As the final episode of Rules Of The Game begins, Sam Thompson (Maxine Peake) vapes outside while DI Eve Preston (Susan Wokoma) tells the other officers about the break-in call at Maya’s house. She complains that nobody noticed this until now. DS Peter Alan (Dario Coates) defends them by saying she gave her maiden name at the scene and never showed up to the CSU to give a statement. Eve thinks being dead is a good excuse not to show up and give a statement. Sam approaches Maya Benshaw (Rakhee Thakrar) in hopes of getting her to sign the non-disclosure agreement. Sam alleges the Me Too stuff has gone too far because they’re just digging up graves to bring down good people who made stupid mistakes back when people didn’t know they were mistakes. Maya asks if it would be any different if Gemma (Megan Parkinson) was lying dead in the alley although Sam thinks her daughter is too wise for that.

Sam alleges Amy Dixon (Amy Leeson) knew what she was doing. Regardless, Maya wants to go to the police anyway. Sam reminds her that 500 people will be out of jobs if she opens her mouth. She admits she’ll be lucky if she still has a job by next week while also saying she isn’t a shareholder. When Maya asks if she has ever been sexually assaulted, Sam claims she wouldn’t put herself in that position. Maya picks up the non-disclosure agreement, throws it into the trash, and tells Sam to get out of her office. Sam rushes outside to call Owen (Ben Batt) to tell him about their mess. Beth Taylor (Tanya Vital) picks her up at the police station and takes her home where she showers. Later, she returns to Maya’s office and looks around until Brian Weston (Charles Dale) enters and asks if she is hiding evidence. Brian says suicide is a nasty business and selfish because they don’t think about the pain inflicted on the people left behind.

Gareth (Kieran Bew) confronts Sam to see what she told the police, but she tells him to give it a rest. Owen meets with the other staff members and thanks them for coming in early. Sam takes over to say they’ve arranged for a bereavement counselor to come along this week and Duncan (Dominic Vulliamy) is going to take Maya’s spot. He has printed pamphlets about suicide and depression with a suicide hotline phone number on the back. Tess Jones (Callie Cooke) yells out that they’re all hypocrites who don’t give a crap. She tells them they have blood on their hands before walking out of the meeting. Sam doesn’t think the investigation will be prolonged. Khalil asks about the IPO so Owen quickly interrupts to say they’re still on track for the flotation. Once the meeting ends, Owen tells Sam he thinks it went pretty well. Gareth returns home to find his safe empty. When Carys (Katherine Pearce) returns, Gareth confronts her about it.

She admits to giving the thumb drive to Sam. As Sam joins Tess outside, Tess says she knows she is right. She says Maya was the only one to call out the toxic workplace and Sam is so far up Owen’s arse she has set up camp in his colon. She claims she was a cow to her, but life does on. Sam says not this time although Tess doesn’t think anything is going to change. Tess says she had her chance years ago. Instead, she screwed her way to the top and pulled up the ladder to leave the rest of them behind to drown. Gareth confronts Sam at home to ask her how she knew about him and Amy. She claims she figured it out because Amy borrowed her phone that night to call him. He asks about the drive which she claims is gone. She lies by saying she threw it in the lake. Sam thinks she gave it to her because she thought it would change the way she feels about them. She manages to assure him that everything is okay. As they begin having sex in the kitchen, we see the thumb drive above them.

Gareth meets with Owen later to tell him about Carys finding the videos and pictures of Amy and giving them to Sam. Owen tells him to keep his mouth such because he is going to handle Sam. Gareth is worried he’ll be the one to get thrown under the bus and Owen isn’t going to say otherwise. Owen knows where the entry records are and will get them, but Gareth needs to sit tight and shut up. He urges him not to talk to Sam about this before calling him a liability and a disaster. Owen tells him he has been cleaning up his messes for years while he only wanted him to keep Sam on their side. Now, he has to deal with a ticking time bomb because of Gareth. Then, Gareth is asked to stay in his corner and not do anything to make Owen do anything he doesn’t want to do.

At the station, Eve shows Peter the printouts from Maya’s computer showing everything Luke (Tom Forbes) did to drive her to her death. Next, a funeral is held for Maya and Sangini Joshi (Sudha Bhuchar) speaks to the crowd. Tess decides to talk about Maya who cared more about her than most people in her life. She tells them about the quote Maya had given her a week before she died. It says, “You are what you believe in. You become that which you believe you can become.” As Sam listens, she remembers Eve showing her the alleged suicide note. After that, Sam approaches Sangini to tell her how sorry she is. She knows Sam was the last person to see her daughter alive. Sam admits nobody could’ve seen this coming as she sees Eve and Peter in the distance. The detectives take Luke away. Sam offers to do everything she can and starts by driving Maya’s mom home.

