As the finale of Sherwood begins, Ronan (Bill Jones) asks why Scott is coming after them and whether they’re in danger. Mickey (Philip Jackson) tells him not to be soft since they don’t want this getting out. Ronan finds it odd that arrow and Sparrow rhyme. Mickey thinks they believe that Scott is after them. Rory (Perry Fitzpatrick) suggests it is him though. He explains that Scott asked if he could help if he made it out okay. Daphne (Lorraine Ashbourne) just listens to them as they discuss not feeling safe until the police catch him. A news report talks about the manhunt entering the second week and how one man has managed to evade hundreds of police officers. Julie (Lesley Manville) is surprised when Rosie (Chanel Cresswell) returns home.

Cindy (Safia Oakley-Green) and Noah (Lance O’Reilly-Chapman) are happy to see their mother. Helen (Clare Holman) complains that Ian (David Morrissey) stepped outside of their marriage to question it although he says that is his job. She can’t believe he thought she was the spy, but Ian claims he was only trying to protect her. Ian says he needs to know and needs to know about that night. It could’ve been different and didn’t have to happen. He knows she kept such a big part of herself secret from him. Helen says she kept it from everyone and blocked it out from herself. That is how some people deal with trauma and survive. Ian asks whether that is why she didn’t want to have kids even though he did. She says that is unsafe. When Ian argues she should’ve trusted him with her past, she reminds him to talk about the past.

He spent life living on the outskirts running from things that had happened. He couldn’t stand facing his father until it was too late. She accuses him of ignoring his brother because it is too painful. He asks what happens now. Meanwhile, Rosie wonders how they haven’t found him because she would’ve gone into the woods herself to pull him out. Although she says she wants to see him, Julie doesn’t think she wants to see him like this. She recommends just remembering Gary how he was. Once Rosie asks about Cathy (Claire Rushbrook), Julie claims she’s been very good. It hurts her too even though it really doesn’t have anything to do with her. Rosie has been telling them for years to bang their heads together and figure it out. Julie tells her about Cindy seeing a boy named Ronan Sparrow. Rosie doesn’t like that.

Daphne practices throwing the ax as a police car drives by. Mickey approaches her while suggesting she is tense about something. He suggests going somewhere and being alone because he loves her and that is all that matters. Mickey says they can do whatever they want without relying on anyone else. He asks her to let him know before he leaves. Daphne walks over to the fence to question where Scott could be. As the base, DI Taylor (Andrea Lowe) mentions the tire tracks they found while DS Cleaver (Terence Maynard) tells everyone about the arrow at the Sparrow place. Chief Constable Fraser (Phaldut Sharma) reminds them that Scott has 15,000 pounds to help him on his way. Ian suggests setting up a public meeting since others are finding this traumatic as well.

Fraser asks for a private word with Ian and DI Kevin Salisbury (Robert Glenister). He tells them that the Home Office has confirmed there was an undercover officer here in ’84, but they won’t tell him who it is. He doesn’t want to push it because nobody has told him why exposing them would help. Kevin says Scott might be looking for this person. Fraser wonders if Ian’s proximity to his could be clouding his judgment. Ian tells him to screw off. Fraser asks Kevin for a minute, but Ian tells him that he can say whatever he wants in front of Kevin who has been his partner through all of this. Fraser tells him that there are more important things than his personal curiosity about who this person is. Later, Kevin gets a message on his phone. He tells Ian that it sometimes feels like they’re not on the same side, but it has perks too.

He has a friend down south who is a crime scene photographer. Since he was struggling a bit, Kevin got him into recovery. He always thought he owed Kevin a favor. For instance, he could take pictures of the phone belonging to an ex-cop and the last four numbers he contacted. Ian quickly writes down the numbers in question. Kevin runs into Jenny Harris (Nadine Marshall) who admits that she isn’t okay. He thought about leaving too but has a habit of staying until the job is done. She visits his room later that night. They begin kissing until Kevin stops her because he didn’t imagine this. While Jenny touches his face, we see flashbacks of them together and Jenny finding her father after the fire. In the present, Kevin apologizes to her. Daphne looks up a Keats quote before getting a call from Ian using a blocked number.

Although she answers it, she doesn’t say anything. Ian is guessing this is Keats because it is the only phone that was answered. He asks if they’re worried about how close they’re getting. He thinks it is sociopathic that they could live a lie like that for so long. Then, he apologizes because everyone carries lies and secrets around. He says he gets it since he has buried all his crap over the years too. Ian tells her that she wasn’t alone in naming the ones who were there before the fire because he named them too. He named his father and his friends. Ian thinks they can fix this if she tells him who she is. Daphne hangs up when Ian tells her she is in danger. The next day, Julie drops Cindy off at the Sparrow place so she can hang out with Ronan. Daphne approaches Julie who says you forget how easy and simple it is at that age before they complete it all with things that hardly matter.

