Seven years after the second season, the double BAFTA-winning British drama Happy Valley wraps up its final season. Blonde policewoman Catherine Kenwood (Sarah Lancashire) is nearing retirement. The ten-year-old grandson Ryan (Rhys Connor) in the last season has turned into a wonderful 16-year-old boy in the blink of an eye.
"Happy Valley" Season 3 Poster
Kenwood, the street heroine in uniform, the repressed mech warrior, is smarter and sharper than the higher-ranking male undercover detectives, but she has her own demons. The first two seasons told us about her tragedy: her daughter was raped, and after giving birth to a baby boy, she committed suicide at the age of 18. Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the murderer, narcissist, and sociopath who killed his daughter, has been locked up in prison. But he lingered, triumphant, and waited for an opportunity to counterattack. Grieving Grandma Kenwood goes into a state of stress again when she learns that her grandson Ryan has started visiting the devil's biological father. In this season, she has been in this state of countdown to the time bomb will explode. She is more tired, irritable, and sharp than before. She is also like a beast in an existential crisis, with more sensitive intuition and faster action. Whatever happened, Catherine Kenwood hadn't lost her compassion.
Stills of the third season of "Happy Valley"
Screenshot of the third season of "Happy Valley"
When Kenwood apprehended murderous mother Alison (Susan Lynch) seven years ago, she murmured the police notice as if she were reciting a prayer, and hugged the desperate mother (who discovered her son was a serial killer) Killer, so kill him), no on-screen policeman has this kind of tenderness.
"Happy Valley" is so unforgettable, people still miss Catherine Kenwood and her world seven years later, because this character is so charming. And Kate Winslet's policewoman in "Mare of Easttown" (Mare of Easttown) belongs to the same hang, Catherine Kenwood is also a low-level policeman in uniform, a grandmother in middle age, strong, capable, unkempt, scars And wrinkles are glorious decoration. They have been patrolling the streets, familiarizing themselves with the inhabitants and climate of the area under their jurisdiction. In the day-to-day grind of police work, the blond beauty ages and inevitably crosses paths with the criminal world.
Sin seeped into Kenwood's world like a cold mist. After her daughter died, she adopted her grandson, which led to her divorce from her husband. The branch line of this season is the murder of the wife of the physical education teacher of grandson Ryan, another female death due to abuse, fear and greed.
Sadness casts a long shadow. For so many years, Kenwood had been waiting to face Tommy Lee Royce (despite his life sentence). She continued to work, with a tough style and a soft heart. I was impressed by the flora outside her home. At the end of the alley, she used potted plants to form a space enclosed on three sides, and placed a small table and two chairs. The plants cast beautiful light and shadows, and this is where she and her sister Claire (Siobhan Finneran) sit and chat at the beginning of the season. The police station invited a yoga teacher to give lessons to the police officers. Kenwood said with a cold face that he farted after the class and made a negative contribution to the control of carbon emissions.
This flora is like a reflection of life in Kenwood. At the end of the alley surrounded by cold outer walls is her bottom line, full of life. She always sits in that position tiredly, but never gets knocked down. Here, her unique sense of humor comes to life. The accumulated energy even allowed her to play pranks on Tommy's extreme anxiety, teasing her weak colleagues who believed in the existence of aliens.
Stills of the third season of "Happy Valley"
Catherine Kenwood is no hero. But she's not an anti-hero, nor is she the troubled male police officer she often is on screen. She is the person you most wish to be around you, and the world will be better with her. Of course, she has her flaws. Because he is stronger than those around him (including his peers), and because the grief of losing his daughter is too difficult to digest, Kewood has a very low tolerance for weakness. Claire said to herself that she took Ryan to visit Tommy in prison because she couldn't stand the 16-year-old boy's repeated begging, and because Claire knew that Ryan had made up his mind to know his biological father, and no one could stop him. , and let him make his own judgment.
This is the only way for adults. Although Ryan chose the more dangerous way, he is already 16 years old and cannot live his whole life under the concealment and protection of his grandmother. Kenwood was so angry when she heard the news that common sense slipped out of her clever mind. She flew into a fit of rage and said very outrageous things to Claire. She hated Claire for being weak, and denied all the kindness and wisdom contained in it.
A character like Kenwood, although written by a female writer/director Sally Wainwright and played by an actress born in 1964, may seem like a triumph of feminism, but the character never mentions "feminism". ” and any tagged buzzwords. She scoffs at these things, because she is a strong person and has abundant sympathy for the suffering of others, so there is no need for these "isms" to add glory to herself and provide a guide for behavior.
She hated Tommy so much that she couldn't see Tommy's true love for Lane, or even her prematurely dead daughter Betsy (Emily Barnett), as others could, despite being narcissistic and possessive. A love that wants to pollute.
Stills of the third season of "Happy Valley"
For most of the season, Kenwood and Tommy were kept far apart. Their hatred for each other permeates the air around them, making the already difficult lives of others even harder. Finally, the two met by mistake, and each got the desired ending. Kenwood will not, and the audience will not forget the brutal and anti-social Tommy, like a wronged child, complaining to Kenwood: "But you beat me to death at that time."
Kenwood, who hated him deeply, had a crack in his heart. Seeing the misfortune and humanity of this devil, he was surprised that he also had the ability to love and compassion. After showing such a rare side of human nature in such a complex cloud, Tommy crashed into the end of his own story.
Kenwood also ushered in Thursday's retirement day and the end of the show. Colleagues ate and drank at her farewell party, and she carried a small cardboard box as she walked down the hallway, leaving the hustle and bustle behind.
In the "Happy Valley" trilogy, the various depressive situations that Kewood passed through are still vivid. Political corruption, rampant gangs, drug overdose; police force is never enough, judiciary is full of loopholes. Physical and mental abuse always exist in the family where public power cannot touch. Weak people die of various reasons, and the strong will inevitably have their hearts broken.
After retirement, she will drive to the Himalayas to challenge the curse that "police officers usually don't live for five years after retirement". She'll go from Kate Winslet's Mel ("East Side Nightmare") to Frances McDormand on the road ("No Country"). The afterglow of their lives is warmer than the noon sun of others.
