‘Happy Valley’ Recap: ‘Season 3, Episode 1’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Three Premiere of ‘Happy Valley’. This article also contains discussions regarding domestic violence and abuse, which may be triggering to some individuals.
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More often than not, the final season premiere of any particular show, tends to be quite epic and foreboding in nature. Mainly because… this is it. The grand finale. So why not go big from the get-go and lead to something quite epic and quite explosive? That way the audience gets to enjoy quite the ride and it sets the stage for quite the farewell tour, and truly, audiences enjoy this and have no qualms with it. But every now and then, you run into a show that is eager to mix things up and offer an opening chapter to a goodbye season that is simply not the norm. All so a different kind of story can be told, a more intimate one if you will, and that’s precisely why the season three premiere of Happy Valley is of note.

Simply because, it wasn’t full of bombastic moments and epic revelations that dropped our jaw, it was just a story… about a police officer preparing to bid farewell to their own career. For when we catch up with Sergeant Catherine Cawood in this story, years have passed since the harrowing events of the second season and well… she’s nearing retirement and truly thinking about the wonders that await her in that next phase of her life. To the point where she bought a truck that will let her tour the Himalayas so she can hike up there and be one with nature and life was also fine at home. After all, Ryan, was enjoying a normal life… one filled with all the ups and downs that a teenager endures and that really did help Catherine to believe that she could just walk away and live her life.

In fact, even the big case she was working on in this tale… was a touch lower key than we’ve seen on this series. Since she encountered a strange drug ring courtesy of an annoying coach that struggled to get along with Ryan. Since that coach… had a broken family life of his own doing. Because Rob was abusive toward his wife Joanna in every way imaginable, to the point where bruises were visible and to where… she was doing everything to check out of her daily life. Courtesy of a nearby neighbor who was also a pharmacist, named Faisal, and well… he was simply working to sell drugs on the side to make a little more money and that of course… brought trouble to his life since there are gangsters that want in on the action and because… Rob opted to call the cops when he discovered his wife had drugs in hand. Giving rise to a rough ride for Faisal, one that has put him on a collision course with Catherine. 

But with this being a final season… there was an epic setup that took place, one that was of a far more intimate manner though. Simply because… this universe isn’t done with Tommy Lee Royce. Since there was the discovery of a body that was tied to him, bringing him back into the fold to uncover more of his crimes and going that route and properly reintroducing us to him was a stroke of genius.. Simply because his return and another surprise, raised the stakes for Catherine in a unique manner, since we also came to learn… that Ryan finally took the time to visit his father in jail. A revelation that stunned Catherine to no end and will obviously force her to grapple with the reality that there’s no escaping Tommy and one way or another… she will have to reconcile that which she attempted to lock away.

Which seems to imply, that the final season of this brilliant show is going to focus heavily on wrapping up the emotional arc that started back in 2014. One that has haunted Catherine for ages on end, and that is going to make a for a powerful final season of storytelling. One that will force Catherine and her family to grapple with the reality that perhaps they cannot keep Ryan from interacting with the monster that is his father and how one reconciles that and the pain of the past. All of which, fits perfectly with the dynamic of this series and this premiere. Because this has always been a different kind of police serial, one that finds a way to offer depth and what better way to bring it to a close… than with a story that forces the past and the present to collide as one chapter of Catherine’s life comes to a close. Until next time.  

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