In the Flesh – Series 1 Finale – Recap: Sins of the Father

Recap and review of In the Flesh – Series 1 Finale:

In the Flesh has staked its claim as one of the bolder series to be ported over from the UK, if for no other reason than for how it essentially wipes the slate clean with this finale. By the end of it, I found myself wondering just where series two could go, since, with the exception of a stray subplot or two, there’s a genuine sense of finality here. Of course, series two could easily explore Amy’s (Emily Bevan) time at the undead commune, or further develop Vicar Oddie (Kenneth Cranham) as the central antagonist of the series, while also delving deeper into the attitudes of a society that’s slowly acclimating to the presence of the “partially deceased.” But so much of this three-episode run has been rooted in characters who meet their end in this finale, and while that’s compelling, in isolation, it leaves an overarching question of just what’s next. However, regardless of what Dominic Mitchell has on the horizon for series two, the fact remains that this finale is among the most compelling finales of the season, drawing many of the character conflicts to a poignant, powerful resolution, while also providing some huge shockers. It’s not my favorite finale of the year, but it’s pretty damn close.

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More so than any of the previous two episodes, the finale plays out like a tragedy in slow motion. Bill Macy (Steve Evets) rages against Rick (David Walmsley) for failing to kill the “Rotters” in the woods, and decides to punish his son by forcing him to kill Kieren Walker (Luke Newberry). Rick plays along with his father’s murder plot, but has no intention of actually going through with it. He calls Kieren’s house and leaves a voicemail warning Kieren to avoid him and his father at all costs. As part of training Rick for what’s to come, Bill takes him to church for one of Vicar Oddie’s sermons, after which Vicar Oddie confronts Bill about the prophecy of a second uprising.

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Vicar Oddie speculates that when the dead rise for the second time, it will be the righteous who return, and not the leeches and pretenders that came back the first time. This prophecy puts a terrible suspicion in Bill’s head, as he begins to suspect the Rick that has risen of not really being his son. This suspicion is taken to its extreme once Rick comes out to his father as a PDS sufferer, removing his makeup and contact lenses, and forcing Bill to see him as he truly is. It’s a poignant analogue for Rick coming out to his father about his sexuality; while he doesn’t confess about the nature of his past relationship/exploration with Kieren, he does tell his father that he could never hurt Kieren. “He’s my best mate,” Rick says through tears. Bill breaks down, and father and son have an emotional moment, crying in one another’s arms as they make amends for their differences, and it’s a beautiful scene in which two men come to an understanding about one another. Or rather, that’s how it comes across…

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Unfortunately, Bill’s tears were not actually the result of an emotional breakthrough, but of the realization of what he now had to do. That it happens off-screen does nothing to diminish the tragedy of Bill killing Rick by jamming a hunting knife into the back of his head. Nor does it lessen the visual power of Kieren’s complete breakdown upon discovery Rick’s pale body in front of his garage, where Bill disposed of it as a message to Kieren. It’s heartbreaking stuff, made all the more tragic by the force of Bill’s denial. Vicar Oddie’s prophecy is convenient for how it plays into Bill’s desire for a way out, allowing Bill to disavow all relation to Rick by rationalizing that this isn’t his real son. It’s simply some twisted creature wearing Rick’s face and likeness. Once Rick sticks up for Kieren by refusing to harm him, Bill convinces himself that the real Rick would never stand up for that screwed up Walker boy, and realizes he has to kill him in anticipation for the second uprising. Bill essentially fails to understand his son every bit as much in death as he failed to understand him in life. Sure, Bill is an ass, but he’s also a tragic figure in how he fails to see what’s staring him right in the face, and, in effect, loses the second chance he’s been given to connect with his son.

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The death of Rick is doubly heartbreaking for what it does to his mother, Janet (Karen Henthorn). In one of the best scenes of the episode, Janet attends a support group held by Shirley (Sandra Huggett) for the mothers of PDS sufferers. Kieren’s mother, Sue (Marie Critchley), talks about the guilt she feels regarding her anger with Kieren for tearing their family apart with his selfishness. But she can’t deny that the Kieren who returned is truly her son. Janet identifies with Sue’s feelings, as she admits her own shame at having been scared of Rick when he first came home. However, as the days rolled on, she realized that the man that returned to her was her boy. She could feel it, and she’s thankful to have this second chance. This moment between mothers gifted with an unlikely second chance is torn asunder once Bill kills Rick. Janet lashes out at her husband, taking the knife Kieren had brought to kill Bill. She slashes her husband’s palms while Kieren tries to restrain her, leaving blood on Bill’s hands in one of the most heavy-handed visuals of the entire series (but then, Karen Henthorn is doing such terrific work that it’s easy to ignore the eye-rolling symbolism). Having been attacked by his wife, Bill is brought out of his fugue state, and realizes the horrific thing he’d done. He wanders out into the streets, muttering pleas of forgiveness to himself…at which point, he’s shot dead by Ken Burton (Ricky Tomlinson), the neighbor whose PDS-suffering wife Bill had killed at the end of the first episode. While he had started to see the light towards the end, I can’t say I’m sad to see Bill go. Yes, he was a tragic villain in his own right, but a villain nonetheless. The depth of his intolerance proved staggering, to the point where he entered full denial about Rick ever having returned in the first place. In many respects, this was the only way Bill’s story could have ended.

