Sally Wainwright has done a brilliant job of bringing Happy Valley back to our screens this year, in a second series that may have at first been plagued by audio issues for much of the audience, but which has managed to maintain an incredible level of integrity, gritty realism and relatability throughout, all whilst allowing a woman to take centre-stage.
Credit: BBC One
Catherine Cawood is that woman, played perfectly by Sarah Lancashire. Honestly I cannot see a single other person in this role, and that's not a dig at the level of British female actors and their talents, but instead a highlight of just how much Lancashire has put herself into this character. She's brought to Cawood an incredible personability with beautifully real and raw moments delivered in a stellar fashion. That continues into the finale, as she deals with tackling a multitude of differing personalities, crimes and precarious situations.
The end of the penultimate episode saw one mystery brought to a close, as it was revealed the person behind the murders of prostitutes was Daryl Garrs (Robert Emms), who divulged everything to his mother Alison (Susan Lynch) before she took justice into her own hands and shot her son dead. Where we pick things up, Catherine and fellow officer Shafiq Shah (Shane Zaza) happen upon the property, with Shah noticing the marks on the red car outside before wandering in and finding Daryl's body, with Alison next to him having taken an overdose of pills and alcohol.
Fortunately, Alison isn't dead and Catherine wastes no time in ensuring that she won't die on her watch, whilst extracting all the information she needs to discover exactly why she decided to end her child's life. What Catherine also finds out is that Victoria Fleming was killed by somebody completely different, who officers realise must have had information on the case in order to exactly replicate the previous victim's conditions.
This acts as the catalyst for the police force to start looking for another person of interest, with Andy Shepherd (Vincent Franklin) beginning to suspect John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle), his colleague. When he tells Jodie Shackleton (Katherine Kelly) of his thoughts, she also gains suspicion, but the pair aren't eager to rush to any conclusions after some of the mess created with the case already.
Though we did see John eventually unearthed as the real killer of Vicky Fleming, he attempted to evade justice by flinging himself off a bridge on top of a car before flopping to the ground. He didn't survive the fall we're told, which we're mostly glad about as his returning for the third series would simply be for show - there's not much else that could be done with his story.
Frances Drummond's (Shirley Henderson) undoing was perhaps the limpest case the series closer had to offer, which is a real shame as it was by far the most interesting thread. We saw her playing with fire and making petrol bombs in episode five and so, when those weapons of destruction were nowhere to be seen in this closer, we instead left her facing a charge of fraud and feeling utterly embarrassed after discovering Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) was engaged to multiple other women. It all fell a little flat.
The showdown that was building up throughout the entire series didn't result in a violent punch-up or a blaze of glory for Frances but instead, a battle of words over a cup of tea that saw Catherine easily gain the upper hand in shaming her opponent. Out on bail and with Tommy finding new hope in his letter from his son Ryan however, Frances could make a reformed return in any future series. Will she lose faith and turn fully-unhinged-psychopath? Only time will tell.
So storylines were neatly tied up in most places, with a couple of things left open so that the show can continue on. Catherine's look of horror as she watched Ryan playing towards the end of the episode was utterly heart-wrenching. As she did her best to understand how a mother could murder their own child, she finally came to terms with exactly what she was dealing with in her grandson. The son of a monster. Which path in life would he choose to take? That was inevitably the question she asked herself before the credits rolled.
Special mentions this series aside from those for Sarah Lancashire must go to Siobhan Finneran who has done a brilliant job of bringing Clare Cartwright to life, Charlie Murphy who's done well in bringing a revitalised Ann Gallagher to the screen and Karl Davies who has taken more of a central role as Daniel Cawood. Kevin Doyle has also been incredible as John Wadsworth, whilst Katherine Kelly, Shirley Henderson, Matthew Lewis, Susan Lynch, Con O'Neill and Amelia Bullmore all brought great performances to the small screen.
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