As the finale of One Night begins, Tess (Jodie Whittaker) comes home and dances with Lily (Harper Simon). After the intro, Vicki (Kat Stewart) complains about Tess’s idea to buy a pub only to burn it down. She insists she won’t let Tess put their money on a bonfire for the sake of revenge even if it is warranted. Vicki says they can’t have her money and Tess can’t either. She blames everything on Tess’s addiction before claiming she is just fueling it. Vicki booked tickets for them to fly home because it isn’t good for them to remain there.

Tess accuses her of being patronizing. Vicki is adamant she is going home with the kids. She reveals she has put a freeze on the accounts since they’re in her name as well. When Arthur (Jude Hyland) and Lily enter, Lily says she can’t go because she has told her friends she lives here now. Vicki claims she’ll leave on her own. In a flashback, Simone (Bridgette Armstrong) tells Tess (Mikaela Binns-Rorke) that Trevor was arrested for the drugs. She says it is messed up that Joey is still out there. Hat (Yael Stone) visits Simone (Nicole da Silva) who doesn’t want to talk to her. Hat admits there is no point in changing the book because Trevor read it, walked into her house, and threatened to kill her.

Once Simone lets her in, Hat says the detective who arrested Trevor Calley applied for a surveillance device warrant for the pub two days before the party. If it was a camera, the police would’ve known what happened to Tess. Furthermore, they would’ve seen Hat and Joey help move the kegs into the van. Hat questions why they weren’t arrested. She wonders if they were protecting someone. When Simone asks who it could be, Hat says Joey since Trevor always bullied him. Simone suggests the cops are as guilty of rape as Joey if they were watching him. Hat doubts Joey could’ve raped her if he knew the cops were watching.

Hat offers to confront him because there might be another story that Tess would want to know about. As they drive to the pub, they go over the details. Hat says they really don’t know what happened since they know different things. She asks Simone to stay in the car and call her if she sees Trevor. Hat goes inside where she tells Joey (George Mason) that she is pretty sure it was him now. She believes he colluded with the police to get Trevor sent to prison. In private, Joey claims she got it wrong this time. Hat shows him the signed affidavit for the surveillance device warrant on his pub. She questions why they weren’t arrested.

Joey tells her she is out of her mind. Hat doesn’t believe he raped Tess, but she thinks he knows what happened. Mary (Noni Hazlehurst) sees Simone outside and asks who she is waiting for. Hat tells Joey that this is a chance to come clean. She has applied for information about the warrant and who was recorded. Joey asks if she is trying to get him killed. Hat reveals Trevor thinks she told on him so he is threatening her kids. Joey says it wasn’t a camera. Simone argues with Mary outside. Joey and Hat run over just as Mary throws trash on the vehicle. Once they’re alone, Mary asks Joey if he doesn’t think she knows what the book says he did.

She asks him to look her in the eye and say she is lying. When he does, Mary tells him he makes her sick. She says she is going to sell and go home. Tess dreams about burning the pub. When she wakes up, she tells Vicki that she has done nothing if she just goes home. Tess says she is still stuck down there and she sees her every day. She can’t let that happen to anyone else. Tess explains that this feels like an antidote. Vicki says they should get out of there because she doesn’t need to live where they live. Hat asks Simone who is going to tell her. Simone thinks Hat should. Hat says it was big for her since she thought she got Trevor put down. She should’ve been more understanding, but she didn’t realize how hard it was for Simone to carry all this in her head.

Hat asks Simone what happened to her if she wants to talk about it. At her mom’s wake, a man entered Simone’s room when she was sleeping. He sat on her feet and rubbed himself. Simone believes she keeps putting herself in Tess’s position because she couldn’t do anything to help her. Hat asks if she is going to put her name on her book, but Simone can’t even talk about that right now. They made her sign an NDA in order to give her royalties. Although she says it feels like blood money now, Hat tells her she earning it. Plus, it could help pay for her dad’s care. Lily calls Simone to tell her mom is making them go home. Trevor (Erroll Shand) asks Jason (Zac Burgess) what Joye is up to since he is on the phone outside.

They talk about Mary selling the pub. Trevor suggests he and Jason could buy something else. Jason says he needs to see Lily since her mom is taking them back to London. He tells Trevor that Tess still hates their family. Helen (Tina Bursill) tells Tess that she’d like to protect her for once. Tess receives a call but doesn’t answer. Arthur receives a gift from Helen although they aren’t sure it’ll fit on the plane. Hat and Simone arrive so they can speak to Tess in private. Hat tells her that Joey was wearing a wire although the cops will never admit it. Joey knows what happened to her.

