The People In The Dirt – As the finale of Say Nothing begins, Dolours Price (Maxine Peake) talks about how she’d get a call and be told she had a job. Sometimes, she knew them and sometimes she didn’t. She had never heard of Jean McConville (Judith Roody). Mackers (Seamus O’Hara) listens to her claim she wasn’t there when Jean was taken. Dolours was told she was to be taken down south and over the border into Dundalk. Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew) was told that Jean was a civilian informant. She doesn’t think this is the right way to do it. Instead, she suggests putting her in the street and putting the fear of God into people. On the way there, Dolours tells Jean that her children will be brought to her. Mackers questions who else was in the car with her. Dolorous claims it was just another volunteer. A flashback shows Marian Price (Hazel Doupe) in the car with them.

They drop off Jean with the men moments later. Dolours tells Mackers that she left Jean with a gun crew. She goes on to say there were four men in a car. Mackers asks for names. Dolours asks him to turn off the microphone. After the intro, Dolours takes drugs in her bathroom. Marian Price (Helen Behan) listens to a news report about a shooting. An IRA splinted group has claimed responsibility. Her daughters come in complaining about each other. Police arrive outside seconds later. Marian tells the girls to get upstairs because she’s going to be arrested. Dolours visits her at the jail and learns Marian bought the gunmen the phones. Marian claims she was trying to fix things. Dolours tells her there are better ways to get to Gerry. She tells Marian about the project she’s been doing with Brendan Hughes. Dolours explains she’s been telling the truth about what happened. It’s the most free she’s felt in years and she believes they’re going to take down Gerry Adams.

Marian worries she’ll get herself arrested or shot. Dolours says nothing will come out until after she’s dead. Brendan Hughes (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) goes to work and talks about his time in the merchant navy. He has a medical issue and collapses. Gerry Adams (Michael Colgan) visits him at the hospital later. In another scene, Brendan asks if they know what it took to put Gerry Adams in power. He explains how it felt and how people were left behind. There’s a funeral for Brendan. Mackers and Dolours talk about the turnout. She can’t believe Gerry Adams is there. Gerry tells Jimmy (Tony Devlin) they shouldn’t cause a scene. Gerry helps carry the casket when Jimmy steps out of the way. Dolours calls this a hijacking because Brendan wanted that man dead. Mackers tells her that Brendan’s tape won’t come out tonight because there’s a whole process involved.

Nothing will be public for a long time, but the truth will come out eventually. Dolours admits she’s just impatient. Later, Dolours tries to call Allison Morris at the Irish News. She leaves a message saying she’d like to talk about Jean McConville. One day, Allison (Charlotte McCurry) visits Dolours at home for the interview. Dolours invites her inside. She claims Jean was an informer and she had been spotted at Hastings Street Barracks before she was taken. Dolours says she was reputed to be behind a blanket. Suspects would walk past and Jean would say whether they were with the IRA. A flashback shows intruder two (Bernadette Brown) behind the blanket. Her slippers led to her arrest. In a flashback, intruder four (Aidan Kelly) interrogates Jean with intruder two nearby. Jean denies being a tout. Dolours says she was told Jean confessed. Pat told Dolours to take Jean down south and leave her with a gun crew.

Dolours claims she doesn’t know the men she left Jean with. She claims Gerry Adams was running the unit and giving the orders. Dolours says Brendan Hughes can corroborate her statement before mentioning the Belfast Project. Marian calls and learns from Danny (Matthew Whelan) that Dolours is doing an interview with a woman from the Irish News. Allison asks Dolours how they knew the slippers belonged to Jean. Dolours only knows that they were red. Allison suggests that could’ve been anyone. Marian complains that Dolours has a sick need for attention. She urges her to get sober. Gerry Adams hears a news report about the Belfast Project and Dolours’s comments. He’s told the tapes are at Boston College in the treasure room. They’ve spoken to the IRA and UVF. About two of theirs talked, including Dolours, Brendan, and Ivor. Gerry wants to craft a response and say that these people are enemies of Sinn Fein.

