Wakefield Finale Episode 8 Recap

As the finale of Wakefield begins, we see Nik Katria (Rudi Dharmalingam) standing on the cliff’s edge thinking about Kareena Wells (Geraldine Hakewill). Next, he begins getting ready for his sister’s wedding while remembering hiding in the closet with Dilshan. Then, he arrives at the wedding and walks down the aisle with Renuka (Monica Kumar). Nik looks over and spots Dilshan staring at him. They reach the stage and the wedding ceremony begins. Once they’ve finished, Nik and the others dance to celebrate the occasion. Then, Georgi (Vaishnavi Suryaprakash) and Nik grab a drink while she tells him how great he did during the dancing routine. Renuka interrupts to thank them for helping and dancing before encouraging Nik not to drink too much. Nik’s father Rashaal (Shapoor Batliwalla) takes a picture with his new son. His mother, Jeshna (Nadie Kammallaweera) talks to Uncle Rajah (Monroe Reimers) about Jesus and her religion.

Nik dances with Georgi as it seems she wants more from their relationship. After they stop dancing, Georgi tries to convince Nik to pole dance but he isn’t interested. They sit down with Rashaal who offers them some of his food although they promptly turn it down. Rashaal mentions a woman nearby and explains her husband died. Sanchi (Virginie Laverdure) joins them and tells Nik it is his time to babysit their mother. Georgi believes they should leave her alone, but Sanchi does not. Rashaal wonders what his chances are with the woman he likes. Georgi tells him to give her a clear signal. He does and it seems to work. Nik hears his mother talking to a friend about there only being one God and one Jesus Christ so he interrupts. She tells him that Gita (Veena Sudarshan) was admiring her cross and she was telling her more about it. Nik imagines that his mother gets up, slaps him across the face, and asks what he has done. Then, we see a flashback of her hitting him multiple times as a child.

Nik reminds her that they talked about this before dragging her away to get something to eat. Later, a very intoxicated Georgi sits with Nik and tries to pour herself another drink. She offers him a drink, but Nik needs to remain functional so he can give the speech for his sister. Georgi admits she doesn’t understand why Nik is alone because he deserves to be happy although he says the pursuit of happiness is a lie. When she tells him he is a good person, Nik says he is just a person. Again, she says he is a good person and explains why. She tries to get him to say that he is a good person several times until he gets upset and tells her to let it go. While Uncle Rajah chats with Jeshna, Nik walks around in a trance. He approaches Sanchi to question whether Dilshan tried to follow her and her sister to school that day. He remembers that he used to put his little feet in his oversized school shoes and Reni said he used to cry when they left for school each day.

Nik wonders if he tried to follow them to school that day and he fell in the water, but she reminds him that he drowned in the bath. He insists he didn’t know before asking where their mother was. Reni and her new husband approach. He pulls her away so they can dance. Georgi comes back to ask Nik if he is playing hard to get although he denies doing so. She tries to convince him to just let it go and suggests he wants to pole dance. She takes another swig of wine before sitting down with Reni to complain about Nik’s behavior toward her. Reni’s new husband asks Nik to lighten up a bit because he is upsetting Reni. Then, Rashaal encourages his son to call a taxi and make sure Georgi gets home safe although Nik doesn’t believe it is his responsibility. Nik tries to get his father to tell him what happened to Dilshan that day and accuses him of lying to him. Rashaal denies it.

He doesn’t understand why Nik is doing this during his sister’s wedding. Renuka gets upset with Nik because he has said something to hurt Georgi who is her best friend. They try to get Nik to take her home again, but he refuses. Once they leave, Nik goes to the DJ to tell him the music is inappropriate and repetitive while Georgi begins pole dancing. Sanchi asks what he is doing. Nik immediately says he thought Dilshan drowned in the river and they won’t tell him what is going on. He feels like something bad happened and he saw it. Sanchi says it did because their mother left Dilshan in the bath and he drowned. She was so messed up by what she did that she didn’t want to live anymore. Reni’s husband tells him not to ruin the wedding for her. Georgi dances on the pole while Nik approaches his mother in hopes of finding out what happened.

