As the finale of Too Close begins, we see Connie Mortensen (Denise Gough) standing near the fire in her room. While she watches the fire burn, Dr. Emma Robertson (Emily Watson) parties with her friends. Connie is escorted out of the room as the sprinklers drop water onto her. She is taken outside with the others before watching fire trucks arrive. After the brief intro, Addy Smith (Chizzy Akudolu) realizes Connie is missing and immediately starts looking for her. Connie walks away from the group. Meanwhile, Emma tells Dougie (Ariyon Bakare) she suspects her husband is having an affair with a 25-year-old. She is asked what she would tell her younger self and she says have more fun. Dougie says the exact opposite. She also believes she would’ve told herself not to worry about contraceptives.

She mentions her womanly hips which Dougie says he liked. She asks if he is flirting with her and he leans in for a kiss. A phone call interrupts them though. She answers the phone before we see Connie trying to hide from the clinic’s staff. She tries to run for it but falls into a puddle of water and this causes her to remember the night in question. She breaks down after realizing what she has done. An officer gives her a jacket of sorts while we see paramedics working on someone in the back of an ambulance. When Emma arrives at the scene, she learns that Connie has gone missing. She begins looking around and eventually finds Connie hiding in a tree. Connie finally admits that she drove her kids off the bridge. She asks if the kids are going to be okay and learns that they were in induced comas but they’re fine now.

Connie wants to see Annie (Isabelle Mullally) but Emma says that can’t happen. Emma says she is going to call the front desk while Connie threatens to jump from the tree. Emma decides to climb the tree and join Connie who claims she should be dead. Connie says she wants to die. Emma tells her that everyone deserves forgiveness. Emma admits she has done terrible things and that Connie isn’t alone. She wants to tell Connie about this woman who just had a baby. The woman is so happy because she got what she wanted after so many years. As the months go by, she becomes more exhausted because the baby will only sleep one hour at a time. The woman becomes depressed and eventually ashamed of her depression. She is normally a woman who can fix anything but she is failing miserably this time. The woman takes antidepressants and pills to sleep.

She also takes pills to keep her awake. Despite being a toddler now, the baby still doesn’t sleep. Instead, she is having tantrums and the mother hasn’t prepared for this. Another staff member arrives and tells Connie it is time to get down. Next, Emma meets Dr. Evans (Nina Wadia) and asks her about Connie’s medications. Emma wants to know how long she was taking Lorazepam since nobody should take it for more than four weeks. Connie was prescribed them three times over three months. The doctor says everyone is shocked around there but Emma suggests she slipped and no one caught her. When Emma leaves, she visits Connie’s house and introduces herself to Josh (Henry Helm). When Karl (Jamie Sives) comes, he invites Emma in. We see graffiti on the door calling Connie a foul name.

Karl says he is taking toys to the hospital because Ness (Thalissa Teixeira) thought it would be a good idea. He goes on to say Ness has been great through this. They briefly talk about Josh and how everyone is doing. Then, Emma wants to know how Connie seemed in the last few days and the medication she was taking. Karl recommends asking her dad because she was staying with him at the time. He says Connie wasn’t being herself and he didn’t want the kids seeing her like that. He says she was hyper and maniac before he agrees to get a ride from Emma. They agree to visit her father before going to the hospital. James (Karl Johnson) tells them that Connie slept most of the time and didn’t want to be disturbed. When they look at the room where she stayed, Karl breaks down. He is asked to wait downstairs before Emma learns where Connie’s medications were kept.

Emma also finds a notebook in which Connie wrote, “I am not a junkie” over and over. After that, they take the toys to the girls at the hospital. Emma drops off the items and leaves in a hurry. She tries to recollect herself in her vehicle. She leaves and goes to the pub where she meets Kenneth (Adrian Hood). She asks him if he has a good life but he wonders if they know each other. He soon finds out who she is and she apologizes for not warning him she was coming. She confesses she didn’t think she would be able to go through with it. They agree to go outside so Emma can smoke a cigarette. She says someone special she knows asked why the streets are so full of wrecked people. She admits she thinks Connie was right before breaking down. Kenneth tries to comfort her. Emma tells Kenneth he didn’t need to write them because it wasn’t his fault. Kenneth gets in touch with Dougie because he is the last person she called on her phone.

Once Dougie arrives, they agree to get her home. Once Emma returns, Si (Risteard Cooper) is introduced to Dougie. Next, Emma tells Connie she has organized another psych for her. She believes Sarah will be more suitable for her but Connie wants to continue working with Emma. Connie is concerned that Emma is angry with her but Emma says no. She believes Connie deserves someone better than her. Emma is worried they’ll rip her to shreds in court. Connie wants her to get on with it and ask one of her stupid questions. Emma asks why she stopped taking her medication on August 7th. We see a flashback of the funeral for Connie’s mother. She asks about Josh because he hasn’t arrived yet. She checks her phone and learns he is outside the church. Then, she finds a message from Ness inviting her over that night and asking her to delete the message.

After she reads the message, the service for Julia begins. After the service, a drunk Connie serves more alcohol. Ness checks on her and asks if she is fine. Connie tells her she isn’t before getting upset and warning her to piss off. Connie goes upstairs and drinks and takes pills alone. As James sings downstairs, Connie slides down the stairs and invites Annie to go next. Polly (Thea Barrett) tells Karl so he can stop Annie before she tries. He complains that Connie has taken too many pills and someone could’ve cracked their skull open. She apologizes and cries before Karl tells her she needs to get herself together for the kids. He recommends staying with her father for a while. Later, she apologizes to James while resting in bed. He touches her hair and notices it is falling out. She goes to the bathroom and begins cutting her hair with a pair of scissors.

