As this episode of Happy Valley begins, Mike Taylor (Rick Warden) tells Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) that Claire and Neil have been taking Ryan to see Tommy. It started over a year ago and there have been four visits with another arranged for Saturday. Catherine can’t understand why they’d do that when they’re supposed to be taking him to football on Saturdays. She tries to figure out how Tommy got in touch with Ryan in the first place. Catherine never liked Neil who she describes as spineless. She believes Claire is weak too. There is nothing Rick can do and Catherine doesn’t want to go home.

Catherine may ask for this Saturday off though. Ryan (Rhys Connah) and his friend find out that their bikes have been chained together. Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley), who is the most likely culprit, approaches them to give them a week of detention even though Ryan claims it wasn’t him. When Ryan curses him, Rob decides to kick him off the football team. Ryan’s friend admits to saying it yesterday, but the argument between Rob and Ryan continues. When he gets home, he wrecks his room. Claire (Siobhan Finneran) calls Neil (Con O’Neill) to tell him about what is going on. He hasn’t threatened her even though he has insulted her.

Neil offers to come around once Marie gets there so she can handle the store. Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah) returns home where his wife asks if it is okay to go to Zainab and Farhan’s on Friday since they got the decking finished for 15 grand. Faisal tells his daughter he is figuring out how to pay for the new decking her mom will be requiring shortly. Later, Catherine calls Richard (Derek Riddell) to tell him about Claire taking Ryan to the prison to see Tommy. He wonders if it could be someone using their names for some reason. She thinks it is them because every visit has been on Saturday when she was working.

Catherine goes on to say she is going to watch and observe them. She can’t avoid them because Ryan got himself kicked off the football team. Richard asks if Tommy is being tried for the Gary Gackowski murder. He explains it is something he is working on. They agree to meet up. Catherine goes inside and complains about Claire helping tidy up Ryan’s bedroom. She asks what Ryan’s defense will be when she calls Mr. Baines for a sit-down. Ryan tells her about Hepworth chasing them in his car and Cesco shouting about his oats. Ryan is told to go to bed while Catherine is willing to let Claire walk home in the dark. Catherine says nothing about her suspicions.

When Claire texts her letting her know she got home, Catherine responds with a thumbs-up emoji. Ryan catches her smoking and reminds her it is bad for her. He questions what he’ll do if she goes off to the Himalayas. Ryan would like to go with her. He tells her what he told Hepworth about shoving the team up his arse. Catherine believes she can sort it out and get him back on the team. She reminds him there will be dickheads everywhere so you have to learn to negotiate around them. Ryan again mentions that revenge is a dish best served cold. The following day, Joanna Hepworth (Mollie Winnard) chases down Faisal outside the dispensary.

She thought Rob was going to kill her. Joanna thinks he will one day and nobody will even notice. It has happened before when Rob usually gets a fixation with a lad at school. He’ll pick a fight with them to knock their confidence. Then, he’ll be the person who picks them up and turns their life around. It is usually kids without proper parenting at home. During this phase, Rob gets handy with his fists and takes it out on her. Joanna reminds him he said he might be able to get a flat for her and her girls. Faisal claims to care about her although he can’t afford to pay for a flat. He says he just manages the shops and they are actually owned by Anisha’s dad.

Joanna believes the police will charge her with something when the diazepam comes back from the lab. They might be happy with her saying she just found it behind some toilets this time. Anna (Charlie Murphy) tells Shaf (Shane Zaza) that her interview was successful and they want her to start her six-month attachment at CID next week. She thinks he is jealous, but Shafiq claims some of them like being in uniform. They talk to someone about a person who died nearby. Catherine calls Richard and tells him she is on a house-to-house down Elland. She admits she hasn’t said anything and there haven’t been any updates. Richard reveals he has been approached by a journalist from The Guardian who is developing a piece about organized crime links to local government.