Nik continues screaming trying to find out what he saw that day although nobody is going to tell him. Georgi causes the pole to fall and the tent collapses as a result. As Nik leaves the wedding, he runs into Ivy (Megan Smart) who says she is doing great. She is still seeing Dr. Wells although she recently stood her up. She checks on him to make sure he is okay. Nik says he has family stuff going on and refuses to sit down for a coffee with Ivy. When Nik leaves, we see a bunch of people tap dancing. He enters Wakefield Hospital and surprises Collette (Felicity Ward) and Linda (Mandy McElhinney). In the locker room, Nik tells Collette how Reni’s husband kicked him out of the wedding because he asked too many questions. When she questions what he asked about, Nik tells her not to worry about it. She reveals Omar (Richie Miller) is getting better since he is making eye contact now.

Then, Nik tries to visit Kareena only to learn from Rohan (Pacharo Mzembe) that she has taken leave. Trevor (Harry Greenwood) interrupts to show Nik the picture he made for Nadia before Rohan tells Nik she’ll be gone until Friday. Nik tells Trevor to come see him later. Next, we see Linda working with Omar. Nik approaches and learns that Linda swapped with Pete so she should treat Omar. He tells her to go and he’ll take care of it. We see Kareena running. She stops by the water and we see that she is on vacation with David (Henry Nixon). She tries to call Nik but he doesn’t answer. Linda notices although she doesn’t say anything. Collette asks Nik if he noticed what she was talking about with Omar. He admits he didn’t. Nik looks at Linda and wonders whether she enjoys Omar’s state of dependency because she can control him. Linda walks by and nobody says anything. Collette asks if he wants to go back to the wedding to try to fix things, but Nik says no.

Seconds later, Cath (Victoria Haralabidou) watches Nik as he messes around with the few remaining puzzle pieces. She approaches Nik and warns him that Tessa (Bessie Holland) doesn’t like it when other people touch the puzzle pieces. When Trevor approaches to ask if he can send a text message, Cath checks her notebook and reminds him that he already sent ten messages this week. They get into an argument because Cath doesn’t believe she is interested in Trevor. Nik has to jump in and defuse the situation. Nik takes him outside so they can do pushups. He tells Trevor to stay there and kill out. After Nik leaves, Genevieve (Harriet Dyer) asks Trevor what is going on and he explains he only wanted to send a message to a friend. He shows her his butterfly drawing and suggests she is into him although Gene wonders if that is just what he wants. She believes the woman isn’t into him since she hasn’t been responding to his messages.

When Trevor says she just needs to him a chance, Gene argues Trevor isn’t seeing things as they are. She encourages him not to make the same mistakes she did. He asks if she wants the drawing and she says sure. Before he leaves, he asks if she is still up for it although she says no. Nik visits Cath who complains that she is only trying to help people. She claims she sees things that they don’t and she doesn’t know how to make them listen. Pete Seaman (Sam Simmons) asks if they’re going to get down in the bathroom and Nik overhears him. Nik tries to get Pete to help but he isn’t much help at all. He wonders where Linda could be. We see that Linda is reporting Nik to one of the higher-ups. Tessa and James (Dan Wyllie) find out that someone helped with the puzzle and she doesn’t seem too happy about it.

James manages to calm her down and convince her to just finish the puzzle. While Nik continues trying to help Cath, he spots Linda returning through the window. Cath reluctantly lets Nik look at her notebook. He finds a log of Omar’s ECT visits including the time he went, when he returned, and who took him. Soon, he learns from Cath that Linda has been taking Omar to ECT for a long time. Nik decides to confront her about it right away. He wants to know what is in it for her, but she doesn’t know what he is talking about. He asks what it is in it for her to keep Omar in a helpless state and why she has been taking him to ECT. She says she does it because she cares although Nik accuses her of not taking him to ECT at all. He knows how twisted she is and believes she would be capable of doing something like that. Next, Nik takes Omar up to the cliff’s edge. He waits a moment and Omar begins tapping his foot on his wheelchair. We see he is wearing tap dancing shoes.