He’ll speak to Tess because Hat threatened to rat him out to Trevor otherwise. Tess doubts it’ll change anything. Simone questions whether she should’ve told her what she saw. After Tess says she needed to know, Simone tells her she should know the whole story. Bec tells Joey that she is with him no matter what happens. Tess visits Joey who tells her that he is outback with glasses. She meets a man who tells her that the recording was only made because of a major drug importation operation. He explains that it could’ve put their operation and the informant’s life at risk. Tess steps away to get a drink before returning to listen to the recording. She asks the man not to look at her.

After listening to it, an infuriated Tess runs up to Joey, hits him, and yells that he left her. As she begins crying, she questions why he left her there. She pushes him away and walks outside. Trevor drinks with Lily and Jason. Lily tells him how her mom hates being there and said she’d buy the whole town and burn it. Lily goes on to tell him that her moms work at banks. When he asks about her dad, Lily says she doesn’t have one. Trevor says that would be impossible before Jason tells him to lay off. After Lily walks away, Trevor tells Jason he needs to get another girlfriend. He says someone put him in prison for a long time and that someone is going to wish they hadn’t.

Trevor might just take the thing that is most precious to them. At Simone’s house, Tess asks Hat to call Vicki for her. Simone stays and hugs Tess. Lily falls and cuts her leg just before Trevor approaches her. Since her leg is hurt, she reluctantly agrees to let him sort her out. Jason calls Lily only to get her voicemail message. Hat knows Joey got Tess out of there, but he let those men get in his head. He kept quiet. Hearing them talk about her makes Tess realize she wasn’t there. She always wondered if she had gone along with it and had forgotten. Arthur calls Tess to tell her that Lily went out to see Jason. Seconds later, Jason checks with Joey to see if she has seen Lily since she came up to charge her phone.

Tess drives around looking for Lily. Trevor is with Lily and he won’t let her go because he wants to ask her a question. She tells him she is 16, but Trevor says she must be 20. Trevor says she looks just like Tess although Lily thinks she looks like her mother Vicki. Trevor suggests she is better off without a father because he would’ve been. Joey yells stop before running over and getting Lily away from Trevor who mocks him for always having to be the good guy. Trevor asks him to sing and he’ll urinate in his mouth for old time’s sake. Joey says it is too late because he already sang like a canary. Lily tells Jason she has to get out of there. Trevor runs up and attacks Joey from behind.

They wrestle on the ground until Joey grabs a knife and puts it against Trevor’s neck. Joey demands Trevor tell their mother what he did. When Trevor refuses, Joey tells him that he’ll have to carry it with him. Then, he tells Mary that Trevor has to go or he will. Tess finally finds Lily. They sit together as Tess apologizes for being emotionally unavailable. She doesn’t want to scare Lily about what might be out there. Tess doesn’t want her to avoid falling in love. Mary gives Trevor money and asks him not to come back. Hat tells Laura (Fiona Press) that the tenants are coming in on Friday. Laura doesn’t mind letting them in. Hat is worried that everything will change while she is away.

Don seems to accidentally call Tess who hears Simone trying to help him. Simone writes that you have to write it like you’ve only written it for yourself as well as your younger self and her. Tess reads One Night on the beach before going into the water.

 

One Night Review

Through the earlier episodes of One Night, I had the uneasy feeling that the series would end up being a big nothing burger. Unfortunately, that feeling was probably justified considering the finale was so anticlimactic. At some points, the series seemed like it had been written on the spot as if the writers were making things up as they went along.

For instance, the fact that Joey was wearing a wire, recorded his brother, and there was still a recording of the rape. The whole thing is pretty farfetched and was a cheap way to finally get to the point. As for the Eden character, I knew that was unnecessary. Obviously, that was the case since the character wasn’t even in the finale. Instead, that was used as a silly way to get a point across when it wasn’t needed.

If the series had just focused on Tess’s trauma, it could’ve been so much more meaningful, impactful, and memorable. It is hard to watch the finale and not feel disappointed with the way things ended on such a low note. Very little was revealed about the night in question, no one was brought to justice, and everyone pretty much just went back to their regular lives.

Truthfully, the entire series feels pointless now. With such a solid cast and the possibility of an emotionally gripping story, One Night should’ve been so much better. The finale scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of One Night are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.