Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Sheila Reid.
“Beware the fury of a patient man”.
The question of how long and how far you would go in order to exact revenge on the one that destroyed you is one that is dangled before us in the darkness, perhaps whispered by a friend when the Devil is on their shoulder, the one who wants to know just how far you are prepared to go so they can either aid you, or have their statement and story ready when the police come knocking on their own door.
Rarely is the question posed and answered as part 0f a long game, nor one that is so boldly intimate as that posed in the finale of latest season of the tantalising Inside, No. 9.
The Last Weekend for Joe and Chas is mired in the moment of understanding that Joe’s illness has meant that the pair, celebrating their 9th anniversary together, is one that they must confront the situation of their time together, that the love spoken often by Chas as he cares for his partner is one that could be seen as regret as he reminisces to the cleaner, and to which Joe shows affection in other ways, that of creating the mud bath, pouring the champagne, the little things that shows someone that they care.
In typical style from Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Shearsmith, not is all it seems, and in a single turn the truth, that vengeance is dish best served cold, soon becomes part of the concrete evidence that damns Chaz’s previous actions in life.
It is with satisfaction that the finale of the series should be one that pays homage to the beauty of Roald Dahl’s Tales Of The Unexpected, the sense that the disquiet simmering of the British resentment towards sex and love, the repression that has guided the country’s attitude to comedy in particular, and the latent aggression shown from everything from the humble picture postcard which displays hen pecked, weak men and ladies of a more voluptuous size and age, as figures of ridicule, to sneering at any love that dare be perceived as different to the so called norm, is to be used as a weapon.
It is in that weapon that the pair find the balance required to showcase The Last Weekend as one of finality, of revenge.
The patient man will plan revenge long after the event, some just with the simplicity of placing a person’s description in a book and have them commit horrible brutal crimes, some will go further in their desire for retribution, all though will only become apparent as the cause of their ire slowly realises just what they have become… the plaything of a heart that was broken.
Enjoy every weekend, it may be the last one you face with a clear conscious.
Ian D. Hall