When Julie mentions Daphne saying her old man worked in the pits, Daphne quickly changes the subject by off to drop Cindy offer later. Jenny wants to leave, but Kevin tries to convince her to stay and have breakfast. Although Jenny sits down, she is worried about people finding out and talking about their relationship. He reminds her that she is married to someone who betrayed her. Jenny knows that she should be crushed although she isn’t. She thinks it is because she isn’t the same person he fell in love with right now. Jenny doesn’t think it is a good idea to throw herself back in a relationship right now. Kevin says it is okay for the first time in a long time as if a spell has been broken. Fred Rowley (Kevin Doyle) learns about the community meeting at the Welfare later. He questions where the heck Scott is. Mickey opens a metal container and finds Scott (Adam Hugill) sleeping inside.

Scott knocks him to the ground before fleeing on his motorcycle. Mickey uses his phone to report Scott being at the allotment. Mickey says he is going after him. Ian learns that they’ve spotted Rowley. They end up approaching Scott. When he isn’t looking, Mickey gets in front of him causing Scott to crash his bike into the side of his car and crash. He hurts his leg but grabs his bow and one arrow. Scott stumbles back as Ian tries to talk him down by promising to listen to what he has to say. When Scott drops his weapon, he is quickly taken down by locals and police. Cathy (Claire Rushbrook) and Julie watch the arrest from a distance. Julie begins crying so Cathy walks over to comfort her. Later, Scott is interviewed with his attorney by Ian and Kevin. Scott quickly admits to murdering Gary before he is asked why he killed him.

He is asked about Gary bullying his dad only for Scott to say a lot of people bullied him. He also says he didn’t kill Gary because of the miner’s strike. He goes on to say it wasn’t planned either. Scott says people didn’t see him although they did online. Everyone saw Gary who was name-calling. Scott believes people will see him now. As for the arrows he has been shooting everywhere, he says they’re just small people who are likely liars and hypocrites. The Sparrows owed him. When asked about the message in the lock-up about them being liars, Scott says they are. When you peer into peoples’ lives, you’ll find that they all have secrets.

He says the police are running around like headless chickens trying to put it all together, but there isn’t anything to put together. Scott admits he knew about the spy cop from the solicitor’s emails although he doesn’t know who it is. He used the notes to keep them going in circles since he knew they were looking for the spy. Kevin asks about him claiming unemployment at his father’s fit and getting sent down for it. Scott gets mad while explaining he didn’t know that you couldn’t claim if you had savings. He claims school doesn’t care about lads like him. Ian says there is no justification for taking a man’s life. Scott says what about his life. He says they told him that he doesn’t deserve any better because he is a white working-class man. Scott doesn’t understand what all the men around here are so proud of.

They’re going nowhere and they don’t see it. Scott sees it. He isn’t complaining or denying anything. Once they leave, Ian and Kevin talk about Scott not knowing the undercover. Kevin wonders what difference it would make exposing them after all this. When asked what he’ll do now, Kevin says he has a weird urge to go home and hug his son. Ian thanks him for his help even though they didn’t wrap up everything like they had hoped. Kevin suggests there might not be anything to wrap up in the end. He urges Ian not to go tormenting himself chasing old ghosts. They shake hands and say goodbye. Later, everyone comes together for the community meeting. Martin (Mark Frost) and the others listen as Ian says they understand the stress this type of thing can put on people.

He confirms they’ve arrested someone and have them in custody. Leonard Gibson (Charles Dale) and Dean Simmonds (Sean Gilder) begin arguing about the strike. Dean complains about having to hear the word thrown at them year after year. Leonard says they should’ve had the courage to stay out, but Fred argues it wasn’t about courage and that is what their side didn’t understand. He says it was about having brains. The land they were born onto means they have coal beneath their feet. It had no future and was dying. Fred doesn’t think that is anyone’s fault. Their side was just in denial about it and wanted to start a fight which is something anyone could do. Fred says some of them wanted to make sure they could eke it out for as long as possible. Leonard claims they used him and the miners to break a whole class of people.

Fred says it was Leonard and his friends who broke that by bullying and intimidating people. He confesses that it was frightening. Nobody should be frightened in their own home and that is why Fred cannot forgive his son. He knows he should’ve talked to his son more, but that is the most frightening thing in the world. Leonard knows they’re expected to forgive but he can’t. Dean says they always talk like their victim. He reminds them of how they came together on the night of the fire to recognize the suffering their lot was going through. Martin claims no one did this to him because it was an accident. That isn’t a good enough story because there is nowhere to put your anger. Leonard says he blames since they could’ve won if they’d stayed united. Julie says that is exactly what they want. They want everyone to blame everyone else instead of them.

She says they don’t care about them now and only use them. Julie doesn’t know how they’re supposed to move on when they’re calling themselves a former mining town and post-industrial. They have one bloody life and they’re spending it hating. She is tired. After the meeting ends, Ian walks down the street before reaching the spot where he saw his father get arrested. He meets with Julie who wants to know what Scott has been saying. Ian says he is just an angry, lost, messed-up young man. It seems like he developed an obsession with Gary and his whole family since they were happy together. Julie complains it didn’t stop people from making it about the past before wondering what happens next.

