As this episode of Happy Valley begins, Ivan Sertic (Oliver Huntingdon) and Matija Jankovic (Jack Bandeira) worry about what they’re going to tell the boss. Matija suggests acting like one of the rucksacks just turned up, but Ivan doesn’t think that is a good idea. Ivan says they have to stick to the story that they never saw any rucksacks. Matija thinks they can just take the money and disappear. Ivan says they can’t do that since he is getting married. They contemplate ditching the bag and keeping some of the money. Ivan calls Viktor (Anthony Flanagan) to tell him about the police arresting Josip.

Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) complains to Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) that they’re only going to get Josip for false imprisonment. Catherine believes charging him with rape would be a minefield. Anna questions why it wouldn’t be manslaughter. Catherine says there is no point in charging him with something that the defense will just bat away. She wonders if this is the wrong time and wrong case for Ann to be starting her CID. Catherine asks if she gave them the registration number for the little grey Honda they spotted. She isn’t happy when she learns that Ann didn’t do it. While walking with the bag, Matija and Ivan get a call from Viktor who says he told Darius what happened.

Darius wants to see them so Viktor is going to pick them up later. After the call, Ivan says they’re going to bury the rucksack. Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley) takes Poppy and Florence home where he yells for Joanna only to find that she isn’t there. Catherine goes to the store to confront Neil Ackroyd (Con O’Neill) who doesn’t want Catherine and Clare falling out. She asks if he knows what that thug did to Becky. Catherine says Clare and Daniel don’t know everything. There are certain facts that only Catherine and Richard know. She insists it is worse than any of them will ever know and Tommy is not human.

She asks Neil not to take Ryan to see him again. Neil denies that Ryan bullied him into taking him to see Tommy. He explains that Ryan went on for weeks and weeks and wouldn’t let it drop. Neil claims he would’ve gone anyway because he was determined. He can keep an eye on him this way. Catherine asks him to stop taking Ryan and she’ll deal with the fallout. He agrees. Neil has already told Ryan he won’t take him to see Tommy in court tomorrow. He told Ryan he couldn’t get out of school for that and Ryan seemed to understand. Neil asks her to call Clare. At the prison, Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) gets a haircut and shave.

Alison Garrs (Susan Lynch) works on the Land Rover. Catherine goes inside to tell Richard (Derek Riddell) about Tommy wanting Ryan to come to court. She can’t understand why he’d want that. Catherine explains that Alison is fitting the new alternator she got on eBay. Catherine believes he’ll want to show Ryan how hard of a man he is. Richard should go since there is a rumor he is fibbing to protect Darius Knezevic over the Gary Gackowski murder. Richard asks if Chris Oxley alibied himself for the date Gary was murdered. Catherine tells him how she went to the funeral for Tommy’s murder.

After they agree to eat with Alison, Richard says he found out all kinds of stuff about Darius and his brother Zeljko. Someone he spoke to thought it was Zeljko and Darius on the motorbike when Ashley Cowgill was shot. Once they pulled that off, they became proper contenders. Darius managed to clean up his image. He agreed to be interviewed by Richard in his capacity as a prospective local councilor. Catherine warns him to be careful. Darius (Alec Secareanu) meets with Ivan and Matija in the new building he just bought. Zeljko (Greg Kolpakchi) calls them idiots. Eventually, Darius punches Ivan and knocks him to the ground.

He continues hitting him until he urinates on him. Darius says it should’ve never gotten this far because a lawyer like Mr. Clement costs too much. Matija tells him why there was so much money left in the flat. They thought Josip was ready to step up, but they made a mistake with him. After they say they’ll be smarter in the future, Darius says he has a job for them tomorrow. It needs done properly at the right time. They’ll need to put their best suits on and Guzim will pick them up. They’ll come back from Leeds separately. Tommy is moved out of his cell.

Clare (Siobhan Finneran) and Neil talk to Ryan (Rhys Connah) about whether it was a mistake to take him to see Tommy. Neil questions whether it is a mistake for him to keep going. Clare asks if he wants to keep seeing him and how important that would be, but Ryan says he doesn’t know. Ryan learns that Catherine wants him to go home and to stop seeing him. He is also told about the way Tommy behaved before his mother died. Clare tells him to dwell on it. Rob asks his mom to pick up the girls until Joanna decides to resurface. When the call ends, Rob finds a voicemail message from Catherine to Joanna. He listens to it before trying to call Joanna.

Her phone is nearby, but it is on silent mode. Once they leave, Rob runs into Faisal’s vehicle. Faisal (Amit Shah) and Rob get out and immediately start arguing about it. Faisal asks if he and the little girls are okay. He thinks they should show them that this can be dealt with amicably. Faisal questions if something else is upsetting him. Clare calls Catherine to check on her. She tells her about the group session she has and how it might be a good thing for Joanna. Catherine tells her she could shove her misplaced do-gooding up her backside. Clare wants to know more about the things she supposedly never knew. She confirms they’ve made it clear to Ryan they’re not happy taking him anymore.