She pours the medications down the toilet and claims she is doing it for the kids. Back in the present, Emma asks Connie why she left her father’s house. Connie tells her about the terrible storm that day and how it didn’t stop raining. Emma begins singing The End of the World and Connie joins her. In another flashback, a groggy Connie gets out of bed. She goes to the kitchen to get aluminum foil so she can block the sun from coming through the windows. Her mental state worsens while her father admits he doesn’t know what to do without his wife. Then, Connie wakes up and imagines bugs are crawling all over her body. She freaks out while desperately trying to remove the bugs from her arms and legs. One night, she begins calling for her mother and telling her she is scared. She imagines she sees her mother outside with the laundry.

She goes for her mother but she keeps moving further and further away from her. She follows her mother back to Karl’s place and finds Ness inside with him. She believes Ness looks at her and this causes her to shake. She grabs something to defend herself before seeing Karl and Ness hugging. This time, Karl looks at her and he looks like a demon or something too. She retrieves the key hidden under the plant nearby and sneaks inside. She wakes up Annie and learns that Josh is at Toby’s house. She tells Annie they need to go and it is a surprise. Annie wants to know if Polly can come as well so Connie agrees to take both. Once they get into the vehicle, Connie says she’ll put on Granny’s song and the girls can go back to bed. The End of the World plays as an exhausted Connie makes it to the closed bridge.

She watches a blue tarp fly from the fence and get stuck on the light post. She looks at it again and it looks like a monster’s face. She quickly reverses the vehicle and nearly slams into the car behind her. When she looks in front of her, she sees her mother walking on the other side of the bridge. Annie wakes up so Connie says it is okay because granny is going to save them. She floors it, runs through the barrier and crashes into the water below. Next, we join Connie in the courtroom. Emma tells the court about the withdrawal process and whether the benzos were incorrectly prescribed in the first place. She lists the drugs Connie was taking at the time of the incident. Emma says it was three days from the accident to her withdrawal and there are other reports of violent behavior during similar withdrawals.

She argues that Connie should’ve been on a gradual withdrawal program and people need a support network when they go through that. They also mention the contributing factors such as her mother’s death and Karl’s relationship with her best friend. Emma is asked about spousal revenge after being told Connie has a motive. Emma doesn’t believe it was a jealous rage since Connie was acting altruistically. In her psychotic state that night, Connie believes she was saving the children from a malevolent force. She goes on to say that her experience and expertise tell her that Connie isn’t making these things up to get away with it. She admits most of her patients wouldn’t scald themselves with hydrochloric acid or go to such lengths. The prosecutor believes this confirms that Connie is still a danger to herself, her family, and society. Emma doesn’t believe so now that Connie is on the correct monitored medication.

She wonders what any of them is capable of given the wrong medication and right triggers. When her testimony is finished, Emma returns home and Si tells her the Foxtons are going to come out tomorrow to value their home. Emma admits she feels like they’ve betrayed their daughter by leaving her behind and moving on. She sits with Si and says there is something she has never told him about that day. In a flashback, Abigail (Madeleine Demetriou) screams about going on the swings as Emma pushes her down the street. Her daughter goes on and on until Emma encounters Jenny and alludes to the fact she isn’t getting sleep. Abigail causes a scene before Emma pushes her away. Emma receives a call and tells her daughter to be quiet. She tells Abigail she has had it with her before slamming the stroller around and taking the call. While she takes the call, the stroller rolls onto the road and gets crushed by the utility vehicle Kenneth is driving.

Back in the present, Emma admits her last words to her daughter were “I’ve had it with you”. Si says Abigail before admitting Emma was right because he never says her name. She says he is right to blame her, but he says he doesn’t blame her. Emma says she doesn’t blame him for having an affair with Savannah. Si explains Adrian’s girlfriend was trying to rope him in to help organize a surprise birthday party for Adrian. They embrace before we see the kite still stuck in the tree. Connie hangs out with Addy and helps with her crossword puzzle. Connie admits she is sick of waiting. Addy offers her a chill pill and Connie tells her she is a bad person. Before long, Connie gets a visit from her daughter who asks if there is an electric chair there. Connie tells her it is not that kind of place. She sends Annie to get treats before approaching Josh. She apologizes for putting him through so much and he tells her she better not do it again.

Emma watches from a distance as they hug. Before long, Emma leaves and visits her newest patient.

 

Too Close Review

The finale of Too Close was the icing on the cake of a truly captivating series. Once again, Emily Watson and Denise Gough proved to be formidable as their respective characters were pushed to their absolute limits. The finale shut the book on the treatment sessions between Emma and Connie with Emma taking a new patient.

I am not sure if I missed something or Connie’s future was left undisclosed but I am not sure the finale told us what would happen to her. There were no twists, turns, or gimmicks but the show closed in a mostly satisfactory manner. Too Close had a few annoyances but these things were mostly fatuous.

If the viewer can overlook these nuisances, they’ll likely enjoy the unique experience of Too Close. Overall, the finale was pretty good but it does feel a bit dull without any real shockers. It scores a 7.5 out of 10. Previous recaps of Too Close are available on Reel Mockery here.