Happy Valley (TV Series) Episode #3.1 (2023) User Reviews

Good Season Opener

[Warin_West-El · 8/10 · 16 January 2023]

Writer Sally Wainwright gets off to a good start this season, intermixing levity with serious drama. On one hand, the police discover the remains of a heinous crime at the reservoir. On the other is the comical incident with the phantom refrigerator tosser.

We're given a sly foreshadow of upcoming events in episode three as "alien remains" are mentioned in passing at the top of the show. Also there is the wonderful sequence where Catherine cuts the paternalistic CSI guys to ribbons. Demonstrating that professionalism and attention to detail is far more important to policing than scientific pretense.

Realistically, this episode is not as exciting as the episodes to come, primarily because it's a set-up episode. The tension and dramatic climaxes begin to manifest in episodes 2 & 3.

Reviewing this series has helped me to see why Happy Valley is so enjoyable to watch. Sally Wainwright is a superb writer. It's obvious the entire season has been plotted out. And yet, NOT in a tired, formulaic way. As the season progresses, the events and characters intersect - reinforcing one another. The writer never relies upon character incompetence for plot development. Which is SO refreshing, since that is the tiresome crutch employed by the majority of crime drama writers. It was that quality of consistently competent law enforcement which made Dick Wolf's Law & Order series highly esteemed for so many years. Whereas, Engrenages relied upon police incompetence so often, over time that series became completely unwatchable.

Happy Valley is a class act and will sorely be missed when this season is over.

Great actors done in by lame plot

[hayley96 · 8/10 · 9 March 2024]

I like the family interplay in the series. Catherine and Claire get the sibling bond thing dead on.

And, I realize Tommy is a necessary ingredient to the series. I hated it that I knew he would escape at some point because, it's TV. Lame, predictable.

But what I think really diminished this season was the drug dealing pharmacist and the mean old Eastern European gangsters. Really!! Stereotype weak Asian guy completely out of his depth. This storyline was paint by numbers. As was the side story to the side story of the coerced so xer coaches wife with the daughter who sees everything but is nearly catatonic.

Catherine is a great character. She deserved a better story line to go out on.

The 3rd season ruined by the premise

[markfranh · 5/10 · 14 February 2023]

I'm going to start off by saying that I do not live in the UK and am unfamiliar with British law. However, I've lived in other countries in the Commonwealth and am familiar with laws elsewhere and I have a hard time believing British law could be substantially different. If it is, then perhaps British law should be adjusted.

One of the absolute key premises for the entire season 3 is that Ryan is able to visit is father in prison without Catherine's knowledge or permission.

Ryan is 16. He's a minor. Where I live currently and where I used to live, this is absurd. It simply isn't possible for this to happen. For a minor to visit anyone in a prison for whatever reason (even it is a relative) requires the parent/guardian to fill in a detailed application to the appropriate authorities with lots of documentation. There is then a bit of back and forth between the prison authorities and the parent/guardian before permission may be given or possibly where permission might be turned down because the visit is deemed inappropriate.

Catherine is Ryan's guardian. She is the grandmother so has custody due to the death of Catherine's daughter who was Ryan's mother. Ryan's father, Tommy Lee Royce, is in prison so obviously he's not in the picture to give permission.

There is just no way for someone like Neil to be able to get Ryan into the prison to visit his father. Period. Full stop. Can't happen. NO way. They'd be stopped at the gate, considerable questions might be asked, police might even be contacted to ask Neil what he thinks he is up to, and almost certainly Catherine would be contacted the very first time they tried the stunt.

There are very good reasons this law exists. Why? Pretty much to make sure that minors are not exposed to the kind of thing that is portrayed in this series! That's why the law is there. Simple as that.

As such, for us the whole premise to the series was ridiculous.

As I said, I'm not British and don't know British law. But if this is seriously possible in the UK then British people might want to ask questions of their MPs as to why this is possible when it is absolutely out of the question elsewhere in the world.

But for my wife and myself, this basic premise to the entire series pretty much ruined it for us. We have watched three episodes with gritted teeth and are struggling to find motivation to continue.