As the finale of The Responder begins, Chris (Martin Freeman) gets up and speaks to Kate (MyAnna Buring) about how he slept. Tilly (Romi Hyland-Rylands) tells them she loves it there. Kate tells Chris she’s happy for him. Tilly tries on the dress. Franny Sutton (Adam Nagaitis) arrives at the door and learns that it’s Tilly’s holy communion today. Chris isn’t happy to see him. Franny claims he’s there to fill the hole in the kitchen. He speaks to Chris in private and learns he’s staying there. Franny warns him the hole will be in his head if he ever lets him down. Chris passes him a hammer so he can make a hole. Casey (Emily Fairn) frantically changes her clothes and flees. Rachel (Adelayo Adedayo) approaches Lorna who doesn’t want to see her.

Rachel explains she locked her in because she didn’t want her to run back to Steve. She admits Steve is stuck in her head before apologizing for what happened. Lorna says Steve isn’t there and he’s not coming back. Jodie (Faye McKeever) drops off Lexie. She is approached by a man who wants to know what she’ll give to have Casey. Jodie says she’ll do anything if Franny gets her Casey. Franny learns that Jodie is in. He tells his man to spread the word to everyone. Casey goes to the police station and learns Chris won’t be there until ten. She decides to wait anyway. Chris arrives at the communion and learns Father Liam just arrived before him. Tom says hello and gives Chris the prayer book from his first communion. A man sees Casey at the police station and sends word to Franny’s people. Raymond (Warren Brown) arrives at the church and sits next to Kate.

Mad talks to Marco (Josh Finan) about the flat. She apologizes for not being around. Marco asks if she’ll help because they could put Adele in care. Mad spoke to Dave and he wasn’t happy. Dave understands though. She says Marco is her brother so Dave gets that, but Marco has to come with her to Runcorn. Father Liam is drunk at the communion. Chris pulls him away for a chat. Liam tells him there’s peace in giving in to who you are. Raymond tells Kate he needs to speak to her about Chris. Then, Kate approaches Chris to say she knows he got the day job with Deb because of drugs. Kate says they’re going to London because Chris isn’t fit to be a father right now. Chris says she’s not leaving. Kate tells him to try and stop her. Chris asks to speak to Ray in private.

He throws him into a side room and beats him up. When Chris steps out, Tom asks if he twat him. Tom tells him well done. Franny is outside waiting for Chris. He asks Chris about Casey. She will be Chris’s first job because someone Franny knows wants to slap her. Chris learns Casey is waiting for him to pick her up at the office. Chris says okay. Barry (Mark Womack) tells Jodie he knows she has the stash from the lockup. He wants to come back in and knows he messed up. Jodie tells him she might need him once they find Casey. Chris gets Casey and puts her in his police car. She reveals Jodie found out Carl died because of her. Chris knew this would happen. Rachel joins them seconds later. One of Franny’s guys checks the police station. When he doesn’t see Casey, he thinks Chris has screwed them.

Franny leaves Deb to call Chris and leave a message. He warns Chris he’s dead if this isn’t some kind of mix-up. Jodie and Ian barge into Marco’s flat to ask where Chris has taken Casey. Jodie says he’s responsible since he brought Casey into her house. She wants Marco to call the second he knows anything. Chris tells Rachel about Franny and that he might’ve screwed himself this time. They get a call about an abscond from care. Marco looks at his messages with Martika. It appears he’s agreed to come to Runcorn. Chris thinks he knows where Damian is. Damian tells them his mom is an addict with mental health issues. He can’t get fostered so he’s stuck in a privately run home that he describes as a Russian zoo. Damian is adamant he’s going to London. Chris tells him he doesn’t have money for a ticket so he has to go home.

He offers him a burger and fries first though. At the restaurant, Damian tells Casey everyone is looking for her. Rachel asks if they can just take him back. Chris says no one wants him. He goes on to say Damian’s life is screwed just like Casey’s. Rachel says they’re not doing that because they’re going to sort it out. They take Damian to the children’s house while a van stops outside. Chris ends up taking Damian’s phone and learning he just got a deposit. He hears Casey yelling so he rushes outside. He gets thrown into the back of the van with Casey and hit a few times. Rachel learns seconds later. Damian admits he told on them because he needs to get to London. Rachel can’t get in touch with Chris. She visits Deborah Barnes (Amaka Okafor) to tell her about it. Jodie has Casey pulled out of the van. Chris claims it was his fault Carl died so he’s pulled out too.

