Written by Jamie Mathieson
Directed by Philip John
Lady Mary: “How long until you kill again, Hal? How many lives will I be saving when I kill you today?”
Well, I guess we can answer that question by saying that Lady Mary would’ve saved one life had she successfully managed to stake Hal but it seems that would be incorrect, considering that Lord Harry managed to kill someone prior to Lady Mary’s failed assassination attempts but it’s a good point to raise nonetheless.
Hal didn’t necessarily fall off the wagon in spectacular style and make his own equivalent of the Box Tunnel Twenty but his murder of Larry was definitely a shocking moment and the fact that he’s now placed himself into Rook’s hands cannot end well for either of them. Hal, you’ve messed up big time here.
A part of me did feel unsympathetic towards Larry being murdered by Hal. On the surface, he was a manipulative bastard who preyed on Tom’s insecurities and drove him out of Honolulu Heights while refusing to leave the place himself. Then there’s also the fact that he relentlessly pushed Hal’s buttons before giving in and calling Tom and Alex a retard and a slag definitely didn’t do him any favours either.
I really don’t want to sound like I’m actually defending Hal’s actions or making light of the situation but there’s certainly a grey area here to address. Hal might have wanted to kill Larry from the moment they met but when he did become Lord Harry, it was out of trying to protect his homestead with Tom and Alex. Larry spent too much of the time in the episode threatening that dynamic and died because of it.
However, there’s also the worrying point that perhaps Hal’s killing of Larry, whatever his reason may be does serve to prove that perhaps Rook is right about vampires and they can’t be ever truly redeemed. Lady Mary certainly thought the same thing as well when she finally became privy to the fact that she wasn’t Hal’s last victim – hence her fairly justified attempt to kill Hal in the process.
As a guest star, Lady Mary was definitely more successful than Larry and Amanda Hale was an absolute delight as the Regency ghost who only pretended to be posh in order to keep Hal on the straight and narrow. Her scenes with Alex throughout the episode were brilliant to watch but sadly, it did remind us that Hal has form and Lady Mary’s comments about the beast inside him resting might not that off, even if Alex and Tom are determined to believe that Hal is a good man.
I think Hal is certainly capable of trying to be a good man and in this episode, he was trying with his attempts of breaking Larry’s hold over Tom and even comforting the latter in the woods with Alex as well. I really want to think that in spite of the massive shit storm that’s on the way with Captain Hatch and everything else that there might be some hope for Hal but I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?
As for Larry Chrysler, former weatherman, current werewolf/failure, arch manipulator and general tosser – Julian Barratt was fine in the role and gave a decent performance. I think due to Larry not being very sympathetic and Lady Mary just being so much more interesting as a guest character that he was overshadowed a bit but at least his death opened up another can of worms for the gang.
It should also be pointed out that Larry’s death gave a suicidal Rook a spring in his step too. Who would’ve thought that Hal screwing up again would’ve worked in Rook’s favour? Okay, probably everyone watching the episode but either way, I can’t wait to see what’s going to come out of Hal and Rook’s newly formed partnership in the next few weeks.
Also in “Pie And Prejudice”
I’ve noticed that this year instead of prequels, we’ve been getting revenge scenes with Alex online each week. They’re on the BBC site and YouTube as well.
Alex (re Lady Mary): “You think I would corrupt her?”
Hal: “I think you would corrupt Keith Richards, so if you don’t mind.”
Fans of Hal this week had the treat of him as Acting Manager for the Barry Grand Hotel, in his tweed suit for Lady Mary and even in a dressing gown as well. This show really does pay attention to it’s core audience.
Lady Mary: “You kind of had a thing and you got killed and now you and Hal live together?”
Alex: “Yeah. Oh, now fuck off.”
Larry (re Hal/Alex): “And they don’t mind?”
Tom: “Well, they’ve got their own things going on.”
It seems that somewhere off screen Tom found out about McNair’s former life as a surveyor. I also hated that Larry swindled money that Tom was going to use as a gravestone for McNair.
Lady Mary (re Hal): “I was his last victim.”
Alex: “Is that what he told you?”
Hal (to Larry): “It’s a big house but not that big. How odd you must find our little set up here.”
Lady Mary, proving quite unladylike admitted to being a fan of John Woo, Metallica, Jackie Chan, cage fighting, shoplifting and pushing people over.
Mr Rook (to a chatline): “I don’t have a family. I don’t have any hobbies. The job was my life. Now that’s gone, so I find myself at something of a loose end.”
Lady Mary (to Hal): “You utter wanker.”
Alex: “Not gonna lie, that could’ve gone better.”
This episode was surprisingly absent of both Crumb and Captain Hatch. We also learned that Patsy’s surname was Ritter and Toby Whithouse’s Alistair Frith did a voice cameo in this one.
Alex: “You’re the best out of all of us, Tom. You just don’t realise it.”
Hal: “You want to talk to the real me? Hello, Larry, here I am. Did you want to speak to me?”
Chronology: A few days since “Sticks And Rope” and we learned that Larry had been a werewolf for nine months while Mary a ghost for 250 years.
Although “Pie And Prejudice” did start off a little shaky, it managed to get into it’s groove rather well and the shocker of Hal’s murder of Larry definitely gave the series a brilliant water cooler moment as well. It’s a shame that we’ve only got three episodes left of this show.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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