As the finale of Guilt begins, Maggie Lynch speaks about the city being a prize to be won and a prize to be defended. If her enemies are coming for her, she welcomes them. Max McCall (Mark Bonnar) looks through the window and sees his brother, Jake (Jamie Sives), standing outside. In the morning, Sheila Gemmell (Ellie Haddington) says Jake was telling her about their dad and his accident. If Max wants to know where this finishes for him, Sheila believes he should think about what he did at the start. Max thinks this is going to finish well for him. Max tells Jake the plan is on track before saying he is leaving to finish it. Once he leaves, Sheila asks Jake if he is ready.

Jim Sturrock (Euan Macnaughton) calls Maggie Lynch (Phyllis Logan) to see if she has the American. Maggie believes she is with an associate of hers. As for Max McCall, he is heading towards a natural conclusion. She wants what she is waiting for. Jim tells her it’ll take a few hours. Maggie warns him not to make her come and get it because she has a busy day too. Yvonne Nixon (Isaura Barbe-Brown) tries to call Kenny Burns (Emun Elliott), but he doesn’t answer. Stevie Malone (Henry Pettigrew), who is with Max, knocks on her window. When Aliza Hillerby (Tamsin Topolski) wakes up on the couch, Carrie Tortolano (Anita Vettessee) tells her she needed that. Aliza doesn’t seem to know who she is so Carrie yells for Skye to tell her that her friend is awake.

Skye (Amelia Isaac Jones) and Danny (Anders Hayward) enter the room. Aliza wants to return to the motel to get the rest of her stuff, but they say she needs to stay until they work out what to do. Aliza argues they should know what to do by now. She reminds them that she only got into the laundry cart because they showed her photos of documents she can no longer access. They refuse to let her leave. Skye explains that she is in Leith and different rules apply there. Aliza says she grew up in a project in Baltimore and ended up running a bank worth more than they can imagine. If they’re involved in something that can help her bring down Jim Sturrock, that would be great. Regardless, she wants to speak to whoever is in charge.

Max tells Yvonne that he can give her the evidence she needs to bring down Maggie Lynch. Yvonne wants to review it first, but Max will only do that if she gives him what she has on Jim Sturrock. Specifically, he wants phone records showing contact between Jim and Roy Lynch. Stevie reminds Yvonne that he said she’d have to get a little dirty to bring down Maggie Lynch. When Yvonne says Max will get away with whatever he has done, he says it won’t only be him. She asks about Kenny who didn’t come home last night. Yvonne doesn’t want to help him because it could be a way into something else. She informs them that it’ll get dirty if something has happened to Kenny.

Erin (Sara Vickers) meets Maggie Lynch because she said it was important. Maggie never thought her daughter would end up in Dundee. She suspects all the money she stole from her will be keeping her daughter healthy. Maggie explains she is going away and thought she should see her daughter before doing so. She wants to know anything about Erin’s life so she can take those things with her in case she doesn’t see her again. Erin wanted a life that wasn’t poisoned by being a Lynch. Maggie can take the fact that she found one. Maggie insists she is sorry about everything that happened. She argues that Max shouldn’t have told her and he will face the consequences for doing so.

Erin suspects that Max might be back even though Maggie won’t confirm it. Erin says they’ve seen each other before leaving. Skye tells Max that she has something for him and it is worth a lot more than 20 grand. When he goes inside and says he is in charge, Aliza tells him that she wants those documents so she can stop the deal. Max says he needs the deal to go through so Jim Sturrock can pay him. After that, he will support anything that shafts Jim. Max tells her that she needs to tell them how the sale going through can help them both. To work that out, she is going to need clarity. Max claims they don’t need to kidnap her because they have something she wants badly. He just needs to figure out how they both win.

Skye interrupts to tell them about Kenny. Carrie sits with him at the hospital. She tells Skye that this is what happens to people like them. They go involved in something and come out worse. When they try to fix it, things get worse again. Carrie can’t understand why a clever girl like Skye is still there. While searching Kenny’s office, Max tells Jake that he was going to ask Kenny to dig out some paperwork that would’ve given them a level of protection. Now, he has to work out where that paperwork might be stored. Jake doesn’t think Max cares about Kenny being in a coma. Max wishes he wasn’t in a coma because it is a bad thing, but he is and he is going to act accordingly. Jake thinks they should visit him. He tells Max that there is no one who has been around him that hasn’t been left ruined.

When Max says that isn’t true, Jake asks for an exception before Erin enters Kenny’s office. She tells Max that she remembered the owls. At the hospital, Skye speaks to Yvonne about Kenny and his condition. She tells Yvonne that they’re the biggest gang in town, yet they’ve done nothing about the Lynchs. Skye doesn’t think Kenny will tell them what happened, but she will find out. The difference between them is that she’ll do something about it. Yvonne says she won’t because she has too much to lose and Kenny won’t forgive her if she lets her lose it. Skye wonders who will do something if she doesn’t. Max tells Erin that it is good to see her. She thanks him for what he did and what he told her.

