Gold Digger Finale Recap

When the episode begins, Julia Day (Julia Ormond) returns home and hears Patrick (Sebastian Armesto) speaking with someone on the phone. She goes to bed and lays alone before we see a flashback of the night of the assault. Julia believes Ben (Ben Barnes) is laying on the stretcher in the ambulance. Della (Jemima Rooper) interrupts and asks where she has been. They speak briefly before Julia brushes her teeth and gets ready. She gets angry and cells herself an old fool. Della makes her breakfast before learning she has invited Emily. Julia tells Della that she needs to be happy. After that, she begins getting ready for the wedding. Julia grabs her phone and sends a text to someone saying she needs to talk to them.

She rushes out of the house and goes to the woods. Ted (Alex Jennings) meets up with her seconds later. Ted doesn’t believe Julia is going to marry Benjamin because of them. He says he had his revenge and she is getting hers with Ben now. He tries to blame her for their relationship falling apart. She admits she is guilty too since she buried the truth and didn’t speak up. They go back and forth until Ted gets upset and slaps Julia to the ground. She returns home. We see another flashback of Julia at home after the assault. She rushes out of the house and drives away in her vehicle. She goes to the cliffside and calls Ben. He goes on and on about marrying Julia and being happy before she says it is over.

Ben stares down Patrick before going through Julia’s paperwork upstairs. She finds the prenup that she forged his name on. He goes to Ted’s place and asks Marsha (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Cali (Karla-Simone Spence) about Julia’s whereabouts. She tries to comfort him. When he leaves, he goes to the cliffside and finds Julia’s vehicle. He finds an envelope inside containing the newspaper article about the murder and a letter. He reads it before spotting Julia down by the water. He rushes down and confronts her. He screams for her to never do that again and says it scared him. She doesn’t want him to touch her. He reminds her that she lied too and shows her the prenup.

Ben believes he can fix their problem and believes Julia went looking for a reason not to marry him. He pleads with Julia to come with him so he can explain everything. They go for a ride together while Benjamin tells Julia about his mother and her picked bad dads. Kieran told him that they needed 50 quid. He agreed to be the lookout while Kieran took care of the rest. Ben insists he is not capable of killing another person. They visit Kieran seconds later and Ben pleads with his brother to tell Julia the truth. Kieran tells Ben that he knows what he did. He explains it was an accident and his brother didn’t mean to do it. Ben follows him and begs him to tell the truth.

Kieran gets aggressive with his brother before confessing that he only hit the shopkeeper once. Kieran tells Julia that she gives Ben everything he couldn’t get including money, status, and a mother who loved him. In the car, Ben explains he took the blame because he was 15 and young offenders didn’t sound so bad. He thought he was saving Kieran. When he got out, he found out that his brother was just like his mother so he left. They return home and the kids check on Julia. Ben asks if he’ll see her at the church. He gets dressed, goes to the church, and waits. It takes a little bit but Julia eventually arrives with the kids. Patrick tries to give Ben money to leave but Julia doesn’t want that.

She tells Patrick he is a hypocrite before speaking with Ben in private. Ben says she has nothing to apologize for but she says she let him hide. She didn’t leave any room for him since she was consumed with her kids and past. She says she doesn’t want her old life without Ben in it. They agree to skip the part with objections before returning home and partying with family and friends. Moments later, Patrick confronts Ben and threatens to kill him if he tells his wife. Ben is shown the note accusing Patrick of having an affair before he tells Patrick it must be exhausting to pretend to be something he is not. Ben tells Patrick he won’t have to lose his family as long as he stays out of the way.

Ben grabs the microphone and says a few words. He speaks about all of the things that are irrelevant to love. He says nobody knows who he is or what he has done. He says that despite everything he and Julia will be okay. Julia goes on stage with him and speaks to the crowd too. After that, they dance to a slow song. Ted rushes into the house a few moments later. He is drunk and wants to talk with Julia. He tells Ben about Julia kissing him at Christmas. Julia holds Ben’s hand and tells Ted she’d like him to go. Ted says Julia can’t take everything and that means the kids. Ted gets upset so the kids have to get involved. Once the others have left, Leo (Archie Renaux) asks his father who he is.

Then, Ben tells him it is time to go home. Ted asks what Ben wants with his wife before Ben reminds him that it is his wife. He says he only wants to treat her right and love her. He threatens to let everyone know what type of man Ted is. Ben returns to Julia and they dance together. In the morning, Ben stares through the window before Julia joins him. They cuddle, hug, and kiss until the episode ends.

 

Gold Digger Review

I can’t say Gold Digger was the best show I have ever seen. On the contrary, it started out fairly well but went downhill quickly. It ended up too easy for everyone involved. Julia found out about Ben’s past but he managed to brush it off by blaming it on his brother. Patrick’s affair was nearly exposed but that was swept under the rug at the last minute.

Ted was the only person punished in the end. The show was far too generous and the ending destroyed any credibility it had left. We will never to get see if things worked out between the married couple. Was Ben the nice guy he pretended he was? Or, was he going to take Julia for everything she is worth? We’ll never find out because the show was too busy wasting time on Ben’s past when it didn’t matter at all in the end.

They could’ve explored these subjects instead of having Ben chase after Julia through houses, woods, and caves before the story started moving. The domestic violence angle wasn’t great either. How can they pretend it was a one time deal and the kids didn’t know? Life doesn’t work that way. The finale scores a 6 out of 10. You can find prior recaps of Gold Digger on Reel Mockery.