Once they reach Maya’s home, they talk about her lecture on microplastics and her Bhagavad Gita book which started it all. Before university, Maya traveled the states with her friends and returned with a yoga training certificate and a copy of the book. Sam asks if she can borrow the book since she thinks it might help her process her emotions. Although hesitant to do so, her mother agrees to let Sam take it if she brings it back. Luke is interviewed by the detectives and asked about the pictures of Maya on his phone. As for the GPS tracker on her car, he says it is technically his vehicle since he paid for it. He says he was following Maya because she wasn’t herself. He had a key to her house because they were still married. Eve claims he drove Maya to her death. She changed her phone number four times and moved to get away from him, but Luke says he wouldn’t do that.

Eve tells Luke what she is going to present to the CPS about him harassing Maya. At work, Maya gives Owen the new schedule before asking if the police took the NDA. He says Maya left it on her desk the night she passed and it had Maya and Sam’s signatures. As for the entry records, Owen says they’re gone. Owen reminds her that she has been very loyal to them and his family doesn’t forget loyalty. Seconds later, Duncan tells Owen he dropped off the box containing Maya’s stuff to Mrs. Joshi this morning. Once Sam gets tired of thinking about everything, she goes home and eats vegan cake with Gemma (Megan Parkinson) who asks her to keep Adam away from Danny. Sam learns Danny was spreading the porn and her daughter already told Vanessa who was more upset that Owen was called a skanky bastard.

Gemma asks if her mother is even slightly concerned about her welfare. Sam tries to find out what happened before telling her daughter she doesn’t have to handle this stuff alone. Gemma reminds her she said sexual harassment didn’t exist. Although Sam says she wasn’t talking about her, Gemma says she was, but she didn’t know it. After that, Sam learns she receives a 500,000 pound donation from Haranit Holdings Company. In the morning, she goes to the Jenkins house to confront Vanessa (Zoe Tapper). Vanessa says Gemma is a silly teenage girl who can’t tell the difference between a compliment and a come on. Sam believes that is Owen’s problem though. Vanessa warns her not to underestimate her. Sam says she doesn’t want the poisonous stuff going on in their household to enter hers. She recommends Vanessa check her husband’s phone because her ex had his girlfriend down in a different name.

She only found out when Bob started texting vagina pictures and recipes for sour dough. Vanessa believes she is projecting unnecessarily. Sam encourages her to ask Owen where he was on the night Maya died. Vanessa says he was with her trying to have dinner and ignoring her nonstop phone calls. Then, he drove her home and went to visit his elderly, frail mother to give her medication. Sam shows her the deposit from the offshore account and alleges Owen is trying to keep her quiet. Vanessa tells her that is Anita’s account instead of Owen’s. Sam immediately visits Anita (Alison Steadman) who says she hasn’t been here since Harry died. Although Harry steamrolled over everyone, he seemed to have a genuine respect for Sam. When Sam says she is good with putting up with the boys’ bull crap, Anita wonders if she liked it. Sam is asked if she has come to announce Gemma’s bloodline and claim her stake.

Anita says she looks like her brothers before asking whether father or son was better. Sam says working for Harry Jenkins meant you did whatever he wanted you to do. She says she worked her way to the top and Anita never stepped in to make her life any easier. Anita is asked what she was paying her for. She already paid off Hugh. In a flashback, Anita meets with Maya before she can leave the office. When Maya drops her stuff, Anita reads one of the cards that was the suspected suicide note. Anita believes they can find a solution so she asks Maya to go sit down with her. Anita is willing to match any figure she demands with a donation to a charity of her choice. When Maya says no, Anita tries to convince her to have a drink. Maya is warned to think this through since her actions at her last employment are widely known. She can get away with it once, but it’ll be career suicide the second time.

Maya says she is going to take the evidence to the police tomorrow. Anita asks her to walk around and think about it for a bit. When she comes back, she promises to honor whatever she decides to do. Maya says she has already decided. While Maya goes to the bathroom, Anita searches through her boxes. Anita finds Maya’s pills and decides to drug her drink. In the present, Sam says that is enough. She doesn’t want any part of whatever Anita did so she is going to give her notice once the IPO is over. Anita says otherwise because she is part of this and doesn’t get to leave them. Maya returns to Anita and says she isn’t going to change her mind about the entry records. Anita claims to admire her tenacity as they share a drink. Anita convinces her to have another. She tells Sam that they had to get rid of her since she wouldn’t have stopped. Owen arrives at Fly Dynamic, finds Maya passed out, and asks what he should do.

