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As Tommy's big day approaches, Catherine becomes suspicious, and Ryan finds a new way to defy her.

Gives the word 'Bleak' a whole new meaning.

It&#39;s rare that you get such good casting, writing and directing on a TV show. Everything about this episode stands out and the threads that have been carefully woven since the start of this series really come together in this episode. It&#39;s tense and engrossing from start to finish. You know what it&#39;s all building towards but it&#39;s still a shock when it happens. It&#39;s a testament to the incredible storytelling that&#39;s the hallmark of Happy Valley. I hope they keep making more but it appears that this is going to be one of those gems that favour quality over quantity. It certainly deserves to spawn at least one spin off, hopefully a prequel with Becky&#39;s story.

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Episode #3.4

The 2014 series was superb television,and I thought reached an unrepeatable height. Nearly a decade on I am happy to be proved wrong. Mesdames Lancashire and Finneran have some hard - lived years under their belts as the sisters united but divided by the tragedies they have shared. Sociopathic killer M J. Norton has lost none of his deranged menace
and terrifying presence in the passing years. He is a living advertisement for capital punishment though I doubt that is a &#39;woke&#39; view. Catherine&#39;s grandson (courtesy of rapist - murderer Mr. Norton)
is a confused ands vulnerable adolescent targeted by a -
freak teacher to be &#39;rescued&#39; and rewired. A creepy Pharmacist(Mr. A Shah) is blackmailed by local gang bosses
to supply drugs. They also plan to free Mr Norton from jail presumably not to make over their garden. Catherine herself is now on the verge of retirement - a bad day for the Yorkshire Old Bill that&#39;ll be you mark my words. With all her knowledge and experience why isn&#39;t she a high -ranking officer? Simple - she didn&#39;t want to be. Boots on the ground policing is what she does best. She knows everybody on her patch - they know her. That&#39;s how it used to be;how it should be. Respect,Catherine - you&#39;ve got it from them and you&#39;ve got it from me.

After last week&#39;s phenomenal episode, which I hope you saw, if you are reading this, most of us are hurting over Clare and Catherine&#39;s insane confrontation regarding Ryan&#39;s visiting Tommy. Can we pause 4 a second and appreciate James Norton&#39;s return? Granchester, McMafia...
I totally want a scene with him and Catherine again. There is a lot of secondary stories going on here, especially with Ryan&#39;s soccer coach and his despicable wife...now, connect all the red threads, and Catherine&#39;s ex husband, and the story he is working on...I am just saying. I love Amit Shah, Faisal, he is in everything. He is in a VERY precarious situation as the druggist with extremely precocious daughters. The set up at the court scene is great. Even though I can&#39;t stand Tommy, seeing Norton at the end made me smile.

I watch many British crime shows on Acorn and Britbox. I&#39;ve always thought that British police/detectives appear to be the cream of the crop, doing everything by the book and respect up the chain of command. I&#39;ve loved this show in many ways but have become increasingly annoyed with Ryan, Claire, Neil and Ann. Claire and Neil appear as dimwits and Ryan is a spoiled brat, manipulating all around him. Ann does not follow protocol and seems to get away with bad behavior. She is not suited to be a police officer much less a CID. How is a police killer like Tommy allowed to freely have visitors, do all kinds of deals in prison, no heavy guarding when he goes to court? He should have been in leg and hand shackles since he is a dangerous person. On a positive, James Norton is terrific as a sociopath. I still gave this an 8 but didn&#39;t care for it as much as the other episodes.

