Happy Valley (TV Series) Episode #3.2 (2023) User Reviews

Great series, but i spy a obvious plot clue (part 2)

[johniboy73 · 8/10 · 10 January 2023]

Warning the ex husband to be careful with his investigation. If he doesn't come to a grisly end, I'll eat my hat. Great writing, but planting plot lines so obviously spoils it. Could of been done so much more subtly. Hope I'm wrong. Catherine's husband will come a cropper, take my word for it.

Got to hand it to the cast though and whole production team, fantastic acting and great production and storytelling. As a bonus, it being filmed on my doorstep and recognising most of the filming locations (and seeing locations being passed off as Sheffield, when it's filmed on the outside of Wakefield Prison) adds to my personal attention to detail I can overlook. 👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Very good but lazy with the locations

[stevelesley · 8/10 · 13 January 2023]

I share the normal positive views of the series but how daft was this episode? Catherine drives to Sheffield, which has no prison, and while walking around "Sheffield" the famous Wainhouse Tower in Halifax is in the background. It's like pretending its Birmingham with Big Ben in the shot. Very lazy. These are meant to be showcasing our northern towns and cities, so lets get them right.

The rest of the episode though is spot on. Slightly hampered by TLR being banged up, and its spoonfeeding us the obvious a bit, like whether the teacher is good or bad. But Catherine is, as ever, a heroine. Will tune back in.

Pacing is key

[conorpendlebury-51120 · 10/10 · 8 January 2023]

I have never known a tv show to have such excellent pacing. You know what's going to happen by the end of the episode but you don't know how, sub-plot lines are still prominent but the main focus is always looming over. Sarah Lancashire shows us a masterclass, this is better than line of duty, the missing and all other crime dramas. Seamless transitions from scene to scene. Fantasy acting. You know something is amazing when you know what's going to happen but you're still on the edge of your seat. First episode perfectly set this amazing episode up perfectly. This was well worth the wait. Can't wait for more.

Superb writing and characterisation

[wolfstar_imdb · 10/10 · 8 January 2023]

My goodness, the script is absolutely superb... the episode (particularly the first half) is just a cascade of beautifully directed, beautifully acted, beautifully characterised and beautifully written scenes one after the other. These characters are so lived-in. The actors playing Ryan and Cesco are great - the scenes where they get into a conflict with their teacher are so naturalistic and realistic in a way that TV depictions of schools rarely achieve. Everyone is three-dimensional and there are lots of excellent directorial choices, particularly in the scenes where Catherine follows Clare and during the spousal abuse scene which happens off-camera and we see from the child's perspective. Great work by all.

The Drama Ramps UP

[Warin_West-El · 10/10 · 16 January 2023]

I was shocked to read a couple of reviews from UK viewers who complained about the locations. I guess they fail to realize that most of us don't live in the towns where this was filmed. Sheffield, Wakefield, it's all Left Field as far as I'm concerned. Apparently, some of the UK viewers are under the impression this show is a documentary. LOL.

This episode is a wonderful progression from the last one. We discover the coach's wife, who was seemingly an innocent terrorized victim of her mentally disturbed husband is actually a duplicitous, manipulative, evil bit-ch. A woman who will lie at the drop of a hat and stab you in the back if it serves her purpose. She's scarier than her husband.

Meanwhile, poor Faisal is up to his eyeballs in bad influences. He's dug himself a pretty deep hole and the prospects of him getting out unscathed appear to be very slim indeed.

Another reviewer noticed the same thing I did. Catherine's ex-husband is playing with fire and if he's not extremely careful, it's very likely he's gonna wind up getting burned. The only question is: how badly?

Of course, the highlight of this episode was the incredibly effective cliffhanger ending. The timing of that cat and mouse pursuit sequence was impeccable. Truly masterful drama at its finest !

Prison scene

[Joyfulmoments45 · 10/10 · 17 January 2023]

One of the the best parts of this episode is the prison scene the stare the Tommy and the prisoner (Wayne Dobson) the stare they gave each other is definitely up there felt intense and so real they knew they were up to something, hope to see them together on screen again hope to see Wayne on more things he done an amazing job the scene felt real whole series is amazing sally is an exceptional writer actor director she's just wow, the whole cast and crew was amazing to watch keeping us all on our toes been waiting years for this season and it hasn't failed the wait was definitely worth it and can't wait for Sunday.

So Happy to Discover This Series

[robcurlee-19-38696 · 10/10 · 20 February 2024]

We are forever grateful to a wonderful friend in the UK for highly recommending this superb series! (Although it required the purchase of a region free Blu-ray player to be able to view this series in the US). The acting, writing, and production set new standards for quality - things sadly lacking here in America. My only slight criticism of this particular episode was the veiled reference to the former Republican USA president - not by any means a fan of that administration, but would prefer that all fictional shows, especially ones of this high caliber, keep divisive politics out of an otherwise perfect series.

When vulgarity is enthroned...

[wooflydog · 3/10 · 13 January 2023]

The coarse brutality and viciousness depicted in this show is an assault on one's remaining sensitivities. If it were not for the comic Captain Marvel of Yorkshire detective hero, with her Groucho Marx one-liner put-downs and her god-like instant appraisal and absolute control of the most complex situations, we might incline to take the drama seriously rather than as the unpleasant parody which it actually is.

It reminded me of a Coronation Street soap, where all the most salacious gossip slander is distilled into one cinematic fantasy of snide, slimy prurience.

Some brilliant acting and technical talent has been harnassed to create this dreadfully depressing tragi-comedy.