As the finale of Marriage begins, Ian (Sean Bean) and Emma (Nicola Walker) go shopping and get into an argument about the chicken. They’re interrupted by a slightly rude woman. Once she leaves, Ian admits he thought Emma was judging him for buying the wrong chicken. Ian gets the right kind. Emma believes they’re becoming like terrible old people for arguing about chicken. Later, they go to Adam’s place and Ian calls it a crap hole. Emma quickly agrees with that assessment. Jessica (Chantelle Alle) comes out and tells Ian where to go to get the rest of her stuff. Adam (Jack Holden) welcomes Ian and shows him where her stuff is. He is pleased there having this little break since he doesn’t know what is really going on. Women are never as simple as they want to think they are. Ian tells him to grow up. Adam tells him he has no idea what he has been through, but Ian says he treats people like pigs.

Adam says that didn’t even make sense. Ian comes outside with Jessica’s stuff later. Jessica tells Adam that she’ll call him later while he tells her about Ian being so rude. She confronts Ian about it, but he insists he didn’t say anything. Emma tells him they have to let Jessica fight her own battles. Jamie (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) reports the damage to his car. When he sees a therapist, he cries about his car. He goes to work later and says hello to the team. He claims he had the man flu before he is introduced to Duncan (Gwion Morris Jones) who is on work experience. Emma approaches him in his office later. Jessica comes down the stairs and says good morning to Ian. He offers her toast, but she is too busy on her phone. He continues offering her something to eat and she continues ignoring him. She eventually asks about the bread. They go to the store to buy candy. Jamie asks Emma if she mentioned it to Ian or the guys.

Jamie claims one of his many problems is that he feels like he has to be the leader outside of work too. Emma eventually confesses that she was disappointed in him. She tells him that using the drugs is morally bankrupt. Emma reminds him of what it does to his body and how the drug trade impacts many kids. When he says he is trying to do a lot of work on himself, Emma tells him to stop using drugs. She tells him that he laughs at Ian, but he is a good person. Emma returns to her desk and gives Duncan her credit card to buy drinks for everyone. She says it is none of Jamie’s business. Ian waits for Jessica to finish her argument before she gets out and joins him. They get some tea and go into one of the bedrooms. Ian admits it can be a bit of a relief when someone dies. A whole set of expectations are lifted from your shoulders. Ian says he started in this room and found his first Jess box under the bed.

He shows her some of the drawings she made as a child while admitting he isn’t good at throwing things away. He also shows her one of the first CDs she made. Ian says the first box came when she came to them around eight. He found a letter he wrote when she first came. He only remembers writing it after everything happened with Nicholas and what they went through to adopt her. Ian reminds her that it was hard for her when she first arrived. He isn’t sure what it says, but she can have it if she wants. Ian finds it odd that he sealed the envelope when she was still a stranger to him. They sit down together once Jessica decides to open the letter and read it. When she begins crying, Ian offers to hug her and they do seconds later. That night, Emma tells them about her showdown with Jamie earlier today. They talk about him being a slimy creep. They make it home where Ian says the leg thing just started this afternoon.

He doesn’t know if it is the trousers or the cold. Emma asks him to show them. Emma tells him that it is inflamed. Ian thinks it is because he has been scratching it. She puts some lotion on it for him. Dan and Julie listen to music before getting a coffee. When she suggests they could put it in an email, Dan says he wants to look him in the eye. Dan (Peter Gardiner) goes into the building to see Jamie. Once Jamie comes out, Dan introduces himself as Emily’s dad. Jamie hopes she got what she wanted here. Dan reveals Emily says Jamie had sex with her. He goes on to say she claimed Jamie took her back to his place and had sex with her.

Jamie insists she is lying, but Dan isn’t buying it. Dan admits she has really low self-esteem despite being clever, funny, and beautiful. She has turned what happened between them into a catastrophe even though they told her it was a mistake and everyone makes mistakes. Dan says there is a lot of darkness with Emily and he thinks it is mostly fear. Regardless, Jamie has broken her. She won’t go swimming and she just screams at her mom. Dan insists she isn’t old enough to understand these things or the consequences. He goes on to say Jamie hasn’t even picked up her calls or messaged her back although they can see that he read the messages. Jamie asks what he wants him to say, but Dan admits he doesn’t know. Ian and Emma take Jessica to see Gerry (James Bolam) and to tell him that she has found a flat. After they eat, Gerry tells Emma that she lights up the house.

