As this episode of Happy Valley begins, Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) enters the café to confront Clare Cartwright (Siobhan Finneran). She asks why they’re pretending they’re going to Leeds when they’re really going to Sheffield. Catherine also knows where they are because she saw them go in. She goes over everything that has happened because of Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton). Tommy greets Ryan (Rhys Connah) at the prison while Neil (Con O’Neill) stands nearby. Clare tells Catherine that he has been writing to him since he was ten after Frances gave him his address at Gravesend.

Ryan kept writing. When Tommy got moved up here, he managed to get a message to Ryan. A man handed him an envelope outside the school gates with his new address at the prison there. In the note, he said he had all of Ryan’s letters. After Ryan got a note asking him to meet Tommy, he asked Neil to help him. Catherine knows how soft Neil is. Neil thought he had done wrong after the first time so he told Clare who told him it had to stop. Ryan got upset. Clare explains that Ryan doesn’t know a lot about it because he didn’t live through it and they kept it from him.

She goes on to say Ryan doesn’t know what happened with his mother since he has never been told. They begin discussing whether Ryan should be visiting Tommy. Clare admits it is his dad, but Catherine doesn’t want to hear that. She says it isn’t going to go away and it’d be something Ryan would do on his own when he is told enough. Clare confesses to going in the second time Ryan visited him because she wanted to see what was going on. She would’ve told Catherine if she detected anything out of the norm but she didn’t. Catherine reminds her that Tommy tried to set Ryan on fire. Claire insists she never asked to be in this position and she just tried to make sense of it as she best could.

She doesn’t think it was just as simple as telling her what was going on. Claire wonders if it is the one good, simple relationship Ryan has never had before. She suggests Tommy might realize how abnormal his behavior has been and he might get to a place where he wanted to be forgiven. Clare thinks that would be better for everyone since Tommy is never going to get out of there. She argues there might be a way to find peace and this could be where it starts. Catherine asks if there has been any indication that he wants to be forgiven. She doesn’t think he will because he is too far gone and born with this kink.

Catherine claims she will forgive him when he asks her to although she doubts it’ll ever happen. She also worries about the impact the visits are having on Ryan. Claire confesses she only went in once because she didn’t like it in there. She let Ryan go because she wasn’t the one who wanted to see him. Catherine wants her to tell Neil she’ll deal with him when she sees him. After Catherine leaves, she Becky dead and breaks down. Tommy tells Ryan he is going to be in Leeds this Tuesday because he pleaded guilty to something he didn’t do. He suggests Ryan can come and sit in the visitors’ gallery.

Tommy asks him to see if he can get out of school and to stick up for himself with Hepworth. He tells Neil to keep an eye on him. Tommy doesn’t like hearing it when Neil says Catherine has that covered. Ryan shakes his hand and calls him dad before he leaves with Neil. Outside, Ryan wonders why Tommy says stuff like going bungee jumping since it’ll never happen. Neil argues you have to use a bit of self-kidology when you’re in prison for life. When they get in the car, Clare tells them that Catherine knows. Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah) watches Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley) leave home through his window.

Once he is gone, Faisal sneaks around back to get in touch with Joanna (Mollie Winnard). He tells her he thinks she should do what she said. He says they should send him on his way. Faisal asks if she’ll be around Monday lunchtime. Catherine returns to her vehicle before going to Richard (Derek Riddell) to tell him about Ryan. She thought about telling him the truth or a version of it when he was 18. She admits it’d be repugnant to her if he wanted to have a relationship with Tommy after what happened to Becky. They’re having a relationship and it sounds like they get on like a house on fire.

Richard thinks Clare should’ve told her. He apologizes for leaving her on her own to deal with it when she died. Catherine thinks they did what they had to since the only way to deal with that is to go mad for a while. Catherine gets a text from Ryan saying he is stopping at Claire’s for tea. Clare tells Neil she should’ve told her and he should’ve told her before he took Ryan the first time. Neil intends to tell Catherine that he felt sorry for him and it is what Ryan wanted. Catherine brings Ryan some items so he can stay with Clare and Neil for a while. She takes Ryan outside to admit it was partly her fault for not addressing things with him more clearly.