Jake walks down the street until he sees Maggie Lynch coming so he runs back towards Kenny’s office. Erin tells Max that she wanted to see what capacity he had for something more. She says he is looking hunted to which Max admits is about right. Max says things to her that he wouldn’t say to anyone else and he isn’t sure why that is. He asks Erin where he can find her when he is ready. Max is surprised to learn she has been staying in Dundee, but she says it offers more than you’d think. Erin claims she isn’t there for Maggie and instead wants to tell Max what his life could be if he thought about the other people in it. She admit she only came to leave an envelope. Before Max can take it, Jake barges in saying Maggie is coming.

As her men chase them out, Maggie enters and confronts Erin. Max and Jake hide. Maggie admits she used Erin to find Max. Erin has to tell herself that Maggie became this and wasn’t always like this. Maggie claims she is exactly who she had to be to do what she needed to do. Erin thinks she should look at what it cost her. Maggie asks if she knows how hard it was to give her the love she did. The more Erin understands Maggie, the more she understands Roy and what she did to him. Erin says she was always going to end up alone, angry, and scared. Maggie denies being scared. Kenny begins waking up as Max and Jake continue hiding from Maggie’s men.

Once Max and Jake come out of hiding, Jake immediately blames Erin. Aliza calls Max to say they both can win. Kenny speaks to Yvonne about working together. Yvonne reminds him that she isn’t out yet because she needs to do something first. She wants to know who Maggie got to do it, but Kenny doesn’t want to tell her. When Yvonne says she’ll go straight to her, Kenny asks her not to go down that road. He says there is no way she’ll get Maggie Lynch without sacrificing who she is. Yvonne argues that Kenny is sometimes too good. Aliza asks if she can make another call. Skye tells her that she wouldn’t trust Max.

Aliza doesn’t. Skye explains that she tried to go from nothing to something like Aliza did. She doesn’t want to be in that house or this city, but she has no choice. Aliza offers to give her one. Jim Sturrock asks Max how he got the American. Jim doesn’t think Max can blame Leith for not getting anywhere because he just didn’t make it. Max tells him to wait and see where they are at the end of the day. Skye kisses Danny in a private room and tells him there is a new plan. She says Kenny is okay, Max is a liar, and the woman downstairs is up to something. Skye is going to climb out of the window and leave. Teddy visits Kenny at the hospital.

Teddy says it was a relapse. That is what he is telling himself so he can still recognize the progress. He wants cleansed and rid of it all. There is one way that could go, but it feels awfully easy and Teddy is the only one who should suffer. He knows he should suffer so he is ready to suffer, but he wants to spread it to the people who made him who he is. Kenny claims he can give him there and tell him how to cleanse himself. If Teddy does what he asks, he might be able to give him what he needs the most. When Teddy asks what that is, Kenny says forgiveness. Jim calls Maggie to tell her that Max has the American. She warns him that he doesn’t know how Leith works because he is from Edinburgh.

Jim says he isn’t going with Max because he doesn’t want to be blackmailed by a bent lawyer. Yvonne goes looking through the evidence boxes. She opens a lock box and retrieves a handgun. Before she can leave the station, a colleague calls her name. She sits down with Teddy who tells her that he worked for Maggie Lynch. She listens to a recording of Teddy and Maggie talking about the 100 grand he’d get for killing the brothers. Teddy tells her that is just the start. Jake asks Stevie what he is getting out of this before Stevie says redemption. Max and Aliza work through the details of the plan. Max thinks he has it. Stevie works on his phone in the bathroom. Jake tells Sheila that he is going to need a drink.

Max asks Aliza about the kids and learns that they left. He agrees to give her a moment alone. While Sheila is pouring whisky, Jake quickly searches through Max’s coat. Sheila tells Max that Jake isn’t going with him. They’re going to take the money that Max and Maggie are fighting over. It is all in motion. He won’t be able to stop it because word will come out about his parole violation if he does. Sheila says she has Jake so she has Max. If he wants to know how this finishes, he just needs to think about what he did at the start. Max says he came there for two reasons. He knew he’d be safe and he knew that Sheila would screw him over. He knew she’d do it by targeting his weak link.