Clare can’t stand it that they’re not on friendly terms. Catherine passes by Ann and tells her that she is turning in a spare uniform and will be having tea with Chief Con on Wednesday. They can kiss her goodbye on Thursday. Clare apologizes to Catherine who wants to make sure Ryan isn’t secretly heading to Leeds to see Tommy in court. Clare thought it was weird Tommy asked for that too and the bungee jumping. While Tommy is transported to court, Ryan gets on a train. Catherine tells Mike Taylor (Rick Warden) about the bungee jumping and the fact that she thinks he is trying to escape.

She also believes she needs protection in case he gets out. Catherine tells Mike they need to triple his security. He says they would’ve done a risk assessment at the prison, but Catherine thinks she knows more than they do. She gets a call from Rob. Mike promises to make a phone call. Rob wants to know if Catherine put Joanna in a shelter or something. Catherine learns that she is missing as Rob confesses Joanna can be hard work. She has gone AWOL before, but she was at her mother’s place last time. He explains that he took her some tea yesterday morning while trying to get everything ready for the kids. Catherine says she is worried.

When Ryan gets off the train, he sees Richard getting off in front of him. Mr. Fielding (Paul McEwan) and Mrs. Fielding (Marie Critchley) arrive at the police station to report someone missing. They tell Joyce (Ishia Bennison) that her name is Joanna. They sit down with Catherine and tell her about it. Joanna had just started her A-levels, but Rob wanted her to give it all up so they could get married. They’ve realized since then that he is a control freak. They’ve been cut from the picture and have barely seen those little girls since Poppy was born. Joanna has had mental problems so she has been taking diazepam for anxiety, but Rob wouldn’t let her take them.

Joanna called them once to say he had flushed them down the toilet. Mrs. Fielding believes it was Rob if anything happened to her. Despite all of her problems, she’d be surprised if Joanna left her two girls. Catherine questions whether she might be seeing someone else. They don’t think so. Joyce tells Mike that she has raised more than two thousand pounds for Catherine. She wonders if they should just give her the money in an envelope or buy her something nice and give it to her in a low-key presentation on Thursday. As Catherine comes back, Mike is busy telling Joyce to ask Ann since they’re close. She tells Mike about Joanna’s case and how she’d like to elevate it to the Mispers unit.

She asks if she can send Sledge knocking on a few doors down their road. Mike learns it was the same guy who called earlier. He gets a call saying Tommy was safely delivered to Leeds Crown Court. While Ryan is looking at the schedule, Ivan and Matija look at it as well to find out where Tommy will be. Rob gets a call from DC Chris Hayes from Yorkshire Police Missing Persons Unit. Rob wants to know who reported her missing since he didn’t. He thinks she has just gone off somewhere. Tommy enters the court. Matija gets a message telling him to kick off at 12:55. Rob meets with Chris and says he hopes nobody accuses him of wasting police time when she shows up soon.

He admits he didn’t think she needed medication because too many people take medication for self-diagnosed mental health issues. More recently, he started wondering whether there was something more serious going on with her. Chris wants to look around for anything that might indicate she was planning to leave. Rob says he has already looked so he won’t find anything. She also hasn’t taken her charger or her toothbrush. Rob helps him find the clothes that she was wearing the last time he saw her. Chris tells him that he’ll access her mobile account and look for activity on her bank account. As they check the garage, Rob says he doesn’t think there are any suitcases missing.

Chris leaves while Ivan starts a fight at the court. Rob goes back inside the garage to check the suitcase he noticed earlier. He opens it and finds Joanna’s body inside. As Tommy makes his escape, Richard finally notices that Ryan is there. Tommy runs into Rico’s Newsagent where he changes clothes and grabs a bicycle. He rides away on the bike while police officers search for him.

 

Happy Valley Review

The fourth episode of Happy Valley’s final season gave a glimpse of what viewers should expect from the remaining episodes including a possible showdown between Catherine and Tommy. Although it could be described as slightly unbelievable, many likely suspected that Tommy would escape at some point. The performances are really the highlight of the series as viewers wait to see how everything will play out in the final two episodes.

Certain aspects of the episode are obviously working better than others with the relationship strain between Catherine and Clare being excellent. Neil having to explain himself to Catherine while trying to work was equally entertaining. The season has so much going on that nothing is really being developed fully making it somewhat difficult to get really invested in the side characters.

The Knezevic gangsters along with Ivan and Matija haven’t added much to the series besides offering Tommy a way out although it isn’t explained why they’d even bother helping him. Initially, the scenes with Rob and Joanna were gripping to the point of being the best part of the third series. Faisal was portrayed as this inept pushover for half the season only to play the alpha role during the crash encounter with Rob.

Personally, the emotional connection that was present in prior seasons isn’t here for the third so it is just about going through the motions and watching to see what happens. As the series progresses, Siobhan Finneran is getting more impressive even though Clare is often overshadowed by Catherine. It is often easier to side with Clare because the show seems to bend over backwards to put Catherine on a pedestal even when it isn’t believable.

The series may have been more effective if the viewer binged the first two and was able to binge the third immediately after. That could’ve prevented an emotional disconnect. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Happy Valley are available on Reel Mockery here. Want to support an independent, unfiltered voice? Find out how to do so here. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery by following this link.