There are things he needs to understand if he is going to keep visiting Tommy. She starts by saying what is wrong with Tommy isn’t necessarily hereditary. Catherine tells him that Tommy has a kink in his brain that allows him to do evil, nasty things. Ryan doesn’t have that kink so he has a normal brain. Ryan knows he isn’t a weirdo because Neil has somewhat explained this to him. Catherine asks if Neil told him Tommy wasn’t very nice to his mother. Although she won’t tell him how or why, it broke her heart when his mom died. She says it was Tommy’s fault although he didn’t kill her.

If Ryan continues to visit him, he can’t live with her. Ryan asks if she killed herself. He says Tommy loved her because he told him. Catherine won’t tell him anything else. The next day, Nevison (George Costigan) meets with Daniel (Karl Davies) and Ann (Charlie Murphy) to question why Neil would do that. Daniel says even if she got a court order, but they would probably think it is a good thing for Ryan to have a relationship with his dad. Nevison goes outside to comfort Ann and remind her that Tommy will die in prison. Ann reveals she starts her attachment with CID tomorrow. At school, Ryan talks to Cesco (Freddy Smith) who invites him to stay with him since he has his GCSEs coming up.

Rob catches up with Ryan to tell him he played well on Saturday. Cesco gets a message urging Ryan to apologize to his granny. Rob learns about Ryan and what has happened so he offers to talk about it with him. Faisal drops the kids off at school. Ryan tells Rob about Tommy who said he loved his mom. Ryan thinks he did in his own way. He thinks it was an abusive relationship so his granny blames him when she gets upset. Rob apologizes for being hard on him. Ryan admits he’d feel bad if he had to stop visiting his dad. Rob tells him that his marriage isn’t a happy one so they all have their crosses to bear.

Rob reminds him his door is always open. Ann and the others are told the dead woman is Danielle Womersley. They believe she fell from the window trying to escape from the flat. She is registered blind. Although no family has been identified, there is a boyfriend who was in the flat when she was trying to climb out. CCTV shows a man leaving the flat possibly after he realized she fell from the window. Instead of checking on her or calling an ambulance, he left carrying two rucksacks. He drove to an address in Queensbury in a Toyota. Since there were around 40 grand in the house, it is believed he might’ve tried to move as much money as quickly as possible.

The vehicle is registered to Josip Matic at an address in Queensbury. They’re going to try to address the man later this morning. Two other males were seen coming and going from the Elland flat the previous week. Catherine tells her team that one constable is going to be assigned as a dedicated alien life-form liaison office. She also reveals that CID has requested assistance with an arrest at an address in Queensbury. Later, she hears someone throwing up in the bathroom. Ann comes out and tells her that she drank too much last night. She tells Catherine about the blind woman who was being used so the guys could stash their money.

They held her hostage in the flat for a few weeks and it sounds like she was trying to escape when she fell. Ann tells Catherine what happened to her when she was kidnapped and how Tommy threatened to chop her tits off. She knows she should’ve screamed, but she didn’t because it was a survival thing. When Ann asks about Ryan, Catherine says he has worked out that Becky took her own life. Even though Clare told him a version of why, Ryan still wants to go visit Tommy. Catherine checks the results of the lab tests before getting worse about the impending arrest. She writes down the number from the results.

Viktor (Anthony Flanagan) arrives to tell Matija (Jack Bandeira) that the chief knows what happened at the flat in Elland. Ivan (Oliver Huntingdon) claims Josip said the woman was happy every time they went around. The chief asked if Josip managed to get any of the money out. Viktor says he wants Josip moved on or killed before the Feds get to him. Ivan is told to sort it out or he’ll be lucky to be at his own wedding. They rush over to take care of it while the cops prepare to arrest Josip. Faisal arrives at Joanna’s and covers his shoes before coming inside. He makes sure he isn’t in her contacts.

