Innocent guilty of obvious end
THERE was a key moment halfway through Thursday’s finale of ITV’S whodunnit Innocent when David Collins’ brother Phil said something a bit creepy.
This was the Broadchurch-style thriller that aired four nights this week, starring Lee Ingleby as David, a man recently acquitted of murdering his wife and now fighting for justice.
“It’s what’s best for him,” Phil warned cop Cathy (Angel Coulby) in the addictive mini-series. Here we go, I thought...
“Just stay away, OK. We don’t want you here,” he spat. Then the scratchy horrormovie incidental music played, Phil (the brilliant Daniel Ryan) grimaced and suddenly he looked like a killer.
This was supposed to be the big reveal. The penny drop moment. And don’t get me wrong, it made for nail-biting television. But there was one problem – most of us had already guessed that Phil murdered Tara Collins about two episodes earlier. Seasoned crime thriller fans know a red flag when we see one. Phil was the quiet, loyal brother, campaigning for David’s release.
He lived alone in an isolated cabin, had a slightly sinister shrine to David’s plight and took surreptitious photos of David’s kids. Oh, and he did nice things like lend him money and do the washing.
Of course he was the villain.
Alarm
Then there was that time when Jack asked his uncle: “What ever happened to Auntie Gem?” Phil muttered into his tea cup: “Oh she went back to live with her folks in Burnley.” Alarm bells practically blaring by this point. We never did find out about Auntie Gem.
There were other suspects of course, including Tara’s jealous sister Alice (Hermione Norris), Alice’s angry husband Rob (Adrian Rawlins) and Tara’s ex-lover
then heart went out to little Max Johnson, “Every only nine, who had waited 161 days. just in day I’ve got that nervous feeling, the case it comes,” said Max, who was poster boy for our sister paper the Mirror’s organ donor campaign. One moment was particularly heart-breaking when Max’s big brother Harry was asked: “What “I worries you most?” Harry murmured: want can’t say it if Max is listening. I don’t Max to hear.” What brave little chaps. Tom (Elliot Cowan). But the clues began to stack up, with Phil’s story sounding more fake news than one of Trump’s tweets. A dramatic showdown, with marvellous acting from Ingleby and Ryan as the brothers, made for tense telly.
So did it really matter that we saw it coming a mile off? Finales are tough to pull off. Viewers are demanding – we want to be shocked, we want twists and turns, but we also want a satisfying ending. Having been drip-fed clues and red herrings all week, we hoped that all the loose ends would be tied up – with a nice secure butterfly knot. And they were. Most viewers were full of praise, but a few still complained it was all too obvious. You can’t keep everyone happy.
Perhaps it wasn’t as shocking as it could have been, but isn’t there enjoyment from watching your conspiracy theory play out?
If you were gripped throughout four hours of well-acted, action-packed drama, don’t be disappointed. Be content with being able to yell: “I knew it!”
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