He saw an article Richard wrote in the Yorkshire Post last year and he wants him to do some digging on Darius Knezevic. Richard thought half an hour with Catherine would be a good place to start. Richard knows he is standing for election onto Bradford City Council. When she sees Alison Garrs (Susan Lynch) nearby, she says she has to go. Alison tells her she lost everything. Once they carry the furniture inside, Alison reveals she spent the last three years at Aldborough. She learned how to do highlights and drive a forklift truck. Catherine learns that Carol Sewell is her probation officer. She drinks and turns up doped on anti-anxiety medications.

Alison is working at Ramsden’s Ready Meals on the industrial estate. She asks about the woman upstairs who came out of a window. Alison shows Catherine how the windows don’t open far and how there is no sprinkler system. When Catherine meets with Richard, she tells him how government contracts are lucrative so everyone wants them. Richard asks if the window fittings were all from a dodgy source. She admits it isn’t impossible. Richard asks how the Knezevics would get the contract in the first place. She suggests whoever was making the decision was bent or compromised. The criminal could’ve shown them a quality product that worked.

When they supply them, it is different products. People only find out once it fails. Richard asks her about the possibility that Darius is connected to the murder that Tommy is in court for next week. She has heard things, but she doubts they’ll ever nail it on Darius. Catherine warns Richard it could be dangerous if he gets too close, but he argues it is a chance to work on something proper. He asks about the girl that died in the flat in Elland. Catherine reveals she came out of a 4th floor window. Division went in and found boxes and boxes of cash. Catherine says they can’t launder money quickly enough so they store it in someone else’s place.

Catherine has to leave when she gets a call from David Baines at Elm Wood. She agrees to drop by the school. Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) runs into the priest and reminds him he’ll be in court because he shopped him to the police all those months ago. He tells him he forgives him. Tommy leans over and whispers in his ear “May the Lord be with you”. In the cafeteria, two inmates get into a fight so the prisoner next to Tommy has time to hide something in his sock. When Catherine makes it to the school, she notices that Hepworth has a flat tire and the cap is sitting on the ground nearby.

She also finds a penis that was drawn on the back of the car. She joins them inside and asks Hepworth how his wife is doing. David explains that Rob believes Ryan damaged his vehicle. Ryan quickly denies everything and has no evidence on his hands. Catherine searches his pockets and finds a lighter. She gets Rob to admit there is no CCTV evidence and everyone has access to the area where his car was parked. Rob believes it was Ryan because of the altercation they had yesterday. Although he says he wasn’t accusing him, the others thought he was. Catherine says another officer would have to deal with it they are accusing him.

She goes on to suggest they’ll need more evidence too. Catherine claims Ryan was talking about apologizing to Hepworth last night for saying something he shouldn’t have in hopes of getting back on the team. Ryan says it is about him being blamed for something that Cesco said and admitted to. He asks Catherine if she can arrest Rob for chasing them in his car. David says they should try to find someone who saw something. Then, they can hopefully find a solution that lets Ryan get his place back on the football team. As they leave, Ryan suggests Hepworth did it himself to get him into trouble. She knows he didn’t do it. Tommy gets the package.

Back in his cell, he turns on the tiny phone and notices he has a new message which says “Ricos Newsagents GR8 presents 4 Ryan”. Catherine messages Claire to ask if she’d tell her if someone was making her do something she didn’t want to do. Claire asks what that might be. Catherine says anything. Claire responds by saying yes she would. Faisal looks at flats. Rob makes it home and finds Joanna cooking. He calls it a mess before slamming the door. The girls hear the commotion. Rob grabs his clubs and leaves to go to the driving range. During dinner, Joanna’s daughter asks her why daddy doesn’t like her.