Max told Jake that she’d come for him. As long as she was doing that, he could do whatever he needed to do. Max says nothing is in motion and she doesn’t have Jake because he does. Now, they’re going to finish this. Stevie is going to keep her company until it is done to prevent her from trying to stop it. Max gives her some money, but says he can’t go to six grand. They leave after that. When Sheila gets up to get more alcohol, they hear a knock at the door. When they come in, Stevie says they’ve missed them although he knows where they are. Stevie is held at gunpoint. He tells the gunman that he spoke to Maggie this morning and they agreed to a clean slate in exchange for Max.

Stevie claims he is on her side, but he is shot in the head anyway. After they take his body out of the house, Sheila grabs her keys and leaves. Aliza and Max approach Jim who guesses this is happening. Yvonne tells Maggie that she is arresting her for conspiracy to murder Max and Jake McCall. She is convinced more people will testify against Maggie. Yvonne says Maggie seemed very alert despite using a defense of dementia in the past. When Maggie says she needs to make some calls, Yvonne says she already has. She asked them why their numbers were on the data belonging to Roy Lynch’s phone. Yvonne warned them it might be something she’d revisit. No one had any objections after that.

Yvonne believes her two remaining hired guns will hear about this and run for the hills. Yvonne tells her that she is coming with them. Maggie gets mad and yells that this is her city. Yvonne says it was before Maggie is handcuffed. Jake goes to the office for Leith Legals. He begins bagging stuff up and finds Erin’s letter to Max. Teddy’s father asks him if he did what Maggie told him to do. Teddy tells him that he can now say his boy is the one who sent Maggie Lynch down. His dad is worried that Maggie will be coming for them, but Teddy argues she won’t be coming for anyone. Teddy reveals he is going into witness protection. He did it so he wouldn’t be coming back to his dad.

Jim gives Max a confirmation of transfer. Max congratulates him since it looks like he is selling Scotland’s crown jewel. Aliza says he will fire Richard after the merger goes through. Then, she will take his job at terms she will set. She wants to tell Richard that he is fired. Max tells Aliza good luck just before the press conference. Jake speaks to Kenny at the hospital as they see on the television that the bank sale is going ahead. Kenny had a plan until his painkillers faded and he realized life wasn’t that simple. Max came back and ruined him all over again. Jake always pitied him for what Max did to him. Jake explains he is there to say sorry. They were in the same hole so they should’ve helped each other get out of it.

Jake gives him a laptop and paperwork. As Max leaves, he calls Jake to complain about him not keeping the taxi waiting. Jim tells Aliza that he spoke to Richard and she is sacked. She tells him that deals get sunk by rumors. Aliza explains that the documents are out there along with the con that Jim and Richard pulled. The stock price is dropped and it’ll be falling below her cash-out point right about now. When Max meets Jake at the cemetery, Jake tells him that people think he should have an ending that isn’t good. Jake thinks it is up to him. He tells him what Alec said about forgiving and understanding Max to find peace. Jake forgives him and wants him to know this comes from love.

He argues that Max knew what Sheila was going to do because that is what he would’ve done. Jake doesn’t think he should be like that anymore so he is going to help him change. Jake mentions the bank account he set up to pass the money through. Kenny and the youngsters got the cuts that Max wouldn’t have given them. The rest is making its way to Jake. He tried life without money and soul, but it didn’t suit him as well as he thought it would. Max had money although he had no soul. Jake hopes him taking the money will send Max somewhere else and somewhere better. Max claims the money and Jake are all he has. Jake says that isn’t true before handing him Erin’s letter.

Alec fishes alone while Max walks past the Boundary Bar. Jake gets a ticket to Berlin. Yvonne goes to the hospital where she kisses Kenny. Sheila goes to Alec and calls herself a friend of his sons. Erin opens the door to let Max comes inside. Once Max sits down, he hears a baby crying in another room.

 

Guilt Review

As a whole, the final series of Guilt was unbalanced and longwinded although the ending was satisfying enough to justify watching all four episodes. The series could’ve been better because certain aspects of the storyline were stretched thin while others were rushed. In particular, the show should’ve given Max more time to process what happened before just giving up and going to Erin.

It is difficult to believe that Max, who was so determined to have more, would just turn away and not at least fight for what he wanted. Truthfully, everything that happened with the bank ended up being too complex, very confusing, and even uninteresting. The aftermath of it was glanced over because so much time was dedicated to creating this overly complicated plan that just didn’t pan out.

Really, once the episode ended, it felt like everything that happened with the bank was downplayed and potentially even pointless. It shouldn’t have felt that way since it impacted the outcome but it did. The good news is that the last four minutes or so really delivered and provided a good end to the stories of everything involved.

Those last few minutes redeemed the episode to some degree even though the series was dull as a whole. At times, I was begging for it to end because it felt like the episodes drug on forever. With that being said, I am glad it is over and I am glad the characters received decent endings. The finale scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Guilt are available on Reel Mockery here.

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