Although people will go on to other things, Ian can’t because he needs to know who this person is. Julie doesn’t think he should just drop it and move on because they lied about her husband whether it was deliberate or not. It got him blacklisted. Julie has been thinking about it a lot. She remembers Daphne saying her dad was at Clipstone, but he wasn’t. There were no Dunns there. Daphne never had any family here until she married into that lovely lot. Mickey tells Rory to leave the dent in the car because people need to know they caught Scott. Daphne makes Rory helps her get the items ready for the school’s donation. Julie hangs out with Cathy and asks whether Fred is going to visit Scott. She changes her mind while saying she doesn’t want to know. Julie shows her an old picture of them together.

Cathy says they couldn’t tear them apart, but they’ve done so many things separately since. She mentions that Julie never came to her funeral, but Julie says she sort of attended. Julie knew Gary would say she is moving a scab so she watched from the co-op car park. Cathy saw her and she was grateful. Although Ian knows he doesn’t have a right, he wants to ask Helen about the undercover officers using the names of dead kids. He can’t use the police computer, but thinks there might be social work records. He thought she could look for him. Helen agrees to do so and sits down to get her computer out. He wants to start with Daphne Dunn. If she stole that name, he might have her. Ian admits he understands why she kept it to herself because he sees what people go through every day. He apologizes for what he said about the kids because they made that choice together.

Later, he meets with Julie to tell her there was a Daphne Dunn who died as a child in 1965 down in Peterborough. He can’t be positive though. She asks what he is going to do and whether he’ll confront her here. Jenny begins talking to the crowd. She talks about getting more donations since Christmas is coming up. Everyone begins donating using their phones causing their numbers to be displayed on the screen in front of them. Daphne tells Mickey that they should donate. He says they can get tickets for each kid so they can be like a modern-day Robin Hood. When Daphne types it in, she accidentally puts the word “Keats” in the text. When she sees it on the screen, she gets up to rush out while Mickey asks what that means. Ian follows her in his car as she returns home.

Cindy and Ronan watch her arrive. She goes inside and retrieves a handgun just as Ian pulls up outside. He rushes in and begins telling Daphne not to do it. She thinks he is going to take everything away from her as if none of this is real. She’d rather end it all as Daphne Sparrow than going back to being her. She claims she was the person who caused all this. Ian tells her that they made her do the job and she should’ve never been in that position. They were just kids. He promises that nobody else needs to know and they can keep it between themselves. She isn’t sure she deserves to carry on amongst these people. Ian argues that they need to stop being trapped by the past. She is Daphne Sparrow here and now. That is what matters. Ian pleads with her to trust him. Julie, Cathy, and the family go to Gary’s grave.

We see archival footage of the miners and learn that the mines are going to be shutting down. 1,400 jobs will be lost. Fred visits Scott while parts of the mines are destroyed. Leonard is shown working in a warehouse. Daphne visits Julie at home while Ian visits Martin with beers. A news report says it is speculated that many tens of thousands of pounds were hidden in Sherwood Forest by the suspect. Rory and Dean prepare to go search for it.

 

Sherwood Review

The finale of Sherwood was okay although a bit anticlimactic and longwinded. I personally didn’t care about the spy cop because I didn’t think it’d matter in the long run. It is odd that this aspect of the show became such an integral component of the story considering it didn’t have much to do with anything. It is farfetched to suggest they’d have guilt over that or that it would impact Gary who walked free pretty soon after he was picked up thanks to Kevin.

Scott’s ending was lackluster since there was no motive and his capture was anticlimactic. In a way, this is realistic since murders aren’t always black and white, but there is usually some perceived motive when a case goes to trial.

It seemed like they were building up to something more even though it was obviously never linked to the mining strike, but that aspect of the story was mostly flat. Thankfully, there were some great performances here even though some of the characters were sometimes overshadowed because of the massive cast.

Most viewers likely watched for David Morrissey, but Robert Glenister might’ve stood out even more. Kevin Doyle, Claire Rushbrook, and Lesley Manville were good as usual. Some of the characters were mumbling pretty bad in the finale, especially during the interrogation. I really wish more time would’ve been dedicated to exploring the impact of mines and other jobs disappearing from small towns. There are so many areas that have been left barren or at least poverty-stricken due to the loss of coal mines.

Its demise and the individuals impacted likely could’ve been very compelling. I’ll argue that the mining cast didn’t really match the pictures from the real mining strike. If a show is going to be based on true events, it should be as accurate as possible and this wasn’t in many cases.

Finally, the last thing I’ll say is that the finale made it seem that there was only one murder. It felt a bit petty to dedicate the show to one victim when the show was loosely based on two murders. That storyline was never mentioned in the finale and neither was Neel. I hope the off-screen bickering didn’t lead to the decision to honor one victim and not the other. I also remember the show linking Scott to the “great reset” at one point, but it was just glanced over which makes it feel like there was an agenda.

Overall, Sherwood was decent but not great. It is still surprising that this was renewed for a second season because it wasn’t needed. The finale itself proved that the story was over. Still, it would be hard to complain about seeing this cast again. Hopefully, the writing doesn’t play so heavily on the past and is completely original this time.

It was neat to see Robert Glenister and his son Tom play the same character. The duo stood out among the large cast even though their characters were constrained by the story. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Sherwood can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.