As the finale of The Gold begins, Edwyn Cooper (Dominic Cooper) talks about legacy and how brutal it can be. He mentions the Brink’s-Mat robbery. He knows he will not be granted his freedom and he will serve his full sentence. Edwyn says it doesn’t matter who he is before or who he was in prison. It only matters that he’s tainted by the Brink’s-Mat robbery. Charlie Miller (Sam Spruell) and John Palmer (Tom Cullen) wait in interview rooms. Kennedy Noye (Jack Lowden) remains free. Edwyn continues rambling about being Brink’s-Mat. He says it is their past, their future, and their legacy. Tony Lundy (Stephen Campbell Moore) approaches Miller. Lundy asks Miller to plead to financial charges and tell him where his money is. Otherwise, they’ll charge Miller with the robbery. Lundy claims it won’t be hard to connect the dots. Miller doubts he has any dots to join. He says being in there has given him to think, make some calls, and learn more about Lundy.
He has heard that Lundy is bent. Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville) sits down with John Palmer. Brian asks Palmer to plead guilty and to have a life beyond this. He doubts any lawyer will argue his innocence. Palmer says he gave them 300 grand and they couldn’t come up with a defense. As a result, he’s going to be defending himself. Brian asks about Noye. John insists they weren’t as close as people thought. He says there’s always someone looking for Kenneth Noye. In Cadiz, Spain, Noye orders something to eat. Jed Nixon (Thomas Coombes) tells Nick Biddiss (James Doherty) that The News of the World knows they’re searching for Kenneth Noye. Nick tells him to call a press conference. He says they know nothing because they’ve seen nothing. Nick says they need someone to see Noye. Brian tells Cath (Amanda Drew) and Gordon (Peter Davison) that they’ll go to trial against Palmer in England. They’re assisting the Americans to place RICO charges against Miller in Florida.
Brian says Palmer and Miller give them access to more money than the Brink’s-Mat gold was ever worth. Gordon hopes Brian will charge Miller with the robbery before he retires. Brian admits they can’t because they don’t have enough evidence to prove he was in on the robbery. Gordon says the case can’t close while four robbers are free and Noye is on the run. Brian argues that Noye is not his problem. Kenneth is shown in Gibraltar. He sees his pictures in the paper. A man seems to pay close attention to him so he confronts him. Kenneth calls Brian Reader (James Nelson-Joyce) and tells him to call him back from a payphone. Once he calls Kenneth back, Kenneth asks why he didn’t tell him about the papers. Brian says he never had his number and couldn’t. Kenneth says it’s time to speak to their friends to see what they can do on the charges. Nick, Jed Nixon, and Owen Dailly (Matthew Gravelle) work on finding Kenneth. Nick wants to go back through his file and identify his friends.
Lundy and Brian speak to Cath and Gordon about a newspaper article about Lundy’s shady past. Lundy insists he’s never been involved in corrupt practices. He claims he’s the best they have. Brian believes Lundy sails too close to the win and gets too close to informants, but he’s never seen any evidence of wrongdoing. Brian admits Lundy is integral to the Miller case. Gordon suspects Lundy pending investigation from the moment the Old Bailey proceedings conclude. As they leave, Lundy tells Brian the charges against Miller should be in place by the time they get the verdict in the robbery trial. Brian wants him to stop the charges from being thrown out and him from disappearing. Owen and Jed keep an eye on Brian Reader. They watch him leaving in a vehicle from his lot. Brian is in the courtroom to hear the evidence against Charlie Miller. The judge finds there is insufficient evidence to continue. Charlie Miller is discharged immediately. Lundy has something to show Brian.