When I reviewed Episode 1 of this season I wrote: &quot;The writer never relies upon character incompetence for plot development.&quot; Lo and behold, Sally Wainwright has made a liar out of me. This entire episode illustrates what I have coined &quot;Engrenages Syndrome&quot;, a ubiquitous malady that infects nearly all crime dramas. When writers suffer from a lack of creativity, they reach for the crutch of law enforcement incompetence to propel their story forward. In this episode we have not just one, but multiple instances of gross incompetence that strain credulity. First, there&#39;s the opening dialogue with Catherine and Ann. During which time Catherine discovers that Ann has failed to report the license plate number Catherine relayed to her in the previous episode. At that point, Catherine should have immediately walked inside and reported Ann for failure to carry out her duty. But instead of doing that, Catherine simply drove away. Essentially, it was Catherine who was derelict in her duty. Failure to scrupulously discipline junior officers while they&#39;re gaining experience inevitably leads to bad law enforcement down the road. Next Catherine talks to her ex-husband, Richard, because she senses trouble. But he&#39;s about as responsive as a can of tuna fish sitting on a shelf. Although Richard has done some research on the Knezevic brothers, he fails to see the big picture. The foreshadow for the audience is, for the second time Catherine has warned Richard to &quot;be careful.&quot; You don&#39;t have to be a genius to realize it&#39;s only a matter of time before Richard faces some sort of peril. Claire and Neil had a sit down with Ryan, which was painful to watch. In that scene you saw two so-called &quot;adults&quot; who together possessed less will power and determination than the kid. In fact, the only competent person in this entire episode was Faisal Bhatti, who managed to remain calm when he was aggressively confronted by Rob Hepworth during their fender-bender incident. Claire knew that Ryan had set off on his bike but she failed to monitor him, which given the circumstances of that day (the sentencing in Leeds) was unforgivable. Now here&#39;s where this episode degrades into full blown Engrenages Syndrome . . . . Catherine told Mike, her supervisor, they needed to triple Tommy Lee Royce&#39;s security detail. And in true Engrenages fashion, Mike poo-poos Catherine&#39;s instincts. Now keep in mind, Catherine&#39;s about to retire. And over the years she&#39;s been right A LOT. The ol&#39; girl&#39;s leaving. So you give her your respect on the way out and do her this last favor. THAT&#39;S the way things work in the real world. Therefore, if you hadn&#39;t already figured out where the script was headed, the moment Mike turned down Catherine&#39;s suggestion you KNEW Tommy Lee was about to break out of captivity. Nevertheless, if viewers had ANY doubts concerning what was about to transpire, screenwriter Sally Wainwright bludgeoned those unwitting spectators over the head as we hear Catherine exclaim, &quot;And what about me? I need protection. BECAUSE IF HE GETS OUT, he&#39;s coming for me.&quot; Suddenly, what was for two and a half seasons a unique and unpredictable story became the brain-dead troglodyte plot we&#39;ve already watched in dozens (if not hundreds) of other crime dramas. To ease the audience into the avalanche of stupidity that was about to cascade upon the viewers, Sally Wainwright injected a brief interlude of levity with Mike and Joyce kibitzing about the money Joyce has collected for Catherine&#39;s retirement party. Then, at 45:10 the script jumps the shark. Catherine&#39;s ex-husband is within a few feet of Ryan but fails to see him. That would never occur in the real world. All professional reporters maintain deliberate conscious surveillance of their entire environment. Because pro reporters are constantly on the lookout for someone on the scene who might provide a unique angle for their story. Next DC Chris Hayes went to Rob Hepworth&#39;s home and when he reached the garage, he failed to lift up the luggage that was within plain view to test whether the bags contained contraband. Once again - unrealistic. Any professional law enforcement agent would have asked Hepworth if there was anything stored in the luggage. Then they would have picked up the luggage by the handles to verify whether Hepworth was telling the truth or not. No sooner did DC Hayes leave, then Rob Hepworth picked up the luggage and uncovered what any sentient law enforcement agent following standard protocol would have discovered . . . The lifeless body of Joanna Hepworth. Finally, the Coup de grâce, we saw a police officer yelling into a microphone, &quot;Lock down the building.&quot; Of course, he was ten seconds too late and the keystone cops wound up locking themselves inside their own building, effectively preventing them from apprehending Tommy Lee Royce. It&#39;s one thing for a character to DO something dumb. That&#39;s human. It&#39;s quite another for a character to BECOME dumb. And it&#39;s an appalling insult to the audience when SEVERAL characters suddenly become dumb, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. If something like that happens in a story, the plot had better include a dangerous chemical spill in the locality which affected everyone&#39;s thinking. Here&#39;s the REAL mystery: Sally Wainwright started off writing a consistently fresh, intriguing series entitled &quot;Happy Valley.&quot; Then for some unknown reason she wrote a cliché-ridden episode overflowing with hackneyed tropes reminiscent of the last season of Engrenages. Did someone slip something into Wainwright&#39;s drink? What happened?

People rave about this show, and although I enjoy it, it is ridiculously far fetched, the script is painfully cheesy and steeped in outdated stereotypes. The storyline seems to be forcing itself into a inconceivable narrative where a pharmacist is prepared to murder than take responsibility for a relatively minor crime, Ryan roams around Yorkshire freely with no monitoring from school and the police don&#39;t follow protocol or keep tabs on a dangerous criminal. I&#39;m afraid the Wainwright, Lancaster cheerleaders need to pipe down and admit happy valley falls into mediocrity compared to grown-up dramas other countries produce.

User reviews

Episode #3.4

Happy Valley

Expertly crafted drama

Gives the word 'Bleak' a whole new meaning.

Like you need a review...

Irritating Episode

Engrenages Syndrome

OH, COME ON!!!

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