As the final episode of Happy Valley begins, Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) wakes up at Alison’s place and looks at a packet of pills. When Alison Garrs (Susan Lynch) joins her, Catherine apologizes for knocking on people’s doors so early in the morning. Catherine admits she is going to go back to work even though she didn’t get much sleep. She questions Alison about the pills. Alison says they belonged to her probation officer. Then, she explains that the woman doesn’t get them with a prescription. Catherine asks her to find out who got them for her, but Alison refuses to do that. As Ivan Sertic (Oliver Huntingdon) gets ready for the wedding, he tells Matija Jankovic (Jack Bandeira) that he is going to put the money in his uncle’s garage.

He’ll do it tomorrow once they visit Faisal. When their flat is raided by police, they grab some of the money and flee. They’re caught and arrested for an array of charges including helping Tommy Lee Royce escape. Ivan complains about the possibility of missing his wedding. Ryan (Rhys Connah) puts on his hoodie before noticing Catherine pull up outside. She tells him that the manhunt team in Dewsbury wants to speak to him this morning so she’ll drive him over after she has popped in at Halifax and done the briefing. Ryan goes back inside to have breakfast before they go. Nevison (George Costigan) complains about Ryan playing video games all night.

Catherine urges Ryan to come on. At the police station, Ryan is introduced to Andy Shepherd (Vincent Franklin). Ryan admits he doesn’t like Rob a lot although he can be nice when he wants to be. He explains that he was nice to him earlier this week and said his marriage wasn’t happy. When asked by Andy, Ryan agrees to make a statement about that conversation to one of the officers. Tommy (James Norton) goes downstairs where he is introduced to Darius’s brother Zeljko (Greg Kolpakchi). Tommy is told they have to move him because he isn’t safe there anymore. Zeljko tells him he is going to be traveling in the boot, but Tommy doesn’t want to. As Tommy almost gets into the backseat, he notices a petrol can.

He makes an excuse to go back inside. Tommy goes inside to get a knife which he hides in the sleeve of his hoodie. Then, he returns to the vehicle with the others. He argues with Viktor (Anthony Flanagan) and Zeljko about sitting in the back until he gets his way. Tommy is introduced to Marko who isn’t eager to talk. Ryan talks to DC Willis (Hopi Grace) about the last time he saw Tommy. He tells them that Tommy messaged him on his console so he called him last night. They want to know more about his console. Tommy is told they’re dropping him off and Darius will fetch him. He pulls out the knife and stabs Marko in the stomach. He stabs him again and cuts Viktor’s throat before asking Zeljko what he is going to do now. Zeljko curses him and pulls off the road.

Catherine is told that the Chief Constable will be another half an hour so she decides to leave. Zeljko jumps out of the vehicle. After Tommy stops the vehicle, he sees Zeljko behind it. Zeljko runs towards the vehicle before they get into a fight and Tommy hurts his leg. Eventually, Zeljko stomps on his hand and begins choking him. Tommy grabs a rock that he uses to beat him to death. He checks on the wound on his stomach before hearing himself talking to Ryan. Catherine goes to Becky’s gravesite and says she has done her best. After she says she is tired, Becky tells her to go home. Catherine goes home where she looks at old family photographs. She looks at pictures of Ryan, cries, and falls asleep. Darius calls Zeljko’s phone which is next to his body.

Police raid the house where Tommy was hiding. Tommy tries to clean himself up and put on a different hoodie before finding out that the gaming console is damaged. He takes the petrol can with him. Tommy goes to Catherine’s place and looks inside while she sleeps nearby. He breaks a window and climbs into the basement. Ryan calls Catherine to ask if she is coming to get him since it has been almost two hours. Catherine leaves through the front door as Tommy enters the home through the basement door. He goes upstairs and enters Ryan’s room. Andy talks to the team about Joanna being killed in the kitchen and put into the suitcase there too. They’ve also found blood in the bathroom and bedroom.