He tells her to crush up three or four Diazepam Friday night and put them in his drink. Once he is unconscious, she can let Faisal in so he can inject him with thin air as they discussed. As she hides the syringe, Faisal says it’ll take about 15 seconds. Then, they’ll put him in his car and Faisal will drive him to Huddersfield where he’ll leave him in his car. He’ll drop something in his wife’s drink to make sure she is out of it. Joanna will say she went to bed at 20 past ten and she left him up drinking in front of the television. She had no idea he went driving around to look for prostitutes. Once it is done, there can be no more contact between them.

He agrees to do it as long as she doesn’t mention him when the police come back asking about the pills. Joanna begins laughing when they discuss getting Rob’s body into the car so Faisal gets angry. She agrees to let him look in the garage. Gorkem continues talking about aliens as the police prepare to arrest Josip. Ivan panics when he sees the police so he tells Matija to drive around the block. Catherine notices them. The police eventually rush into the property. They find someone in the loft so they go up to get him. Faisal believes he could drag Rob out through the garage to make sure no one sees them.

Joanna changes her mind and suggests they shouldn’t do it. Faisal reminds her she told Rob he gave her the pills, but she says she lied. She thinks she should go back to the police lady to see if she can help. Faisal says it is okay not to do it as long as she stops pestering him to help with money and somewhere to live. He gets mad when she flips and he calls her a liability. When she pushes him, Faisal grabs the rolling pan and hits her with it a few times. Josip (Anthony Skrimshire) manages to make it outside where Catherine tries to arrest him. After he hits her, she ends up punching him. Matija worries that they’re dead.

Ann checks on Catherine who tells her to write down the number plate for Ivan’s vehicle. Faisal leaves Joanna in a bad state just before Catherine calls. Faisal grabs the syringe and it looks like he is going to inject Joanna.

 

Happy Valley Review

The third episode of Happy Valley’s final season was more eventful and possibly better than the two before it although there are credibility issues. The first two episodes seemed to drag out the side stories while this one accelerated them too much. While the first half of the episode was a bit slow, it picked up a lot midway through.

The back and forth with Catherine and Clare was very good with both making excellent points. Viewers may end up debating who was right because those scenes were so well done and thought out. However, it is a bit difficult to believe that Ryan would know very little about his father at this point when he could easily search his name online and find almost everything.

The curiosity factor would’ve been too much for anyone so it is hard to imagine he wouldn’t have done at least a little digging on his own. Plus, other adults probably wouldn’t have kept their mouths shut so someone would’ve said something. It was also odd for Cesco and Ryan to be so open with Rob after everything that has happened including him trying to run them down with his car.

The Knezevic side story still feels shallow because these characters are hastily introduced and underdeveloped. Viewers barely know what they’ve done making it difficult to get really invested and truly wanting justice for the victim who has also been vaguely introduced.

Faisal’s assault will obviously create some interesting angles for future episodes, but it lacked believability and was a bit predictable. There is little justifying Faisal agreeing to kill Rob in the first place or little that was really shown. The character is uneven sometimes portrayed as a goof and other times being a murdering mastermind.

The arrest at the end wasn’t much better. First, it’d be silly for a police officer to jump into the loft when a crazed criminal could be waiting to bash them over the head like Faisal. Catherine being outside alone and just shrugging off a blow to the nose felt like the scenes were trying too hard.

The first series of Happy Valley remains the best while the second ended exceptionally well so there is a good chance this one will end on a high note too. Despite these issues, the episode will still satisfy viewers willing to give the script the benefit of the doubt. All will be forgiven with a fitting ending.

The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Happy Valley can be found on Reel Mockery here. Consider supporting our work by following this link.