As the finale of The Catch begins, DI Jennie Nott (Tracy Wiles) investigates Craig’s murder. She finds the Navy pictures in his van. She gets a call confirming that they’ve found Ed’s vehicle. Ryan (Aneurin Barnard) checks on Abbie (Poppy Gilbert) before Claire (Cathy Belton) greets them. She says Bob (Ian Pirie) is there as well. Once they sit down, Claire admits she told Ed to go. Ryan says they’ve been worried about him even though he doesn’t know Ed as much as Claire. Phyllis (Brenda Fricker) reminds Ryan that they don’t know who he is either. Bob says he last saw him by the boat. When the police came, he was off like a shot.

Bob is suspicious that Ed could’ve killed George since he has never seen him like this before. Abbie follows Claire inside and finds her breaking down. Abbie reveals Ryan proposed last night before saying Ed isn’t capable of killing anyone. Claire says Ed couldn’t tell them, but it has finally caught up with him. Ed (Jason Watkins) manages to find food and a phone so he can call Pauline (Menyee Lai). He insists he didn’t kill George and needs to know who is doing this to him. Then, he spies on Bob talking to Claire and the others. Abbie tells her mom that Katz has been contacting her for an update.

When Abbie walks down to the water, Ed approaches her to say he has nothing to do with George’s death. Abbie pleads with him to turn himself into the police. He begins telling her about Craig. Ed just needs some cash. When Ryan shows up, he quickly hides. Abbie learns the cops are there and they want to talk to her. Ed tells Abbie he’ll be with Josh before running off. Back inside, DI Nott asks them about Craig. Claire admits he is a friend of Ed. He hadn’t seen him in years until Craig showed up there a few days ago. They learn he was found this morning and was the victim of a fatal hit-and-run.

They’re asked if they know where Ed is. Katz (Jade Jordan) finds Ed near Josh’s grave when she tries to meet Abbie. She admits she was supposed to bring money and that she gave police the CCTV footage. Ed says she did the right thing. Katz says everyone thinks he did it. Ed says everyone is wrong and Katz believes him. Ed takes the money and runs when they hear police sirens. As Ed sneaks around, someone throws a blanket over his face. He ends up on the boat with Bob who asks what he is doing running away like this. He also mentions that they found his gutter knife in the bin with blood on it.

Ed questions why he’d bring the knife home and throw it in the bin if he had killed George on the boat. He would’ve thrown the body and knife into the sea. Ed confesses that they did something years ago and swore they’d never tell. He is convinced Craig killed George. Bob says he was found dead this morning. Whoever killed Bob might’ve killed George as well. Bob wonders who it is if it isn’t Craig. Abbie questions why Ryan is looking at her phone. He suspects Ed texted her so she had to go see him. Ryan is just surprised she didn’t tell him. Ryan thinks he should turn himself in because he is going to look more guilty the longer he runs.

Ed doesn’t know who it is, but he hopes the private detective can get more information. Bob questions whether she’d speak to him or Claire. Ed wants to know if he slept with Claire, but Bob insists he didn’t. Bob would do anything for her because she is his best mate’s wife. He loves her like he loves Ed. After Bob says she deserves the truth, Ed asks if he can get her to see him. Ryan asks a bunch of questions before Claire leaves. Once she meets Ed, he says he wants to tell the truth. He explains that there was a junior officer named Baxter (Karl Hogan) and he took no prisoners. Although he was only doing his job, they didn’t like it or him.

On the last night in Gibraltar, Ed with was Arthur, Des, and Craig. They saw Nicholas Baxter on the way back to the ship. Phyllis plays spades with Ryan and Abbie. Ed says they only meant to scare Baxter so he’d know how they felt, but it went wrong and they went at him. Even though they knew they’d get in serious trouble, they couldn’t stop. He pushed through and ended up in the water. He didn’t come back up so Ed dove in to get him. They found Baxter early the next morning. He must’ve cracked his skull when he went down so he drowned. They all agreed to say they saw nothing, heard nothing, and did nothing. They put cocaine under his bunk to make it look like Baxter was high.