The postmortem showed several bone fractures. It looks like Rob has been knocking her about the house for years so Andy wants to bring him in. When Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley) is brought in, he is asked about Abigail Oates. He is asked about having a sexual relationship with her for the last 15 months. Rob suggests that is irrelevant to what happened to Joanna. Abigail said at one point that he said it’d be simpler if Joanna didn’t exist. Rob insists he wouldn’t say that, but he might’ve said things that could be interpreted that way. He tells them how hard it is to deal with someone with mental health issues. Rob says he was probably just getting things off his chest.

He denies killing Joanna. The investigator shows him pictures of the kitchen and a bloody fingerprint on one of the chairs. The blood is Joanna’s and the fingerprint matches Rob’s middle right finger. The investigator wants to know how it got there since it could’ve only been made when the blood was still wet. Rob says they had a very difficult relationship and Joanna would try the patience of a saint. He again says he did not kill Joanna. Nazeem (Saba Amini) tells Faisal (Amit Shah) that the two men who visited with the STI have been charged with false imprisonment. She mentions that they’re charged with helping Tommy escape as she walks away. Catherine tells Ryan he won’t get his console back until they’ve caught Tommy.

He wonders if he’ll know he is the one who squealed on him. Catherine says it doesn’t matter now before she learns Tommy wants them to go to Marbella together. When he said he didn’t want to go, Tommy told him to think about it. Ryan feels sorry for him, but he would’ve never gone with him. He tells Catherine that Clare was really upset when she left last night. He doesn’t think Clare and Neil are speaking now. Ryan tells her what Ann said about no one wanting him when he was born. Ann said everyone ran, but he thought Clare didn’t since she has always been there. Catherine says that was only because she had nowhere else to go. Ryan says she can’t fall out with Clare because she has been there for as long as he can remember.

Tommy sits down and looks at pictures of Ryan and Becky before checking the stab wound again. Later that night, Catherine and Ryan go to Nev’s place where Clare (Siobhan Finneran) is cooking a meal to say thanks to Nevison. Catherine tells her how they searched a house for Tommy who had already gone. She believes he is around there somewhere since he wanted Ryan to go to Marbella with him. He is angry and he is only going to get more desperate and dangerous now. Catherine says she realized something today. She says maybe she shouldn’t have been so frightened of Ryan meeting him since it was likely something he’d want to do at some point. Catherine suggests she should’ve had more faith in Ryan not to be taken in by Tommy.

She was frightened he’d be like him but he isn’t. Despite all his faults, he is just a well-adjusted, normal kid. Clare mentions that it is Catherine’s last day tomorrow. The next day, Catherine says over the radio that she is going to Hebden to buy cake. Joyce reminds her that she can buy cake in Halifax. Joyce (Ishia Bennison) wants to make sure she’ll be back because there might be a bigger cake. She says the Chief Con might have gone out of his way to insist that he wanted to be at the presentation. The conversation ends when Winnie contacts Catherine. Next, Catherine arrives at home and notices the broken window. Tommy drinks alcohol inside at the kitchen table. As Catherine goes inside silently, Tommy grabs some pills.

He takes a whole bunch of them after hearing someone nearby. Tommy nearly gags trying to get them down. Catherine says hello and he quickly responds. She enters the room and asks if he needs an ambulance. Once he says no, she urges him to nudge the knife towards her. Tommy says he isn’t going to hurt her. Catherine responds by saying she might hurt him if he doesn’t do what she says now. She gets the knife and asks what he has been doing with the albums. Tommy explains he was looking at Becky and Ryan since the albums were just sitting in there on a table. Once Catherine learns about his injuries and the pills he has taken, she calls in a code zero. Mike Taylor (Rick Warden) and the others run out of the station to help.

Tommy says he doesn’t know how he got the injuries. He doesn’t want an ambulance although it sounds like one is already coming. Catherine asks whether Darius Knezevic helped him escape. Tommy says Darius murdered Gary Gaggoski eight years ago. He lied for him, but Darius pissed on his side of the bargain. Tommy wants Catherine to listen and tell her people this. He won’t be able to tell them himself because he thinks he is dead meat. Catherine asks why. Tommy mentions that Ryan has been visiting him. Catherine claims she is pleased because Ryan has had a chance to see through him. She thinks Marbella is off the menu. Tommy doesn’t understand that because there is nothing to see through. She says he sees that there isn’t a lot going on up there and he isn’t someone to trust although Tommy claims he lied about nothing.