Before long, he is standing and they begin tap dancing together. Nik sits next to Omar’s bed and tells him he loves him and won’t let him down. Linda talks to Collette and admits she doesn’t understand how Nik could think something like that. She says she cares for Omar like he is her own although Collette reminds her that he isn’t her son. She doesn’t respond before leaving. Cath finds Nik to tell him that one of the puzzle pieces has gone missing and Tessa is very upset. Nik gets Collette to watch Omar while he tries to solve the puzzle piece problem. James and Tessa tell Nik that they’re missing the last piece of the puzzle. They wonder if the cleaners might’ve got it. Then, they watch as Nik tears through the furniture, looks through the plants, and desperately searches for the puzzle piece. As he begins looking through the vacuum cleaner debris, Tessa and James try to get him to calm down. Collette believes she sees light in Omar’s eyes and notices he is blinking and moving his eyes.

He tries to say something to her. She believes he is thirsty and says she’ll go get him a drink. When she tries to tell Nik, she finds him frantically searching for the puzzle piece as the others try to calm him down. James repeatedly asks him what is wrong, but Nik isn’t going to stop searching for it. He asks Collette to check the CCTV footage. Collette tries to get help although Rohan isn’t in his office. Cath knows where he is. She finds him in the bathroom playing video games and forces him to come help Nik. Linda, Rohan, Cath, and the others approach Nik and try to find out what is going on. Cath believes he knows who took the puzzle piece since he was messing with the puzzle earlier. He curses at her before Linda tells him not to do that. He tries to attack her and ends up assaulting Pete while Linda phones for assistance. Trevor goes after Nik in hopes of calming him down. Instead, he grabs Nick, pushes him in the bathroom, and locks him inside.

He bangs on the door demanding to be left out. When he turns around, he sees Dilshan looking over the bathtub. Collette calls for help and lets them hear Nik screaming to be let out. Nik gets into the bathtub to begin showering as we see a flashback of him with Dilshan in the bathroom. Both are in the bathtub listening to the radio which sits on a table next to them. A young Nik begins tap dancing in the bathroom. In the present, Nik believes the room is quickly filling with water and he is going to drown. Once the room is nearly filled with water, a flashback shows a young Nik spinning around and knocking the radio into the water killing Dilshan. Jeshna runs into the bathroom to find out what has happened. A young Nik runs away to hide while his mother carries Dilshan’s body in hopes of getting help. Nik’s sisters search through the night. They find him in the field without a shirt wearing his tap dancing shoes.

Kareena arrives at Wakefield and rushes into the bathroom with Nik. She comforts him as he begins sobbing. Later, the patients and staff watch Nik as he is led out of the hospital on a gurney. After things calm down, Linda leaves Wakefield, pulls the puzzle piece out of her pocket, and throws it into the grass nearby. Kareena sings to Nik and holds his hand while he recovers in a hospital bed. At Wakefield, James and Tessa start another puzzle while Cath continues logging stuff in her notebook. Trevor and Omar sit in front of the television together. Kareena finishes singing and asks Nik to wake up. He does just before the episode ends.

 

Wakefield Review

Although the finale left many doors open, it was still one of the best episodes of the season. Unfortunately, it felt like a standalone episode and could’ve easily have been a movie instead of a television series. While the finale was successful in many regards, it felt a bit disconnected from the previous episodes. It just didn’t feel like it was following in line with everything that had happened before the finale.

There was nothing mentioned of James leaving and taking Tessa with him, Raff, Baz, or some of the other patients. Another issue I had with the finale was the drawn-out wedding. It went on a bit too long considering more time could’ve been dedicated to Wakefield’s patients instead. Still, the finale was the best episode of the season because we finally found out what happened and it was emotionally effective.

I still believe Wakefield could’ve been a much better drama with a few tweaks, less confusing time jumps, repeated scenes, and more character detail. It is likely one of those shows people will either love or hate, and I can see why people would be on either side of the aisle. The finale scores a 7.5 out of 10. All Wakefield recaps are now available on Reel Mockery here.