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For his part, Kieren shows considerable growth as a character, not only in how he confronted Bill Macy about what he’d done, and ripped into him for throwing away the “gift” of a second chance with his son, but also in how he confronted the parents of his last victim to make amends for what he’d done while in his zombified state. He confesses that he killed their daughter, Lisa, to which the parents display a surprising amount of relief. Turns out they knew she was dead. However, they had hoped Kieren would be able to confirm that their daughter had risen, since her body was never found. This calls into question whether the image of Lisa he’d seen previously was really a hallucination at all, or if it was actually Lisa herself, in her risen state. Kieren denies that this is even possible, since Lisa died after the uprising, yet Jem (Harriet Cains) pleads with Kieren to admit that it’s at least possible. We learn that Jem had been Lisa’s best friend, and she had actually been there when Lisa was killed. However, when she discovered it was Kieren attacking her, she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. Kieren, still feeling a certain amount of guilt for his actions, admits that Lisa rising is possible, giving the parents some measure of hope that their daughter could come back to them. It’s a moment that’s both sweet and a little unsettling, but it’s necessary for how it further reestablishes the bond between Kieren and Jem. As they walk along a field on their way home, they joke the way a brother and sister would, and it’s beautiful to see how their relationship was before Kieren died. They were obviously quite close, and Newberry and Cains are able to convey that closeness with minimal dialogue. It’s great stuff.

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Also great? Emily Bevan as Amy. She has a one-night stand with Philip (Stephen Thompson), who’s as ashamed of the sexual encounter as Amy, and this is merely the first of two unfortunate encounters she has with the men of Roarton. One of the HVF militiamen sent to paint a PDS marking on her house, to identify the homes of PDS sufferers, barges in and forcefully covers her face with makeup, having taken offense at her insistence on parading around town au naturale. Amy realizes PDS sufferers will never gain acceptance in Roarton, and decides to take the train to the PDS commune run by “The Undead Prophet,” the masked person running the pro-PDS website. Her goodbye with Kieren is bittersweet, as Kieren wants to go, but he’s not quite ready just yet. Amy, for her part, vows to return someday, since they have to get married, and all. Bevan continues to be terrific with minimal screentime, and it was a shame to see Amy leave the narrative so abruptly. Hopefully, she’ll be back for series two, as she and Luke Newberry are terrific on-screen together.

But that’s pretty much the extent of lighthearted scenes for Kieren, as things go downhill following Rick’s death. He retreats to the cave that had been his and Rick’s special place, near the rock where he’d slashed his wrists once he learned of Rick’s first death in 2009. Sue finds Kieren there and comforts her son over his loss. She says that she knows what it’s like to lose someone, and though we’re given to expect that she’s talking about Kieren, Sue instead launches into a story about an RAF pilot that had broken her heart by dumping her for her best friend. Sue had decided to end it all then and there, assuming that she’d never find love again. However, the local pharmacist refused to sell her the drugs she intended to use to commit suicide, and instead spent his entire shift making her tea and providing a shoulder to cry on. We learn that the pharmacist was Kieren’s father, making the point that suicide essentially robs a person not only of life, but of its possibilities, as anything could happen to turn one’s misery around. Kieren, however, remains inconsolable. “It’s becoming just like it was before and I don’t know how to change it!” he tells his mother. “I’ll tell you how you change it,” she responds. “This time, you live. You don’t leave, you stay.” Marie Critchley is tremendous in her brief moments as Sue, to the point that I wish she’d been given more to do over the course of the series. Much like with Bevan, I hope she returns with a larger role in series two.

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Of course, Luke Newberry is also a hell of a talent, particularly in the climax of the episode, when he returns home and goads his father into letting out all his years of pent-up anger and resentment against him. Kieren pleads with his father, Steve (Steve Cooper), to really let him have it, and what results is one of the more powerful moments of the series. Though Steve initially laces into his son for worrying them sick, things escalate and, before long, Steve is recalling the night Kieren killed himself. He’d searched all over Roarton for his son, and eventually found him sitting against the rock by the cave. His momentary relief at finding his son unharmed was completely undone once he discovered that Kieren was covered in blood, his wrists slashed. Steve breaks down as he recalls how he carried his son’s body down the hill as fast as he could, but it simply wasn’t enough. Kieren embraces his father, granting him the catharsis that had been a long time coming. It’s my favorite scene of the episode, even if I could allow that there had been scenes that were better. There’s a simple, understated beauty to the closing montage in which Kieren and the men of Roarton bury Rick, with the credits playing over the dirt being shoveled onto the coffin. It’s undoubtedly sad, but that touch of finality really brings the episode to a perfect close.

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In the Flesh has been one of the best, though briefest, television experiences I’ve had this year. I eagerly anticipate the possibilities for series two, particularly if it’s able to match series one in terms of subtextual richness and depth of character. While the premise is the star, in many ways, it’s the cast and the nuance of the show’s themes that make this a series worth watching.