Tommy argues he could’ve been a good dad if she’d let him. When he says she got him all wrong, she mentions that he murdered Kirsten McAskill, raped Ann Gallagher, and put her in the hospital for four weeks. Tommy reminds her that she kicked him too because saying she just isn’t very bright. Catherine has seen that Ryan is nothing like Tommy in the last few days. She says he isn’t a dad and wouldn’t know how to be one. Tommy says he had some options last night. He had a can of petrol and a box of matches, but he decided not to burn her house down. He realized what a nice life she has given Ryan when he looked at the pictures. Tommy hated her for not telling him that he had a boy. After he saw the nice life Ryan had, he doesn’t hate her anymore.

Tommy says he forgives her before apologizing for not treating Becky any better. Catherine says he has no idea what he did to Becky although Tommy says he loved her. He reduced her to nothing with his endless abuse. Catherine reminds him of the threats he made and that they didn’t know he didn’t mean it. She asks if he gets off on that. Tommy argues that he loved her because she made him feel normal. When she didn’t want anything to do with him, he got cross and he blames her. If he did anything to her, he says it was Catherine’s doing. Tommy curses and pours the petrol all over himself. He tells Catherine that the taser won’t work because petrol doesn’t conduct electricity, but she might spark him off.

She might get done, but Tommy claims not to want that. He wants her to be there with Ryan. He’ll do it himself since he has already taken a lot of pills anyway. Tommy doesn’t want to go back to prison. Catherine tells him not to do it. After lighting a match, he reminds her to tell them about Gary. Once she says she’ll never forget Gary, Tommy lights himself on fire and begins screaming. Catherine tries to put it out once he falls to the floor. Later, Catherine leaves with the albums and tells the others to get the paramedics in there because Tommy is a mess. Catherine goes to a private spot and cries. Clare shows up and begins comforting her. Catherine tells her that she won. Back at the station, Andy approaches Catherine and asks about Tommy being in a coma.

He mentions that she got Royce and Darius in one day. Andy reveals that they charged Rob with having indecent images on his phone. He was blackmailing a lad at school. Andy believes the grandparents will look after the little girls. Catherine tells him that Alison found out that her probation officer was getting the pills from Faisal. She says he lives not 100 years from the Hepworths’ house. Later, Catherine goes to the cemetery. She gets a message confirming Tommy died.

 

Happy Valley Review

For an ordinary episode of Happy Valley, this would’ve been mostly satisfying and the story could’ve moved onto something even better. For the final episode ever, it felt a little like a nothing burger. As the series dragged on, it had to bend rules and reality to create an infallible Catherine Cawood who became a little unlikable in the end. The final season put in more effort propping up this character than it did in investing in interesting storylines.

Tommy had been billed as this evil monster who was dead set on getting even with Catherine even if it meant jeopardizing everything. His twist to self-pity and self-immolation at the end was wholly unconvincing even if the performance by James Norton was spectacular. Tommy’s death in that manner really felt like a cop-out since there was no real fight or pushback.

There was too much exposition to the point that the psycho told viewers why Catherine’s taser wouldn’t work after dousing himself with gas. The rest of the final speaks for itself considering the remaining storylines became footnotes that were just mentioned in passing and resolved off-screen.

Viewers could genuinely complain about the believability of many aspects of the finale, but that has been an issue throughout the final season. Ultimately, this turned out to be a pretty lackluster final season of Happy Valley. The first five episodes were drawn out while the finale rushed to haphazardly throw the pieces together with some missing from the box.

The first series was brilliant while the second was saved by a strong finale. As for the third, there is a good chance that Tommy’s demise will be the only thing remembered. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Happy Valley are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us by following this link. Information about advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery can be found here.