Untapped Potential – As the finale of The Artful Dodger begins, Captain Lucien Gaines (Damon Herriman) prepares Norbert Fagin (David Thewlis) for the hangman’s noose. Lady Belle Fox (Maia Mitchell) wakes up in bed with Dr. Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) next to her. She asks if it is an aortic aneurysm. Dodger believes it is. He tells her she is loved fully. They have sex. Gaines tells Fagin that he sees this as a necessary part of justice. He believes the rope offers salvation and asks Fagin if he’d like to be saved. Gaines wants Jack because he knows they both stole the gold. Getting Jack would matter more than hanging a vagrant like Fagin.

Gaines wants Fagin to bring Jack to him red-handed with the gold. If Fagin does that, he’ll release him now and get him a full pardon. Fagin asks where he wants him. Gaines instructs Fagin to bring him there at six. Belle wonders if they can fix her condition. Astley Cooper performed the surgery, but he killed the patient. Although Dodger doesn’t want to do it, Belle pleads with him to perform the surgery. Lady Jane Fox (Susie Porter) catches them together. Jane tells Dodger to leave the town by the end of the week. She refuses to believe that Belle is dying because Sneed found nothing wrong with her last night. 11 London doctors examined her and found nothing.

Dodger admits he doesn’t know what to do because operating will kill Belle. Jane tells him to stay silent and the Governor will hear nothing of it. Governor Fox (Damien Garvey) tells Rosie about the gold he lost. He believes he’ll have to return to Whitehall to resign in disgrace. Rosie pleads with him not to leave her. Jane tells Belle they might be able to salvage her reputation if no one knows. Belle tries to convince her mother that she needs the surgery or she’ll die. Dodger speaks to Fagin about the situation. Fagin insists love is frail and it doesn’t last. Governor Eddie Fox speaks to Gaines about their problem before Jane barges in to speak to him. She learns the gold to mint the colony’s new currency has been stolen.

Jane asks Oliver Twist (Hal Cumpston) if he’ll return to London and accept responsibility. Governor Fox doesn’t want to force Twist to take the responsibility though. Jane tells Gaines she’ll make him a Major if he finds the gold. Then, she tells her husband that Dodger has convinced Belle she has a serious illness. Governor Fox suggests Dodger could be right about Belle. Dr. Rainsford Sneed (Nicholas Burton) examines Belle. She believes he is being a coward. Sneed tells her to try to get some rest before leaving. Governor Fox comes in to check on his daughter. Sneed tells Jane that Belle needs rest for the ulcer to heal. Jane asks if there is anything to the aneurysm suggestion. Sneed believes Dawkins is just being dramatic.

Belle finds a guard outside her room. At work, Hetty Baggett (Vivienne Awosoga) finds Dodger distracted. Sneed belittles him and asks for his patient list for the handover. Dodger begins arguing with him about Belle’s condition. Professor McGregor (Kim Gyngell) interrupts their argument. Dodger tells the professor he doesn’t have time for his stories before leaving. Fagin admits to Rotty that he doesn’t have the gold. Red tells him that Jack swindled him. Rotty believes it is someone who knows the comings and goings of the port. Fagin immediately blames Darius. When he goes looking for Darius, Fagin finds him with Oliver Twist. Fagin sits with Oliver Twist outside and accuses him of planning this from the start.

Twist says he sees this as a tribute because Fagin awakened something dark and glorious in him. Fagin threatens to tell Gaines. Twist has paperwork proving what Jack did previously so he can’t. Fagin threatens to torture Darius unless he tells him everything about his dealings with Oliver Twist. Darius reveals Oliver is switching ships and is heading to Tahiti. Fagin asks if he is being paid not to inspect Lady Fanny’s luggage. Darius says yes. Fagin leaves Darius with Aputi. Later, Dodgers learns that Professor McGregor knew Astley Cooper. Dodger asks if he saw the operation on the aortic ane. Once he sits down, Professor McGregor says the challenge is to tie the ligation tight enough to fix the aneurysm, but loose enough to sustain blood flow through the body.

