexual problems before saying he suspects he is responsible for at least 15 murders. She was admitted to the hospital on November 3, 2006, and February 23, 2007, with injuries consistent with strangulation marks on her neck and hemorrhaged eyelids. At the time, she said Gareth liked to practice auto-asphyxiation on her. She admits that was the only way for Gareth to get aroused. When Amanda returns home, she is told that a young guy was hanging around on the steps and looking through her letterbox. Ray learns from Sophie that the laptop didn’t have any pictures, notes, or indication that anything has been erased.

He wonders whether there is a second laptop or a den with a PC. He thanks them and encourages them to keep at it. Sophie tells Stuart she’ll see him tomorrow and he says sure. It seems he wanted to say more but didn’t. Moments later, Stuart approaches Ray to ask him about women. Ray realizes it is about the new girl Sophie as Stuart confesses that he is not good with women because he gets shy when he is around someone he likes. Ray wonders if he is overthinking things and having a girlfriend isn’t everything. He recommends being himself. The next day, Ray tells Sally that his father’s funeral is coming up. She returns the conversation to the football match that Ray attended with Les. He explains the Hearts had gone undefeated through 27 games and were playing for the championship in Dundee. They didn’t need to win but couldn’t lose too badly.

Once Ray got on the bus, he started feeling guilty that he wasn’t with his father who took him to many games when he was a kid. Although it was meant to be a coronation of champions, Dundee scored twice in the last seven minutes. After that, his father collapsed. At that moment, his father went from being strong to being frail, old, and scared. He suggests it as emblematic of money over everything else. He says it is part of the neoliberal order and football, music, politics, and people are all commodities to be bought and sold. Sally realizes that Ray strongly identifies with the victims of sexual abuse. It is his job to apprehend the perpetrators of sexual abuse and those two things are not the same. Sally reveals she has boundaries in her role like Ray does with his. Then, she lets him know that their hour together is over. Ray says he should say goodbye to his father as he leaves. Amanda’s ex shows up at her place and explains he got a new job there.

Keith (Ewan Miller) says he just asked around to find out where she lived. He thought they might do something and suggests she owes him a conversation although Amanda believes otherwise. She tells Keith to leave Edinburgh and to stay away from her or she’ll mess him up. She goes one step further and threatens to kill him. Ray visits his mother, talks to another family member, and finds Jock at the home. He doesn’t want to talk to his mother because he needs some time alone. They hug before he leaves in a hurry. Stuart Lennox (Stuart Martin) catches up with him later and they begin talking about their AA meetings. Both agree that they often feel like everything in life is screwed. The brothers share a drink before going to the bathroom to snort cocaine. While they do so, they chat about their father and his inability to get a hard-on. Meanwhile, Les arrives at the funeral ceremony and says hello to Jackie and Mrs. Lennox.

Trudi convinces his mother to go inside since they don’t know where Ray is. Stuart and Ray continue drinking and snorting coke as they get closer to the funeral. Trudi walks outside and catches them using cocaine. She isn’t happy about it and walks away. They go inside and Ray sits with Trudi while Stuart sits near the back. Ray stares at his mother throughout the ceremony before stepping into the lobby for more alcohol. In a flashback, he remembers Jock coming down the stairs and his mother telling him he is just using the toilet. Once the others join him, Ray tells Stuart to keep their mother away from him. Avril tries to talk to him and makes matter worse. Ray lashes out at them and asks if Uncle Jock is still using the toilet. Les goes after him. Moments later, Les finds Ray sitting on a bench and joins him. They chat briefly before Les tells Ray that he has to let this go.

Ray admits Les had it worse than him in the tunnel, but he can’t get past what happened to them. Les says it messed him up for years. Ray reveals he became a cop so he could access sex offender databases and find the individuals who did it although he never did. He insists he is stuck and doesn’t know how to get past it. When he asks Les how he got past it, Les says he invested in something he cared about more than his own life and shows Ray a picture of his family. He encourages Ray to let it go and come back. Once they hug, Ray asks for a few minutes. Ray travels to the tunnel and goes inside alone. As he walks through the tunnel, he remembers his abuser’s face. Ray gets upset and begins punching the wall until Trudi shows up and stops him. Les joins them as they try to rush Ray to the hospital. Ray returns home with bandaged hands and several medications. Trudi takes him inside, gives him medication, and instructs him to go to sleep.

