Happy Valley Theories ***Warning: may contain spoilers***

Two BAFTA winning performances there, I think. I felt wrung out at the end. It was fairly obvious he was going to set fire to something when he took the petrol can but I wasn’t expecting that! And when she walked out of the cemetery she really did look as if she’d had a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.

And the script! Sally Wainwright really knows her stuff. That scene between Catherine and Claire…

“There’s tea in t’pot, but you won’t want it.” And when Catherine poured herself a cup we knew right away that all would be well between the two of them.

Can I add another Greyduster? Clare’s anxious movements and facial expressions in Nev’s kitchen conveyed a whole nuanced story without words.
Masterful.
Every one was masterful and the controlled writing superb.

Iam64

It was a brilliant finale to what has been a brilliant series.
Sally Wainwright knows people doesn’t she. She gives older Lancashire women and the Lancashire countryside the starring roles they deserve.
Good triumphed over evil, in the end . I liked the superintendent’s underplayed recognition of Catherine’s local knowledge
Also -his response to Catherine asking who’s going to look after those two little girls. Their granny he said, in fact, there are two grannies. Full circle, grannies to the rescue

That's pretty much what the reviewer in the Guardian said, too:

'Catherine breaking off from tearing a strip of Ryan to make sure his tea doesn't spoil'

It was so good. I loved that even as she was handing in her uniform she was solving the mystery of the drugs. How are the Hebden Bridge place going to manage without her?

I'm pleased that she made up with Claire, and most of all that Ryan came out of it all so well - both his 'grannies' there for him, and no sign that Nature had triumphed over Nurture.

How are the Hebden Bridge place going to manage without her?. They’ll stop chasing t***s and start chasing alien life forms instead!

Maggiemaybe

It was a perfect ending imho. All loose ends duly tied. I’m so glad Sally Wainwright wasn’t tempted to finish it all off with a Wild West type shoot out. The acting was superb.

Yes, me too.

What a conversation between the two main protagonists!
No Wild West dramatics but far, far better and so emotional.

Would Tommy had been a different person had he had a different early life?
Nature or nurture?

I think he would have been a different person. At one stage last night I even started to feel a bit sorry for him. Until he told Catherine that he forgave her!

It was brilliant !!
Amazing acting !!
Awards all round I hope!!

By the way it is West Yorkshire not Lancashire !!

Catherine will finally get a new scarf and will ask Ryan what he want's for tea.

Claire will ask everyone "Are you stoppin"

It was amazing. Good plot, great acting.
Loved that Tommy told her Darius was a murderer and Gary, the victim, was the one that had bitten Catherine and was the body found at the beginning of the series.
Ah and Ryan showed he was nothing like his dad. Sally Wainwright is such a great writer.

Didn't get the mode of death right or all those other murders but maybe my idea was one of the other endings lol
Didn't see why people thought Neil was his Dad so didn't go down that road
I'm fine with the thought that the teacher is getting what he deserves, and that the pharmacist will be caught. Don't need to see it happen, it would have taken the spotlight off the denouement with Tommy and Catherine and the retirement quietly happening

Greyduster

^How are the Hebden Bridge place going to manage without her?^. They’ll stop chasing t***s and start chasing alien life forms instead!

I think I'll give that series a miss.

(obviously that should have been 'police')

Very interesting and shocking ending from a brilliant scriptwriter who really understands human behaviour and expresses it in a subtle manner. The acting was superb. What a pity we are now getting the nonsense of the Portofino programme which looks so beautiful but offers little in the way of decent scriptwriting being both wooden and cheesy at the same time.

Well I haven’t watched any of it as I really don’t like crime dramas or depictions of violence. However, I’m a big fan of James Norton and following the mass excitement over this latest series I might venture onto IPlayer and give it a go.

2020convert

With TLR out of Catherine’s life for good, but hope she’s not left traumatised! Ryan will come good, I hope.

Well I thought it superb! Just as I wanted.

Just shows how pointless it is to second guess 😂

It was absolutely superb. The script was so true to life in so far as the home conversations went. I loved the fact that they didn't end it in the expected way and yes, I was starting to feel sympathy until he said he forgave her. What a fanattsic outburst by Catherine. Just brilliant, I shall miss it so much.

Fantastic ending, just loved the fact he saw how good Catherine had been in giving his son a good life, the fact he was actually grateful to her even though he failed to accept how awful he was. Absolutely brilliant.

Susieq62

By the way it is West Yorkshire not Lancashire !!

Well said!👍 Get fed up of everyone getting everywhere wrong Oop here!

Maggiemaybe

“I might have singed one of your crochet throws”.

Catherine’s one liners 😍
I’ve got a throw like the one on the back of her chair that she had forty winks in.

What a cracking ending that was!

Eh up - it’s 8 miles west of Halifax and 14 miles n.e of Rochdale. So I have to reluctantly accept Yorkshire has it. BUT the Lancashire countryside starred, as did a cafe in Bolton, where people are now going to have their photograph taken at That Table.

And Catherine/Sarah was born in Oldham, Last Tango used Bolton School as the place she worked. Sally Wainwright knows the north and northern women

She also knows psychopaths. Tommy had a go at pretending normal but challenged, he reverted to narcissistic pyschyo.

Nature - nurture debate continues

Loved every moment, even those I watched through my fingers, on mute.

Sally Wainwright knows the north. Aye but she doesn’t know there isn’t a prison in Sheffield - at least, I can’t find one! But I’ll forgive her anything after last night’s episode!