Dodger learns the professor has been drinking the old Parsons so it knocks him out. He injects the professor to get more information from him about the procedure. The professor says Cooper didn’t have a solution because the patient died. Hetty finds the paperwork that might be able to help but it doesn’t. Hetty believes Dodger loves her. She suggests it could be worse if he doesn’t try and Belle dies. Hetty doubts he has ever loved anyone. Fanny tries to cheer up Belle who is still locked in her room. Belle convinces Fanny to help her escape by distracting the guard. Fagin speaks to Father Cruikshanks (Huw Higginson) about what the Father saw. Fagin insists he must make a pilgrimage within a period of seeing her. He threatens the Father with worms.

Fagin tells him he should be leading his congregation on a pilgrimage. Once Belle makes it to Dodger, he says he will try if she wants. As Dodger begins practicing, he worries that he’ll paralyze or kill her. Belle shows him how to do it. She suggests they fill the aorta with water and try so he can tie it just tight enough. It doesn’t go well. Oliver puts the paperwork against Dodger with the gold. Belle returns as Fanny prepares to leave. Back in her room, Belle tells Jane not to bother locking the door because she isn’t going anywhere. Dodger continues practicing. Father Cruikshanks leads his people in the lane of St. Coccyx. Fagin manages to switch Oliver’s chest thanks to the distraction. Once Dodger comes up with an idea, he rushes over to free Belle.

He takes out the guard before finding Belle collapses on the ground. Dodger takes her back to the surgery and tells Hetty to prepare. Before he can cut Belle open, Jane arrives and tries to stop him. She wants Sneed to do it, but Sneed tells her to let Dawkins do it. Oliver isn’t happy to find the gold missing. Fagin asks Rosie to look after it while he runs an errand. Once Fagin leaves, Rosie tells Charlie to fetch the Governor because she has something that belongs to him. Dodger finishes the surgery and pleads with Belle to wake up. Gaines takes him away at gunpoint. Sneed doesn’t know whether she’ll live, but he says Jane just sent the best surgeon he’s ever seen to his death. Fagin approaches Gaines with the papers proving Dodger is an escaped convict.

Once they exchange the papers, Red arrives and shoots Gaines in the chest. She tells Gaines that her name is Keira and he tried to hang them both. Gaines pleads with Dawkins to save him. When guards arrive, Fagin tells Dodger to flee. Dodger runs back to the clinic to check on Belle who opens her eyes and looks at him. Jack is thrown in a cell with Fagin. He says he had to see if she was alive. Fagin says he’ll give the guard the pardon he got from Gaines and he’ll be a free man. He also has one gold bar.

 

The Artful Dodger Review

The Artful Dodger had all the potential in the world with a good cast and the rich history of the story. While the series had ups and downs, it arguably had substantially more downs than ups. The finale was a perfect example of everything wrong with the series starting with the sheer predictability of pretty much every scene. Since two or three episodes ago, it was pretty easy to see what was going to happen in the finale.

Not to mention, this has been done an astronomical number of times previously. The troubled doctor falls in love with a patient who can’t be saved, but he manages to find a way to save her life anyway. Then, we have Fagin who flips and flops between betraying Dodger and being loyal to him. In reality, there was never any risk that he would turn on Dodger but this series has zero imagination.

It is difficult to imagine anyone receiving writing credits for The Artful Dodger considering almost every scene was copied and pasted from other shows. Where was the originality? Where was the passion? Where was the Dickens? Instead of living up to the original work of Dickens, The Artful Dodger was an uninspired, unimaginative, unoriginal show that lacked an ounce of passion and purpose.

It’s too bad that some decent performances were wasted on such a flimsy script. The finale scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of The Artful Dodger can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here. Discuss this series and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.