Love/Hate cat killer gets his just deserts in gripping f inale
Dentist Andrew also wiped out as season concludes
VIEWERS had wanted to get their claws into Love/Hate’s cat killer – and last night he met a grisly demise in a gripping season finale.
Wayne, played by Barry Keoghan, was gunned down after orders by gang boss Nidge, who wanted to cover his tracks with the gardaí closing in on him and his crumbling crime empire.
And he wasn’t the only one bumped off – with dodgy dentist Andrew extracted from the hit RTÉ series.
In the gruesome scene, Fran kills Andrew by suffocating him with a plastic bag. In an interview with RTÉ, Peter O’Meara, the man who played the dentist, said he was ‘shocked’ reading the horrific murder – but loved playing the role and the fame that came with it.
He said: ‘Walking around Dublin I constantly have people saying dentist stuff to me like, “fix me teeth!” - or my favourite – “Here’s the Crown Prince, don’t overcharge me!” I’ve even had, “I love YOU Andrew!”
But he admitted his departure was a shock. ‘Such a brutal horrifying death unlike anything we’ve seen in
‘Unlike anything we’ve seen on TV’
television drama before. I felt a great sadness turning the final page. I don’t think Andrew deserved to die,’ he said.
Preparing for the scene, O’Meara was very nervous about having a plastic bag put over his head but handled the scene with care.
‘Plastic bags don’t fire blanks like the prop machine guns do in the show. A simple plastic bag can do serious harm,’ he said.
‘We were very careful in rehearsal and even though my brain knew I was perfectly safe – no matter how you prepare for it – two guys holding you down covering your face feels scary.’
During one particular scene, the 44-year-old actor got so terrified he had to go outside and calm himself down. ‘I really didn’t want to do another take but we had to. I think I earned my money that day,’ he said.
‘It’s the most terrifying scene I’ve ever performed. I don’t think it’s the kind of scene I’d ever like to do again – and I’ve j umped off moving trains.’
O’Meara met his maker after Fran realised the dentist was ratting to the cops. Meanwhile, Nidge, played by Tom Vaughan Lawlor, delivered a typically show- stopping performance in last night’s season four finale, distancing himself from Fran after cutting him out of a deal.
When the shipment of drugs arrived at the port, Detective Moynihan and his team had the container and all the gang members under surveillance.
The critical point for them was to catch Nidge ‘hands on’, in the same place as the drugs, and they hit the gang at the crucial moment of the handover.
Typically cynical, Nidge also decided to use Tommy as fall guy to unload the drugs and drive them to his customers on the basis that his brain injury will likely frustrate any evidence pointing to Nidge, should Tommy be caught.
However, Tommy experiences a terrible episode of the bleeding and headaches that have dogged him from his head injury, after being beaten to a bloody pulp by Nidge in series three. He then collapses, with blood pouring from his nose and ears.
Detective Moynihan, who is watching all this on his surveillance cameras, orders his men to hit the gang now before the drugs arrive in a bid to save Tommy’s life. The lads are arrested – but with no drugs.
Once again Nidge and his crew get away scot-free, leaving the hit show open for a fifth series, which has not yet been officially commissioned.
The show’s high body count and gritty storylines are at odds with the congenial atmosphere on set, according to star O’Meara. Describing the cast as ‘jokers’, his favourite scene was when Fran goes to Andrew’s warehouse to ask about for a set of gold teeth. ‘Peter Coonan and I kept cracking up and making each other laugh,’ he said. ‘Here we are in this intense scary scene yet we couldn’t stop giggling,’ he said.
Barry Keoghan, who played catkiller Wayne, admitted he went in to every scene with a ‘ no fear’ and a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude’. ‘I like to think that when Wayne locked eyes with someone it was going to be dangerous,’ he said. ‘ The scene where Wayne was about to die. That was so intense!’
After another open-ended season finale, the hit series is expected to return next year with writer Stuart Carolan believed to have already begun working on season five.