My Review of It's A Sin: "Episode 5"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Peter Hoar

Jill (to Valerie): "He died because of you. They all die because of you."

Onto the final 'La' for this powerhouse series and of course, it ended how I think we all predicted it would. Time had passed and despite Ritchie's determination to live and some bits of hope, eventually he died. And it felt small but gutting.

Gutting due to the way that Valerie Tozer made herself into the biggest bitch by heartlessly removing Ritchie from his friends during his final weeks of life and for the cold and callous way in which she informed Jill a day later that Ritchie had died from something that wasn't her fault.

Keeley Hawes delivered a powerhouse performance in this episode but my disgust for Valerie and her mistreatment of Jill went into overdrive here. I loved that Jill wouldn't let Valerie intimidate her and I especially loved that she gave Valerie the dressing down the latter deserved here.

By comparison, Clive was surprisingly the better parent of the two, though he could've stood up to Valerie for Ritchie's sake. Still though, Ritchie's death hit as hard as Colin's and every other death this miniseries has given us.

In five episodes, Russell T. Davies highlighted a beautiful but tragic world. We lost characters like Colin and Ritchie bit at the same time, we also know that Roscoe, Ash and Jill also lived and I'm hoping went on to have amazing lives. 

Roscoe even got a second chance with his father and Valerie's actions were reprehensible, even I'll admit that she did love Ritchie in her own way. I do feel that maybe Ash should've been there too in the Isle of Wight with Jill and Roscoe but he still had some nice moments in this one.

- Russell T. Davies mentioned about wanting to do a sixth episode with Jill in the present day, which I would've loved to have seen.

- There was a nice flashback to an earlier with all the gang and Greg where Ritchie had his ice cream ruined by a sea gull. That was a lovely last scene.

- Standout music: Gonna go with Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill.

- Chronology: This episode started in November 1988 before jumping quickly into November 1991.

For a finale, this was a satisfying way to end the series. There was sadness, there were tears but there was also joy in getting to know these characters and further proof that Russell T. Davies continues to knock it out the park. Whatever his next project is, there's no doubt I'll be watching it.

Rating: 9 out of 10