Emma asks her father to thank her. He claims he is always thanking her, but she wants him to thank her right now. He does before he returns to the others and finds Jessica showing Ian pictures of Kaia. The next day at home, Jessica sits with Emma and says she thinks the family can benefit more from talking about things. For instance, Emma could open up a bit more with her father. There are so many things that they don’t talk about like their son dying. Jessica learns she had him inside her for six months. She didn’t know because they never talk about it. They never talk about what it was like to live through that and she can’t imagine Ian was much during that time. Emma says he was perfect and they looked after one another. Jessica thinks they just need to ignore grandpa because he is old. She thinks Emma is amazing and they need to stay these things.

Emma confirms she actually gave birth to Nicholas and she held him. Jessica asks if he was alive when she held him as Emma begins crying. Later, Ian tells Jessica to relax since it is her last meal. Emma is parboiling the dish.  When they sit down for dinner, they talk about Emma’s work and Jamie’s incompetence. Jessica confirms it is over with Adam. She goes on to say that Adam was really good for her. Emma admits they weren’t sure about him while Ian says he hated him. Jessica says he was different and she likes that in people. She knew exactly what she was doing. She thinks she is weird even though they don’t. He was good because he helped her realize she needed to change some things about herself. Emma believes he was controlling her like a frigging pig. Ian wouldn’t change a thing. Emma and Ian load the car before Jessica comes out to join them. She tells them she’ll be glad that mom won’t be waking her up every morning.

She won’t miss using the toilet after dad when he has a job interview. While Jessica talks to her new roommates, Emma and Ian wonder if they should go inside since they might embarrass her standing out there. When Emma and Ian make it back home, they hug and go about their lives. A bit later, Emma tells Ian they did well to get her to open up. Once they get into bed, they talk about Jessica being a grown-up and peeling vegetables now. Emma begins reading in bed while Ian says he thinks it is good they said that about Adam. He says it felt good to be honest with her. Emma asks if he can breathe anywhere except her face. He wonders if he should stop breathing. Emma jokes that would solve several things before asking him not to get serious. Ian thanks her for being there. He often thinks about what it would’ve been like these past few months without her.

Ian suggests he’d fall apart if she wasn’t there to hold him together. He has been a little darker lately. She has her job with all of these amazing ideas and ambitions. Emma keeps scraping in hopes of finding something, but there is only Ian. She admits that is a good thing when asked.

 

Marriage Review

It is perplexing to wonder what the heck Marriage was attempting to achieve. Then, it was frustrating that this was a missed opportunity to create a memorable show with two great performers. The acting was probably the high point of the series, but Marriage was annulled the moment the annoying soundtrack started on the plane in the first episode. Even if the series was attempting to portray a realistic long-term relationship and marriage, it didn’t do that very well.

Even the longest relationships have more emotion and passion than what was displayed in Marriage. Whether they’re arguing loudly or loving passionately, something authentic is happening unlike what was represented in Marriage. Life just isn’t that monotonous and humans aren’t cardboard cutouts. The characters weren’t great since some were meant to be perfect while others were comic book villains.

In a way, Marriage felt like a voyeuristic experience focusing on a family of robots that can’t elicit emotion. Once the show reached the intended emotional scenes in the finale, it was already too late to matter. It was hard to care about the characters because we were only given glimpses of them and expected to guess the answers to everything else. The same could be said for the storylines. Nothing was ever fully explained or explored leaving the series transforming into an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle and an ultimately disappointing experience.

The show missed the finer moments that really could’ve hit home with viewers. Emma once said she didn’t want to have to worry about money for a change, but this was never explored even in the tiniest. When the couple was supposed to go out to dinner, the editing made it impossible to know whether they ever made it to the restaurant. Instead, they left Gerry’s house and came home to get something to eat.

These moments would’ve made a huge difference because they could’ve given the viewers a chance to see the characters’ romantic sides as well as struggles that viewers can relate to. Nothing happened with the Maxine character either so it was pointless to follow her all the way to a pub to meet her fiancé. Truthfully, the series could be described as unfinished. Viewers will want this to do well for Sean Bean and Nicola Walker and that’ll make it more disappointing when the music starts.

As an experimental project, Marriage is a good exploration of things that shouldn’t be done in cinema. In terms of entertainment, viewers may want to reconsider saying yes to this Marriage. The finale scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Marriage can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work by following this link.