Ed breaks down as he admits he is guilty. He admits he felt so guilty when Josh drowned because he felt he was being punished for Baxter’s death. They leave in the van and wait for Pauline. Claire complains about him spending all that money on a private detective before questioning what they’re doing. Pauline drops off an envelope. The paperwork reveals that Baxter had a 4-year-old son named Karl who changed his name to Ryan Wilson. Ryan watches Katz talk to Abbie outside. Phyllis remembers seeing him with Ed’s knife down by the bins. He tells her to sit down and drink her tea. Abbie talks to Katz about her father and the police thinking he is guilty.

When Ryan comes over, he suggests they should go look for Ed. Katz asks if he wants to turn him in, but Ryan says they should talk to him. Ryan thinks he might know where he could be. Ryan takes Claire to the house because he told Ed where they keep the spare key. Once they look around, Claire goes back out to the car to see if she can find her phone. Ryan locks her phone up. Claire finds George’s bloody phone in Ryan’s car. Ryan grabs her from behind. He takes her inside and makes her sit down. Claire asks for the phone because she wants to call the police, but can’t because Ryan calls.

Claire talks to Abbie who pretends she is okay. Ryan tells her they’re worried about her. Claire tries to convince them that everything is okay. Ed reminds her they need to get him away from Abbie. Ryan invites her over so they can celebrate the engagement properly. He tells Claire about Abbie and Katz meeting with Ed and giving him money. Ed calls him Karl and asks if he is going to talk to him. Ed says he is challenging him now. He is going to see Arthur. The call ends. Ed tells Claire he knows what he is doing. Once he joins Ryan, he finds him digging a grave. Ryan asks if Abbie told him this is where he scattered his dad’s ashes.

Ed warns him that he better not have hurt Abbie. Ryan asks if he is going to kill him like he killed his father. He admits the grave is for Ed. Phyllis says he should’ve warned them about Ryan because she knew he was up to something. Abbie is shown tied up in the house. Ed tells Ryan that no one pushed his father. Ryan reveals Des wrote to him because he wanted to tell him everything. Ryan asks Ed what his last words would be. Ed says he dove in and tried to save Baxter. Ryan argues he couldn’t save his father because he could save his own son. He shows Ed the photo and explains that his father took it. He stupidly thought his dad took the photo because he liked them.

Ryan confesses he wants to bury all four of them up there. He already killed Arthur the same way he killed Craig. As Ed tries to genuinely apologize, Ryan grabs him and says he barely remembers his father. He complains about them planting drugs and having to find his mother’s body when he was ten. He hated them and lied about who he was until Des wrote him a letter. When Ed runs away, Ryan chases him with the shovel. Claire makes it to the house and finds Abbie tied up. Abbie wants her to call the police and get them to Cary Point. Abbie runs out. Ryan tells Ed that he came to kill him before only to run into Abbie.

He says he loves her like a cancer. Ryan admits he sabotaged the boat and used a prostitute to get him up. Then, he says he put on the lifeguard hoodie to make himself look like George for the pub’s camera. Ryan confesses he even cut his hand intentionally. Everything bad that has happened to Ed has been caused by Ryan. Eventually, Ryan catches up with him and Ed tries to fight back. Ryan knocks him down and prepares to kill him, but Abbie rushes over to save him. She stabs him in the stomach. Ed takes the knife from her. He comforts her while Ryan suffers on the ground. Later, Abbie greats prepared to leave for Australia.

She mentions that she might have to come back for the trial. Ed doubts that’ll be necessary since Ryan has pleaded guilty. He made a statement about Ryan’s dad and will accept whatever comes. Outside, everyone celebrates Abbie and Katz going to Australia. Phyllis gives Abbie a little spending money. Ed tells Claire that he feels different now that there are no more secrets. They follow Abbie who says everything made sense. Claire reminds her that Ryan is in the past now. Abbie knows everything is going to be okay although she is pregnant.

 

The Catch Review

The finale of The Catch wrapped up the main storyline fairly well with one final surprise at the end. It may be unfair to complain about the story too much considering it was based on a novel and played it by the book. The highlight of the finale was the excellent performances from the entire cast, especially Jason Watkins.

The biggest issue for the series as a whole was the lack of mystery since it was made clear from the beginning who was responsible. Truthfully, the story isn’t all that original so most viewers will have seen similar storylines in other shows and movies. The beautiful scene helped offset the mundane story to some degree. Since The Catch is only four episodes and roughly four hours in total, it was still a decent binge despite its issues.

The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Catch are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us by following this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.