They visit Miller in his cell moments later. Lundy tells him he’s going to be extradited to Florida. Miller says he’ll beat them too. He tells Brian and Lundy they should be embarrassed because everyone knows he was on the Brink’s-Mat job and he’ll never serve a day for it. He points out that they didn’t get four of them. Brian says it’s about the money and not the robbery. Lundy tells Brian he started running when the first complaint was made against him. He needed to get the anger out so he ran to clear his head. Now, he runs marathons. That’s how much they’ve come for him. Lundy says he can’t run forever so he’s going to quit. He thanks Brian for having him. Reader tells Kenneth Noye about the police being at his lot. Noye claims Kent Police won’t get him. Reader insists no one is going to get him. Noye asks about the other thing. Reader says it’s not going to happen. Noye’s friends at the station were asked about manslaughter and they all said no. Noye asks about the system in place and the money he’s given them over the years.
Reader tells him he needs to find a way out of this. Noye admits there are a few ways out of this and none of them are good. Brian returns to the team and tells them about Lundy. He wants to make sure Baxter testifies against Miller. Harry Bowman (Silas Carson) says they’re working with Roy Ramm and Tony Curtis on John Palmer’s case. They’re also speaking to Bob McCunn who is the solicitor for the Brink’s-Mat insurers. Brian admits he’s getting ready to retire. Today marks his 30 years of service. Nicki says they’re not ready for him to go. Brian says they have an ending within their grasp. He says it won’t be easy and he won’t be there to help. Brian hopes they see his departure as an irrelevance and get back to work. Palmer goes on trial next. Nick admits to Alice Harper (Tamsin Topolski) that she’s worried because the jurors are bored. The jurors respond better to Palmer’s statements. He tells them that it’s about their money since this could be the most expensive trial in history.
Palmer claims the cops have had a vendetta against him since he was found not guilty in the Brink’s-Mat robbery case. He says he’ll beat them again. Nick receives a call. He meets someone that night. The next day, he tells Owen and Jed that Kenneth is in Cadiz, Spain. He bought them tickets so they could go and find him. Nick even has an address where they can find him. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Douglas Baxter (Joshua McGuire) is present during Charlie Miller’s trial. Douglas admits to his liability in the crime. He says he intends to testify. Charlie denies his involvement in the criminal conspiracy. Palmer grills Harper. They talk about the three million Palmer paid to the Brink’s-Mat insurers. Palmer says he’s rich so it doesn’t add up that he would nick a few grand from multiple people. He also says he never sold a timeshare or took money for a timeshare. Owen calls Nick to tell him they got a lead on Kenneth, but he hasn’t been seen for a while.
He says they’re not the first people to ask questions. Nick says that would make sense. Douglas talks to Tony about the damages in the case. Charlie interrupts when he enters and sits down. Nick learns that there’s a rumor that Noye was killed, but he doesn’t believe the story. He tells Owen and Jed to keep going. Brian tells Kenneth it wasn’t one of theirs. He suggests the story could be a message. Rader tells him that they’re not clear because the insurers are coming after them. They got Palmer for three million. They also want the same from Kenneth who gets upset. Kenneth tells him how he’s just a bloke in the woods now. He doesn’t know how he got there. Brian tells him he put himself there with what’s inside of him. Kenneth is adamant he’s not giving himself up and he’ll get out of there one way or another. Nicki tells Harper she’s going to try to wind up Palmer to show the jury another side of him. Charlie is questioned about his case. He says his money did not come from the robbery. He was also cleared of any involvement in that robbery.
He’s told the hearing is about the proceeds of the robbery. Charlie claims the co-conspirator is telling lies. Douglas tells Tony he doesn’t want to go through with it. Tony tries to convince him otherwise. Jed and Owen finally see Kenneth Noye. Nick tells Jed he’s sending out the witness. Meanwhile, Palmer suggests Nicki resents him because of the embarrassment he caused. Nicki says they found the money which is worth a lot more than the gold. Palmer asks her if the dough going to the insurers could be going to her bank account. Nicki jokes about having an overdraft. Palmer says the jury should know that he’s an innocent businessman. Nicki calls him a serious organized criminal. Palmer gets upset at one point and calls them all corrupt. Douglas is asked about his convictions. He tells the judge that he’s accepted any mistakes he’s made with humility. When asked if he sees a co-conspirator in the courtroom, Douglas started going off the rails.
