As the episode begins, we see Jess (Cush Jumbo) and Tom (David Tennant) going about their normal routine. We also see a boy coloring. Tom takes off his ring while Jess hangs clothing up on a rack outside. She checks her privates and sees blood on her hands. Moments later, Steve (Matthew McNulty) waits for Jess to take a pregnancy test. The couple finds out that they’re not going to have a baby. Tom heads downstairs and finds Carol (Maureen Beattie) speaking with Nicky (Anneika Rose) about an upcoming fundraiser. Carol is making cupcakes so they can raise money for a gazebo for the memorial garden.
Nicky tells Tom that they have a court date and that it had to happen at some point. He isn’t happy since he thought the witness tampering would delay things further. Nicky encourages Tom to prepare himself because there is other evidence against him. Tom maintains his innocence. Jess and Steve sit down with the kids for food. Steve gets into an argument with one of his kids because he doesn’t want to team. He tries to spoon feed him until the boy gets up and runs off. Tom goes out and approaches Lynn (Julie Miller). Tom asks about Mark (Stuart Bowman) but Lynn isn’t eager to speak with him. She does her best to get away from Tom as quickly as possible.
Tom goes to the police station so he can answer questions about his bail conditions. After that, he goes to the memorial garden and sits alone. When class ends, Jess and one of the boys spot Tom sitting on the bench. Tom waves at the young boy, Lewis, but Jess seems concerned that Tom is there. When Jess returns home, she tells Steve that Luis saw Tom at the school. Steve believes Tom was breaking his bail terms and he wants to know what he was doing. They argue about it until they find out that Lewis has been picking at the wound on his arm and now it is bleeding. Outside, Jess and Steve chat about getting Lewis help. Jess suggests he needs a counselor and not a GP like Mark.
Steve wonders if Sandra (Lisa McGrillis) knows but Jess is more concerned about them not knowing about it. Jess believes it would be a good idea for Lewis to talk about his feelings. Steve tells Jess that Kate (Anna Madeley) confided in him that Tom was making her taking pills. He also reveals that Kate thought Tom was going to kill her one day. Meanwhile, Tom tells his mother that he can pay for the gazebo and he should. Carol suggests it is time to start being honest since he doesn’t have any money. Tom gets into his mother’s purse and takes some money before leaving. Next, the mother and son couple head to the Kendrick Family Fundraiser.
Everyone seems a bit surprised to see Tom there but he goes about like nothing has happened. Lynn and Mark speak with them moments later. Tom thanks Mark for the fundraiser and asks about business. Mark says nothing has changed. Chaos ensues when Steve and Jess enter. Steve goes after Tom and tells him that he’ll end him. It seems everyone sides with Steve until Tom tells the crowd that Steve forced a witness to give a false statement about him. Jess rushes outside before Steve catches up with her. They argue about Steve’s action and Jess is adamant that it was his fault this time. She names all of the mistakes he has made and nearly says Kate was his fault too.
She asked for Steve’s help and he didn’t give her any assistance. Tom considers getting a restraining order against Steve but Nicky tells him to let it slide. She believes he is trying to make himself a victim. In a flashback, Tom goes nuts after seeing Kate speak with Simon (Jamie Michie) at the bonfire. Moments later, Sandra tells Jess that it would be a good idea if she took the kids with Luke (Jack Greenlees) for some time. Luke joins them and they attempt to place the blame on Kate. Jess goes home and Tom confronts her there. She lets him in so he can talk to her for two minutes. He says wants to tell her about Kate and what happened at the end.
Tom says he was a good father and husband so he can’t understand why Kate did what she did. He eventually says he was abused by his father and his mother did nothing about it. He wonders if he had seen what Kate did to the kids. He says he couldn’t have watched his girls suffer and that is all he can think. He says it was good to tell someone before leaving. Jess tries to find Steve and eventually does at a local bar where he has been drinking for several hours. She managed to get him home for a bath. Once they get out of the bath, they lay in bed together and Jess comforts Steve.
She tells him they have to stop and he has to accept that they’re dead. She confessed that she slept with Tom because she was lonely. Jess realizes Steve doesn’t want to have another kid. She loves the boys so much but she is worried about their relationship. Steve promises to be better since he hasn’t been good enough. He will even do the IVF again but she isn’t interested in that. She wants to stop feeling like a failure. The following day, Tom obtains paperwork so he can start collecting Carol’s pension. Jess visits Carol and speaks with her about Tom.
Carol is selling her house because it is getting too much for her now. Jess asks Carol why she thinks it happened. She wonders if her husband having something to do with it. Carol denies that Tom’s father was abusive. Jess wants Carol to tell the police what she knows. She hasn’t stopped loving Tom despite him doing a terrible thing. Tom enters and interrupts their conversation. Tom reminds them that Kate put a lock on the door and locked the girls in.
Jess wants him to confess to the truth before attacking him. Tom wants his mother to call the police but she doesn’t. She ends up going to the police station with Jess. Tom begins cutting off his fingernails or something. We see a flashback of Tom finding a voicemail for Kate about getting a divorce. After that, he begins preparing to murder his family. He convinces Kate to pick up a lock at the store from him. They get into an argument and Emily storms out. Kate goes after her and this would be the time Dylan spotted them in the woods. While they’re away, Tom begins preparing the insulin. Kate finds out that the kids are unconscious. While she is distracted, Tom injects her too.
He tells her that the kids deserved better than her before going downstairs to call his mother. He tells her that he did the best he could. Then, he starts the fire and injects himself. Tom listens to the kids cry as smoke fills his room. Then, he wakes up in the hospital. We jump back to the present as the cops arrive to arrest Tom. Lewis speaks with a counselor about his drawing. He talks about his friend Iris. At the end of the episode, we see a flashback of Kate with Jess.
Deadwater Fell
Jesus. Is that the best you could come up with? I figured this would happen all along though. I knew the writers didn’t have the creativity or bravery to come up with an ending that was at least decent. They took the easy way out and stuck with the narrative making the entire series a bit pointless really. What was the story they were trying to tell? There was no substance here at all. It was impossible to connect with the characters making it difficult to care what happened to any of them.
We don’t know what happened to Tom but he likely lost his fingernails. That was a pathetic attempt to make the viewer cringe at the end since there was nothing else for us to gasp about. This show was lackluster in every possible way. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Previous recaps of Deadwater Fell are available at Reel Mockery.
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.
