My Review of Half Man: "Episode 3"

 

Written by Richard Gadd 

Directed by Alexandra Brodski 

Ruben: "Say it, please I need to hear it. Who am I?"

Niall: "My brother from another lover."

We are now at the halfway point in this limited series and while time continued to move slower in the present day, things were speeding up in the past a lot.

It's been four years since Ruben viciously attacked Alby and his day in court was imminent. During that time, Ruben was volunteering with young lads and seemed to enjoy being a positive influence on them. Niall was also graduating from college.

It's funny that in the previous episode, Lori was determined for Niall to keep his distance from Ruben but this time around both her and Maura wanted Niall to lie in court. I was rather disgusted with the idea of Niall being strong armed into lying that Alby groped Ruben just so the latter would avoid prison. Niall almost went through with it.

Fortunately there was Joanna. She was the only one who actually confronted Niall on his sexuality, blasted Ruben to his face and to both Lori and Maura and even accepted that Niall was gay. There was a subplot where Niall and Joanna briefly dated and thankfully it was just brief. Joanna for the win in general. 

The court case was rough itself because while Ruben might live Niall in his own fucked up way, the latter made the right call by going against Ruben and sticking up for Alby. Ruben vowing to make Niall ugly still packed a punch. 

As for the present day, both Niall and Alby were now married. The reception was tense as anything and it got even more tense when Ruben sat beside Niall and decided to give a speech. That was a way to end this one on.

- I spotted another Doctor Who actor in Anjli Mohindra as Ava. She was in the previous episode as well.

- Niall's best man went from promising to protect him to moving very fast when Ruben appeared.

- I know Maura was dead in the present day but I thought she was faking cancer in the past to manipulate Niall to help Ruben avoid prison. Ruben alluded to being abused by his father.

- Alby was in a coma for six months. Joanna didn't want to be a teacher, in spite of her qualifications and Niall was in a production of Hamlet at one point.

- Standout music: Echo And The Bunnymen's The Killer Moon.

- Chronology: The flashbacks were set in 1993. Present day was the reception.

A strong third outing. The 1993 flashbacks made progress in Niall getting closer to accepting his sexuality and Ruben's hold on him starting to falter. If this was the last episode for the younger versions, then both Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson went out on a strong note.

Rating: 8 out of 10