Ray says Confectioner never asked him why. He admits they got him although they got Les worse and he got away. Next, we jump to the interview room as Gareth finds out that Ray is on leave. He wonders whether he broke Ray so soon, but Amanda says it is bereavement leave. Gill asks where he was when Claire vanished. Gareth doesn’t want to talk to her and complains about the police sending in Stuart and her. He calls her an irrelevant bull dyke although he continues questioning him anyway. Gareth is shown a picture of Claire and asked about her murder. Gareth takes the picture, hands it back to Gill, and asks whether she would’ve slept with the girl. Ray enters the interview room. They briefly talk about the funeral before Ray asks about the yellow notepads. Gareth says he is a little hurt because Ray missed his first appearance on CCTV.

When Ray snorts, Gareth tells Drummond that is the sound of her partner squirming around. He also suggests Ray’s sinuses are jammed with cocaine and he’ll need sleep for days. Ray hits the table before asking how he missed his first appearance on CCTV. Gareth begins telling them about the night before the kidnapping when Britney went to the fast-food place with her mother and sister. He says it was easy to distract them as we see a flashback of Gareth starting a fire outside the restaurant. Britney notices and runs outside. Her mom and sister follow her. Gareth goes inside and puts a pill in Tessa’s drunk to make her sick so Brit would have to walk to school alone. Ray is accused of shoddy police work for not checking the CCTV footage from the night before. Then, Gareth insists it would’ve been someone else if it wasn’t Britney.

He begins talking about the darkness and the fact that once the beast gets it calls into you, it is game over. He tells Ray that you burn in shame and they’re the same for this reason. Ray gets up and grabs his chair. As he moves closer to Gareth, he says he has his philosophy to justify his crimes. Ray is asked if he fantasizes about his abuser and whether it makes his blood surge to his unit. He is accused of drinking, doing drugs, and committing crimes to obliterate that memory. Gareth believes Ray wants freedom and for the beast to let go. He doesn’t think Ray is there when he is pumping his girlfriend, Trudi. Gareth thinks he is back with his abuser and that is how he gets off. He tells Ray that men like them live in shame although Ray insists they’re not the same.

He encourages Ray to let it go before reaching over and touching him. Ray has a quick flashback to the tunnel. Gareth tells him to feel the shame and wallow in it. As Ray begins sobbing, he admits you’re dead once the beast has got his claws into you. Gareth backs up against the wall before revealing that it was Francesca Allen’s birthday when he took her and she still had frosting on her lips. He tells Ray that Francesca is out at Moseley Bog and Alison Sturbridge is at the bottom of Egerton Quarry. Once Amanda asks if he killed them and begins naming his victims, Gareth admits he killed them all with 15 victims in total. He believes he set their souls free since they won’t have to suffer the same shame Ray does every day. Ray gets up and turns off the recorder. Ray turns around to tell Gareth that he is wrong because the stuff in their heads doesn’t matter.

He goes on to say only weak fools succumb to their negative impulses and Gareth made a weakling’s choices that he is about to face the consequences for. Bob tells Dougie that he is on now. Dougie grabs a rag before entering the interview room. Amanda tells him that he can’t do this because they’re the good ones, but nothing anyone says is going to stop him. Gareth demands a lawyer and Gareth attacks him. Amanda tries to get Bob to stop this. He won’t. Dougie begins choking Gareth with the rag as Bob tells Ray that he is going on leave. Ray leaves the station. Then, we see him in a taxi with Trudi who asks if everything is okay. Ray says no but it is better than it could be. Ray talks about staring evil in the face and being unable to come back. He explains that you’re standing in darkness as the walls begin closing in before the episode ends.

 

Crime Review

Crime had everything going for it, including an outstanding cast, excellent backdrop, and a successful story. Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong before the show even started. Likely the biggest problem was the fact they decided to make the show six episodes because it would’ve been much better as three or four. In the end, most of the things that happened in the first three or four episodes were irrelevant and frustrating.

It was impossible to develop any significant relationship with the main characters because all of them were deeply flawed and stereotypical. While the dialogue sounded great at times, it had no real purpose or significance. As for the finale, there was just too much going on at once similar to the other five episodes. We didn’t need the Trudi storyline, Ray’s funeral tantrum, or Stuart’s new girlfriend.

It doesn’t help that the finale ended in the most unrealistic, idiotic way possible. While Crime had some decent moments, it turned out to be a jumbled disappointment that was likely more interested in pushing ideas instead of developing into a grim serial killer drama. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Crime recaps are available on Reel Mockery here.