The following day, she meets with Faisal to see if he had time to look up flats. He says he can’t afford anything so she should go to the council and ask for a flat if Rob is knocking her about. She doesn’t think she’ll get one and she doesn’t want Florence and Poppy to live there either. Joanna confesses she thinks she might kill him. She should be allowed to get divorced, but he’d win everything. He always has to win. If he wasn’t there, they could continue living at the house. Joanna believes she might get away with it. She didn’t turn him into the police because Faisal said he was going to help her. Joanna reminds him that she’ll have to talk to them anyway when the drug results come back.

He reveals he is being blackmailed and that is why he is struggling to get a flat. He tells her how they want 1,800 quid a week. Faisal can’t go to the police because he has been helping people like her and they’ll find out. He can’t help. Joanna warns him Rob knows he gave her the diazepam. She has already thought about how she’d deal with Rob who drinks himself into a stupor every Friday night. Joanna could put some ketamine in his drink if she could get ahold of it. Then, she could put a cushion over his face or give him an injection of air. Faisal believes it’d work, but he doesn’t handle ketamine. Joanna asks if he can get something else.

Catherine drops some stuff off at Alison’s place and tells her about an interview she got her for a job driving a forklift truck. Catherine asks if she could leave her car and borrow her truck for a couple of hours on Saturday. At home, Faisal’s daughter asks him about getting driving lessons. He tells her they’ll have to wait and see. In a flashback, Ivan picks up the cash from Faisal at the dispensary. He asks if they’ve been following his son Tahir. Ivan tells him he doesn’t have a son. If he tries to mess with him again, he’ll prove to him that he knows his daughters better than he does.

He says they’ll do it again on Thursday because he is getting married on Wednesday. He wants another 1,500 next week. Faisal says he can’t do it because the police might be onto him. He tells him what happened with Joanna and the pills. Ivan urges him to sort out her and her husband. Catherine learns that Ryan is back on the team after Hepworth asked him yesterday. He says she doesn’t have to come since he texted Clare about it last night. They might drive into Leeds and look at some of the shops. While Claire watches them at the game, Alison calls to warn her that the truck’s clutch is messed up.

She follows them until Neil and Ryan get out of the vehicle. Catherine watches Claire pay for parking before following her on foot. Claire goes to the café so Catherine calls her from outside. Claire tells her she is in a coffee shop in Leeds. She says Neil and Ryan wanted to look around Game and they can spend hours in there. Claire begins telling her about the football match. They talk about Hepworth before Claire admits that she hates Leeds. After the call, Catherine decides to go into the shop to sit in front of Claire.

 

Happy Valley Review

In this episode of Happy Valley, Catherine Cawood reconnected with Alison Garrs who has been released from prison before she attempted to find out whether Clare was taking Ryan to see Tommy. She followed the group after the football match only for Clare to separate from Neil and Ryan.

It seems this is becoming an integral component of the main season and a way to keep Tommy in the story. As for Tommy, he managed to obtain a cellphone with a message about a gift for Ryan. Ann Gallagher has learned she could be going to CID. Joanna contemplated killing Rob so she won’t lose everything during a divorce.

Faisal digs himself deeper by lying about having a son and he now owes an additional 1,500 next week. The episode was a bit messy as it desperately tried to tighten all the strings and reconnect with important characters from past seasons including Ann and Alison. There was no mention of a woman falling from a 4th story window previously so it felt like convenient writing just to let viewers know what Ann was doing and to reconnect Catherine with Alison.

The scenes with Faisal and Joanna often seem forced perhaps because there wasn’t any build-up or meaning to the relationship. Faisal claims to be helping others as well, but Joanna appears to be a special case for him. The series is just trying to do too much with viewers expected to instantly connect with and care about these characters with no inadequate development.

Besides some tidbits here and there, we don’t even know who the extortionists are or who the Knezevics are. The series is clearly building up to something big, but it’ll need to act quickly with only four episodes left. When all is said and done, the series will likely be saved by a very powerful finale even if the journey getting there wasn’t always perfect.

The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Happy Valley are available on Reel Mockery here. Looking for advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery? Find out more at this link. Consider supporting our work here.