Anita tells Sam they covered for her since her name was on the NDA. She thinks Sam destroyed Gareth’s mementos to Amy so only Maya knew about them. Anita insists Sam is like them although Sam isn’t sure about that. Owen tosses Maya’s body from the balcony. Anita believes they can move forward unless Sam is going to make things difficult for them. She tells Sam she made sure she was woven into every single thread. It looks bad on Sam because she argued with Maya about her cat and people didn’t think they liked each other. Anita threatens to take her down too. Sam is asked how hard it is to lie to Gemma about who her father is. When Anita says it is her choice, Sam doesn’t think she has a choice. She is also urged to get a will. Anita says Gemma is in line after the boys and she’d like to see Vanessa’s reaction when she finds out. She pleads with Sam to take the money since she doesn’t need the stress which is making her look old.

Next, Sam speaks during a meeting about the media coverage the company has received. She wants to continue rehabilitating the brand by placing emphasis on fair-trading practices. After work, Sam returns to Maya’s house to give the book back to her mother. Sangini convinces Sam to come around and water the plants since she is leaving soon. Once they go inside, Sam learns the company sent Sangini a check and Owen came around with a card and flowers. Owen was looking for a CD, but Mrs. Joshi was heading to the shop and didn’t let him in. She gives Sam the keys and asks her to stay in touch since she feels like there is a little bit of Maya still around when she talks to her. Gemma runs into her mother at home and says she really wants to know about everything. Sam admits there is a risk that they could lose everything.

When Gemma says she worked for it, Sam confesses to selling her soul. Sam admits it is complicated. Gemma offers to let her write it down if she can’t say it out loud. She writes down Harry Jenkins and passes it to her daughter. Gemma realizes Gareth and Owen don’t have a clue. Sam says she didn’t want her daughter to think any less of her. Gemma tells her to blow it up since they have what they need. Sam watches Carys walks nearby while Vanessa talks to Owen about Anita giving that money to Sam. She says she isn’t eager to go to cheese club as Owen spots Sam walking towards Maya’s house. Owen gets out of his vehicle while Sam looks for the CD in Maya’s house. When she finds the CD, she turns around and runs into Owen. She claims she was just trying to help. Owen throws her around while telling her not to lie. She asks him to call Gareth as he chokes her. Owen says he isn’t going to help.

She hits him in the privates and tries to escape. However, he gets up and grabs her from behind. As they fight, Owen says Amy didn’t wander off into the night. Instead, Gareth killed her. He talks about the dangers of mixing drugs and alcohol. He says they have to get rid of the entry records. He apologizes and says they’ll make sure the kids are provided for. As he begins choking her again, she hits him with a statue head several times until he hits the ground and stops moving. Sam goes outside and lights a cigarette. She calls the police to say she thinks she has killed someone. At the police station, she watches as Gareth is brought in wearing handcuffs. The interview with Eve continues as Sam tells them about the entry records on the CD. She tells Eve and Peter that Amy went back to Fly that night and the thumb drive contains videos and pictures of Gareth and Amy together.

Gareth says they argued before he tried to calm her down. Then, he claimed it was a sex game gone wrong. She says Gareth is into choking during sex. Owen dumped the body because he is the one who tidies up the mess. She says Owen staged Maya’s death to look like a suicide. They killed her to stop her from bringing this information to the police. She makes sure they know that Anita was involved too. Then, we jump forward as Sam speaks to the board about recovering during the last quarter and redeeming their image. She says they’ve tapped into their troubles by bringing together female athletes to speak out against violence against women. When Tess appears, Sam leaves and lets Khalil take over. Tess reveals she is going to Ibiza, taking a year out, and will be training to become a spin instructor. She says Sam got the power she wanted in the end and hopes she’ll turn it around for Maya and Amy.

Tess doesn’t think people change although Maya did. She warns Sam that she’ll be watching her. Sam returns to the meeting once Tess leaves.

 

Rules Of The Game Review

It is clear that Rules Of The Game intended to deliver a message about workplace toxicity, sexual harassment, and violence against women. In some regards, it did okay in this area. However, the message often got muddled by the extensive runtime and uneventful dialogue. I suspect this would’ve been more entertaining and impactful if it had only been 45 minutes and 2 or 3 episodes.

As for the finale in particular, it was plagued by some of the same issues. It was just too long since I stopped caring midway through the episode. It was mostly predictable. If something like this had happened, I couldn’t see Sam taking over the company. There was no explanation of how that happened since it was so unrealistic.

Furthermore, we never learned what happened to all the bad guys. Owen died obviously, but I would have liked to know what happened to Anita and Gareth. If I am going to sit through something like, I’d at least like to have all doors closed. Once again, it was a missed opportunity. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. All recaps of Rules of the Game are available on Reel Mockery here. Those interested in learning how to support Reel Mockery should follow this link.