He is asked the question again. Douglas says he doesn’t see any of his co-conspirators in the courtroom today. Tony is not happy with him. Douglas insists Miller will be convicted without him. He also mentions the killings linked to Brink’s-Mat. Douglas says the threat the criminals hold is more than what the detectives hold. Kenneth orders food while he’s being watched by Jed. The witness is nearby. Jed tells Nick that the Spanish police will cause a diversion. The three of them will go in quickly and come out even quicker. Palmer is questioned during his trial. Palmer says he hasn’t threatened anyone. He is no angel, but he claims he’s not a gangster. Palmer says he built an empire and that’s what this is all about. He claims their lot is unable to deal with that. The witness positively identifies Noye. Nick goes to the CPS to get a warrant. Kenneth becomes worried and gets up. He goes inside with the waiter and asks who those people were.
Tony gets a call in the middle of the night from Nicki asking if they’ve got him. Tony admits he doesn’t know. He says they won’t know anything until the verdict. Kenneth calls Brian Reader to tell him he’s going somewhere else. He claims he’ll go to Amsterdam where he knows people from the gold. Reader says the police have given up on him. Kenneth questions who they’re watching then. Owen calls Nick to tell him that Kenneth is packing and getting ready to leave. Nick asks for five minutes. He tries to get the warrant signed as soon as possible. Nick asks them not to file it until Monday. Jed and Owen are given permission to apprehend Noye. The judge reaches a conclusion in Miller’s case. The jury has reached a verdict in Palmer’s case. Noye hears a twig snap before fleeing. Miller is found guilty. Palmer is found guilty. The judge awards damage of $151 million against Miller. Palmer is sentenced to eight years. A compensation order of more than 33 million pounds is also placed against him.
Kenneth is stopped and taken into custody. Jed tells him he’s going home. Nick gets a call telling him about Kenneth’s apprehension. Brian stops by the office to speak to Tony and Nicki. He explains they’ve got the biggest financial result in the history of British policing. Nicki admits they didn’t get them all. Brian says you only remember the ones you don’t get. He says it’ll never be over. Noye is convicted of the murder of Stephen Cameron and sentenced to life. He is released in 2019. John Palmer is shot dead in the garden of his Essex home on June 24, 2015. None of the gold has ever been recovered.
The Gold Review
The finale of The Gold was possibly the dullest episode to date. Although it was a necessary episode, it really felt sluggish and didn’t have anything exciting going on. Some of the episode didn’t make sense. After all, Palmer was fleeing from gunmen at the end of the previous episode. He must’ve avoided all those bullets and flown away on his airplane only to be arrested later.
We never learned what happened to Logan Campbell either. Even after consuming both series, it’s hard to say we know anything about the actual crime and the individuals involved. We really don’t know how much here is true and how much is fake.
Most of these characters were entirely fake. The series would’ve worked better if it hadn’t tried to exploit the real event. Unfortunately, it did and it did so very poorly to the point that it became unrecognizable from the true events. The series tried to fix that in the end, but it was too late. Then again, the show wouldn’t have made it to a second series without being based on the Brink’s-Mat robbery even if it barely told the truth about it.
It’s questionable whether this even needed to return considering how insignificant the second series was. There were too many characters, too many tropes, too many silly bits, and so on. As a result, any authenticity and value were thrown out of the window. We also had Phil Davis show up as Joey for whatever reason. Basically, series two can accurately be described as a waste of time.
The little facts that it relayed were already known and nothing new was brought to the table. In the end, everyone was unlikable including the coppers who were often portrayed as incompetent and corrupt. On the plus side, the series is over and it should be over for good. Seeing those final credits was indeed a relief.
The final episode of The Gold scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of The Gold can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion at the forum.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.