Happy Valley is the Most Perfect TV Series Ever
It is so much more than a cop show
After a 7-year gap between the second and final season, the final episode of the UK drama "Happy Valley" aired on AcornTV a few weeks ago, and I’m a little bummed that it’s over.
The series premiered in 2014 and its second season aired two years later.
To be honest, when I first watched Seasons 1 and 2, I thought that was all there was, which kind of disappointed me because it was the most perfect TV series I had ever seen.
So when "Happy Valley" returned for one final season, I was so excited that after watching the first episode, I went back to the beginning and watched it a second time.
It drove me bats that I had to wait a whole week before I could see the next installment. But I muddled through.
After I watched the final episode, I thought it might be cool to start at Season 1 and watch all 18 episodes, which I finally did last week. Seeing the final season in context with the other two made it even better.
Of all of the UK television shows I've seen over the years (and believe me, I've seen a LOT), I think "Happy Valley" is my favorite (or should I say “favourite?”).
From the opening theme music (singer Jake Bugg's "Troubled Town") to the amazing cast, "Happy Valley" is some damn good television.
I don't know how writer/creator Sally Wainwright manages it, but the complex plots in each season weave together seamlessly. It's just some brilliant writing.
Wainwright is also the writer/creator behind "Last Tango in Halifax" and "Scott & Bailey," and I can tell you, "Happy Valley" is head and shoulders above both of those shows.
The series takes place in West Yorkshire in Northern England in the working-class area in and around Halifax. Each season has one overarching plot involving some major crime that the police, including the main character, police Sergeant Catherine Cawood, are investigating.
And while it is a police drama, calling "Happy Valley" a police drama is selling it short. It is so much more than that.
Here's the trailer for Season 1:
Catherine Cawood is played by actress Sarah Lancashire (who was also in "Last Tango in Halifax"). And she's just brilliant.
Cawood is raising her daughter Becky's son because just weeks after the boy was born, her daughter kills herself. It turns out that Cawood's daughter was raped by a criminal thug named Tommy Lee Royce. And while she goes through with the pregnancy, the trauma of the rape coupled with the birth of Ryan proves to be too much for Becky. After Becky commits suicide, Catherine decides to raise Ryan herself rather than place him in care. The decision ultimately breaks up her marriage and drives a wedge between Catherine and her surviving son.
Now, all of that is the backstory, but it is relevant because Season 1 starts with Tommy Lee Royce being released from prison after 8 years (on an unrelated charge) and getting involved in an insane kidnapping plot devised by an idiot (think the movie "Fargo). The kidnapping plot careens off the rails, largely because of the violent, homicidal rapist Royce.
In the course of the season, Royce discovers that the grandson Catherine is raising is his. From that point until the end of the series, Royce is determined to finagle his way into Ryan's life.
In Season 2, the overarching plot involves the hunt for an alleged serial killer targeting prostitutes, including Royce's mother. It also features a subplot involving a married police detective (played by Kevin Doyle of "Downton Abby") who stupidly gets entangled with a crazy woman who blackmails him.
Meanwhile, Royce, now in prison, uses a love-struck woman to groom young Ryan into accepting Royce as his father while finding ways to destroy Catherine's life.
Here's the trailer for Season 2:
When we get to the third and final season, Catherine is just days away from retiring from the police and the now-16-year-old Ryan has been visiting Royce in prison (unbeknownst to his grandmother).
The overarching plot involves an organized criminal gang's drug trade in the valley (and something else I won't describe because it would be a major spoiler).
Here's the trailer for the final Season:
I think the trailers undersell how good "Happy Valley" is, if I'm honest.
The series is so well written and the cast is superb.
The cast features some familiar actors, including Siobhan Finnegan (the odious Miss O'Brien from "Downtown Abby") as Catherine's sister Clare and James Norton (the vicar from "Grantchester") as Tommy Lee Royce.
Sally Wainwright does some masterful writing in "Happy Valley," effortlessly blending humor into the drama while creating unique, fully fleshed-out characters that are completely believable.
In fact, "Happy Valley" is one of the few shows I've watched that didn't have me muttering, "Oh, please" over something that strained credulity.
If you're looking for a clever cop show that is far more than your run-of-the-mill police drama, you cannot go wrong with "Happy Valley."