My Review of It's A Sin: "Episode 3"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Peter Hoar

Jill (re Colin): "He's gone."

I knew we wouldn't have to wait until the last episode before one of the main characters would die and whoever it was, it was always going to leave an impact. The death in question turned out to be Colin and it was a gut punch to watch.

Colin's been the innocent member of the group, gently teased by Ritchie and Roscoe but loved by them as well as Jill and Ash nonetheless. He's the only one of the characters who up to this point we haven't seen intimate with another man.

In flashbacks we learned that Colin was having sex with his former landlady's son (who also has AIDS) and while she seemed disgusted at the thought of her son being gay, Colin's mother was nothing but supportive of him until his final breath.

Russell T. Davies has a fair for writing mothers and Colin's is one of the best he's ever written. My heart broke for her as she had to fight in order to see him locked away in that hospital with those unfeeling doctors who treated Colin with no regard for his life. I loved that she had scenes with the gang as well.

Credit has to be given to Callum Scott Howells. This is one of his first roles in a major drama and he absolutely delivered big time here. Colin was a far more relatable character and to lose him so soon was gut wrenching but I absolutely got why RTD chose to kill Colin and to show the other symptoms of AIDS as well. I can imagine Howells will get a lot of offers after this performance and deservedly so.

As Colin's death affected everyone, it also served as a looming foreshadowing for Ritchie as well. He realised the severity of AIDS when he dumped fellow actor Donald, upon realising the latter had symptoms and the stark warning about not going home from his agent clearly shook him to his core. I can already tell that Ritchie will be the next to die. Well that and the trailers did somewhat draw attention to it.

- Nice use of Stephen Fry in this episode as an older suitor of Roscoe's. Both Roscoe and Ash came back negative this week.

- The mentions of Derek Jacobi and Philip Scofield when Ritchie and Donald were talking about being gay actors was amusing.

- Standout music: Queen's Who Wants To Live Forever?

- Chronology: This episode took place in 1986.

This series continues to knock it out of the park each episode. Everyone continues to bring their A game and every character remains believable. This episode had me in tears and I don't doubt the final two episodes will do the same.

Rating: 9 out of 10