Director: Andrew Gunn
Cast: David Morrissey (Danny Brogan), Lucy Cohu (Evelyn Brogan), Felicity Jones (Zoë Brogan), Harry Treadaway (Mark Brogan), Ralph Brown (Bernard Wintersgill), Nina Sosanya (Samantha Campbell), Melanie Hill (Brenda Ogilvie), Ella Smith (Jezebel Ogilvie), Tristan Gemmill (Dr David York), Don Gilet (Freddie Marcuse), Scot Williams (Tom Tyrell), Emma Davies (Abigail York)
Danny launches a desperate plan to escape Meadowlands with his family, as Dr York becomes increasingly unhinged towards Evelyn…When Cape Wrath began in the UK, it started with a feature-length installment of Episodes 1 and 2, seemingly designed as a little treat to get viewers hooked. Now, six weeks later, we have another feature-length installment of Episodes 7 and 8 to wrap up the show. Only now, it's doesn't seem like much of a treat…
Episode 7, written by Christopher Dunlop, focuses on the character of Dr David York (Tristan Gemmill) and his infatuation with Evelyn Brogan (Lucy Cohu). Here, he uses his knowledge of her husband's infertility to blackmail her into having sex with him back at his surgery, spurred on by the fact his own marriage to Abigail (Emma Davies) is going down in flames.
As far as performances go, Episode 7 contains some good work from Gemmill as the unhinged doc, while Lucy Cohu puts in her best work of the series. As is typical of Cape Wrath in general, the commitment of its actors often diverts attention from the limp plots and on-the-nose weirdness. Gemmill and Cohu can't turn a pig's ear into a silk purse, but the dramatic moments between there are nicely acted and ill-deserved by the show at large.
It's frustrating how Cape Wrath only now decides to show us the back-story to a significant character like Dr York, while recent episodes chose to focus on bit-part players like golfer Tom Tyrell. I can't help think that if the show had focused more on the main performers earlier in the series, viewer may have felt less jerked around.
Ella Smith also makes more of an impression here as Jezebel Ogilvie, whose presence has been constant throughout the series, but rarely expanded upon since her "shocking" entrance in Episode 1. Her physicality certainly makes her difficult to ignore, but it's a shame she was so poorly utilized, as she's more enigmatic than those whooshing overhead shots of Meadowlands' golf course.
Episode 7 is very plodding for a penultimate episode and, while it's interesting to finally get some context on Dr York's weird behaviour, only the acting from Lucy Cohu ensures you'll keep watching. Cohu hasn't been able to fashion a truly three-dimensional character, thanks to the one-note writing, but she excels with the two-dimensions she's been given: that of a tortured, harassed housewife.
So, we move onto the final episode, written by creator Robert Murphy, who seems to be eager to wrap up some of the series' plot-strands. It smacks of last-minute jitters over the likelihood of a second season (I'm not holding my breath, are you?), bit it could just be indicative of the show's bad pacing. In Episode 8, Murphy finds himself with an hour to end the series, when he really needs two to do it justice.
As everyone predicted from the very start, the last episode indeed concerns the Brogans trying to escape their "prison" of Meadowlands, although they each take some persuading from patriarch Danny (David Morrissey). Kook son Mark (Harry Treadaway) has started having sex with Jezebel, after being spurned by her middle-aged mother Brenda (Melanie Hill) -- although fireworks refuse to fly when Jezebel discovers who her mum's toy boy is, weirdly and annoyingly.
Episode 8 spends a fair amount of time exploring Brenda's character (another person being given context five episodes too late). Melanie Hill is good throughout and the flashbacks to her past, with a murdering husband and frumpy lifestyle, work well enough to explain her current garish dress sense and false enthusiasm. But, as I say, it's all coming too late in the game!
It would have been better to focus entirely on the Brogans for the final episode. We needed some definitive answers about their pre-Meadowlands trauma, their house fire, Mark's burned hands and the exact background to creepy Ormond... but no such luck. It all still remains quite vague, so maybe Murphy really is holding back on us until season 2? Or he's forgotten to tie-up his own plot strands?
Anyway, Danny's escape plan is a real brainwave: get the entire town drunk at the grand midnight opening of his bar. He seems to have forgotten that all the surveillance is done my people who don't mix with the residents, back at the creepy motel, under the guidance of Samantha (Nina Sosanya). But it must have slipped his mind, because now he thinks just getting Freddie (Don Gilet) and Wintersgill (Ralph Brown) hammered is his family's ticket out of there.
Incidentally, I may have missed something, but I never actually realized Danny was decorating a bar! All this time I thought he was in his garage painting the walls. Oh well, it either wasn't made clear even after 8 episodes, or my eyes had obviously glazed over when that plot detail was mentioned.
Anyway, Danny's plan is painfully transparent to lawman Wintersgill, who consequently plans to stay resolutely sober at the knee's up. Danny's handler Samantha is also apprised of the situation and fully expects the Brogans to make a run for it. Although leaving Meadowlands isn't something anyone's ever achieved, as first resident Tom Tyrell can testify to. And you'd better listen to quirky Tom, who likes to use a golf tee as a toothpick and never, ever takes his golfing glove of. Even in bed.
Coming after a long build-up, I was certainly interested to see where Cape Wrath ended up. Curiously, there wasn't much sense of escalation in the final episode, as it played out like most other episodes until the last 10 minutes. It's then that things kick into gear, with Danny learning about his infertility (the kid's aren’t his) and leaves on his own...
[SPOILERS BEGIN] The final sequence finds Danny motoring out of Meadowlands. Wintersgill seemingly helps him by shutting off the electricity to the motel where Samantha's team monitor the town. Then, in the closing scene, Danny finds himself in the desert, overlooking a craggy valley. A nicely-constructed piece of CGI gives us a bird's eye view of Meadowlands… which is actually a little replica of the English countryside stuck in the middle of a desert somewhere. [SPOILERS END]
As endings go, I'll admit its fun, if not very original. If anything, it proves writer Robert Murphy expects (or hopes) for a second season to capitalize on this late revelation and change of allegiance with Wintersgill, but I'm not sure it would be wise. Cape Wrath began quite promisingly, but tailed off significantly after Episode 3. The latter episodes tried to get back on-track by putting the Jack Donnelly plot to rest and taking the show into a more sci-fi realm with the "Cape Wrath" social experiment, but nothing really sparked interest. We'd all suspected "a government experiment" as the big reveal from around Episode 3… we just never thought the writers would be unimaginative enough to prove us right.
The whole show can be best summarized as a mundane soap with unoriginal and heavy-handed strangeness injected into the plots whenever things got too dull. The writers were fortunate to have the ever-committed David Morrissey, soulful Lucy Cohu, captivating Tom Hardy and the enjoyable Felicity Jones, to divert attention from their mistakes.
Still, I appreciate its existence, if only for being a British-made product that didn’t involved doctors, nurses, firemen, detectives or lawyers. As something a bit unusual for adults late at night, I'm glad it got made.
So yes; I want more TV like this, please -- just much, much better.
14 August 2007
Channel 4, 10.00 pm