Deb decides to call Franny and try to sort it out, but she can’t get in touch with him. She tells Rachel that Franny won’t hurt him. Deb knows she should’ve never gotten Chris involved, but she just needed the phone back. Rachel pleads with her to think of something. Chris tells Jodie that Carl asked him to get Casey and he didn’t. He had the bag of gear and should’ve given it back. Jodie says it doesn’t matter because they’re both going to die there tonight. Franny says no because he wants Chris alive. When she says this is what she wants, Franny says it’ll cost more than money. He suggests her shop. Jodie says fine. Rachel and Debs manage to find out more about Carl and Ian. Rachel messages Ian to ask him about Jodie and Chris. Franny tries to give Jodie a hammer and let her kill them.

Ian walks away and tells Rachel that they’re at Ashmore Hill Farm. Franny tells Jodie what she needs to do. Chris tries to talk Jodie out of doing it. He yells at her to kill him because he got his best friend killed. Barry says he’ll do it. He grabs the hammer and hits Chris once. Franny calls them amateurs. He tells Jodie he’ll be around in the morning to pick up the keys. He asks them to cut Casey loose and give him Chris’s keys. Casey runs. Franny tells Chris he was told to take care of his tools so they’ll take care of him. He says he’ll see Chris around. Casey calls Marco because she wants to see him. Marco says he’s moving to Runcorn to make a better future for Adele. He asks Casey to come with him. Marco says there won’t be any messing around or drugs. Casey asks which train he’s getting.

Rachel arrives to pick up Chris. He talks to her about wanting to work on a trawler. Rachel says she changed her mind because it’s too cold. She only ever wanted to be a bobby. Rachel is going to go do the job about Steve and attacking him the other night. Once they go back, Chris tells Rachel that he’s out and he’s going to leave. Rachel tries to convince him to take a week off and think it through. Chris asks her to put his badge on Phil’s desk with a note that he’ll call him in a week. He knows they won’t want to hear the truth about Steve. Chris tells her to just do the job and do it properly. Casey catches up with Marco on the train. She doesn’t tell him where she’s been. They talk about going to Runcorn. Casey goes to get them something to snack on. Rachel speaks to Detective Younger to report a case of domestic violence.

She says she’s the victim. Marco worries the train is going to leave without Casey. He steps off briefly and learns she isn’t leaving. Marco jumps back on and leaves without her. Chris calls Kate to say he’s sorry in a message. He visits his father.

 

The Responder Review

This series of The Responder had many strong scenes, but it went out with a whimper. The way the finale ended made the whole thing feel like a nothing burger and really made this season of The Responder seem just like everything else. Achieving so little in the finale made the episode feel like an attempt to just get another series without attempting to satisfy viewers.

In reality, the series should just end here because the finale would be stronger as a final conclusion. Chris would be off the force so he wouldn’t be beneficial to Franny or anyone else. Marco would move to Runcorn and live a better life for Adele. Kate and Tilly can move to London and move past Chris who may visit occasionally. Casey would likely continue down the wrong path until she eventually kills herself or ends up dead by someone else’s hand.

The finale did have some strong points much like the rest of the series, but it fell apart when it needed to be at its best. Tom had many strong scenes and was easily one of the most sympathetic characters of the series despite being present very little. Although it was just getting started, Marco’s redemption arc was good as well. The ending scene with Rachel was emotionally effective even if it was a bit rushed.

As for the bigger story, it really amounted to nothing unlike the first series which was willing to take risks. This isn’t a series to take seriously and never was, but it still had some strong, humorous, and even emotional moments. The same can be said for series one and two, but series one managed to pull everything together in the end and conclude on a high note. Series two failed in that regard leaving a taste of disappointment that overshadows anything good the series had to offer.

The people Chris and Rachel encountered were always more interesting than Chris and Rachel. A series just focusing on those people would likely be more interesting and hard-hitting than all the corruption stories that ended up going nowhere.

The finale scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Responder can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss The Responder at the Reel Mockery Forum.