Dolours has his issuing the orders for the disappeared. Gerry claims no one cares what she says. He’s asked whether Brendan could corroborate what she said. Helen McConville (Laura Donnelly) learns more about Dolours. She tells Seamus McKendry (Keith McErlean) about her. Helen calls DCI Reilly to formally press charges against the people who took her mother. At the jail, Marian and Dolours argue about the interviews. Dolours says Jean’s kids were on television. They were saying that Jean was innocent. Marian doesn’t believe that. Dolours tells her that she lies in bed and wonders if she could’ve done things differently. Marian insists Dolours needs to move on. Dolours talks about seeing and remembering things. Dolours claims Marian is living in the past. Later, Dolours worries that someone is in her house. She sees Wee Pat (Martin McCann) who says he has another one for her. Danny comes upstairs and finds Dolours dead.

Gerry is told about her overdose. Later, he receives a call from the PSNI saying he’s going to be arrested. Gerry is asked to report to the Antrim Police Barracks. He immediately hangs up the call only for it to ring again. Gerry walks into the barracks and says he’s there for questioning. He’s told he needs to go outside so they can arrest him. Gerry tells him not to waste his one shot at this. He is questioned by Detective Hannah Hanlon (Valene Kane) and Detective Stevens (Brian Milligan). They ask Gerry if he knew Joe Lynskey who was the first to disappear. Gerry says he knew Joe’s mother. Then, he’s asked about Kevin McKee. Gerry knew his family. Before long, they pull out boxes with Belfast Project on them and tapes inside. He’s played a recording of Brendan Hughes talking about Kevin. Gerry rejects that his squad took Kevin away. He says Brendan hated the peace process and thought he sold them out.

Gerry claims Brendan would still be out there targeting police officers if it weren’t for the peace process. A news report confirms Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is in police custody. Helen watches. Gerry is asked about Jean and the fact he was in prison when it happened. The detectives say he was released two months prior. Detective Hanlon asks why he lied. He claims he just remembered incorrectly. Gerry says he doesn’t think anyone should be shot. In another recording, Dolours says she drove Jean across the border before reporting it back to Pat who told Gerry. He tells the detectives that none of this is true and Dolours was unwell. Gerry begins breaking down their evidence. He claims they have opinion and gossip but not evidence. Gerry also denies being a member of the IRA. Helen learns that Gerry has been released without charges. There is a funeral for Dolours.

Mackers speaks to Marian about Dolours. Marian asks if Dolours said anything about her. Mackers said Dolours was mad about her. In a flashback, the recorder is off and Dolours tells Mackers there is where it gets dangerous for her. She says they were called back by Pat who says they don’t want to do it. Dolours and Marian join Pat and they try to figure out who is going to shoot Jean. Pat says he’ll do it. Dolours tells him they’ll do it together and pass the gun around. Dolours takes the gun first, but her hand begins trembling and she misses the shot intentionally. Marian takes the gun next and she shoots Jean. Gerry speaks to the media and proclaims his innocence. He says he is perfectly at peace and does not feel he has any blood on his hands. Dolours admits it’s easier for some of them to say nothing and to keep their memories locked away.

She explains that she couldn’t live with the silence. An investigation by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland found no evidence that Jean McConville was an informant. In 1999, the UK and Irish governments established a commission to locate and recover the remains of people abducted, murdered, and buried during The Troubles. Of 17 listed as Disappeared, the remains of 13 have been returned to their families. The four not found include Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac, and Seamus Maguire. Gerry Adams has denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence. He also denies involvement in the murder of Jean McConville. Marian Price also denies involvement in Jean’s murder.

 

Say Nothing Review

The finale of Say Nothing wasn’t nearly as good as some of the prior episodes. Very little of the series was about Jean McConville so it’s odd to switch back to that story in the last two episodes. In fact, the finale can easily be described as disappointing. The problem is that a lot of what happened in this episode was rehashed from the prior episode and even episodes before that.

Furthermore, it feels like they’re clinging onto one of the few pieces that may still be relevant and newsworthy today, the murder of Jean McConville. Sadly, a lot about Jean, her life, and her family leading up to her death were omitted from the series completely. It didn’t help that no one was genuinely sympathetic by this point.

Truthfully, the series could’ve been slimmed down to four or five episodes so it could’ve reached the same conclusion much sooner. It was okay overall, but watching the documentary about Dolours would be more satisfying and much easier to digest. The finale scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Say Nothing can be found here.

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