> Also we never heard of the nonexistant "Real Killer" striking again throughout the series.
But it's Jimmy McGovern, not Murder She Wrote. The point was that Fitz IS fallable. And that, sometimes, people die without reason, and killers are never caught.
> In the next episode, "To Be A Somebody" Fitz does express that he's still worried about Cassidy but in a later scene he says to Billborough's wife that he was wrong.
That's a lie to a grieving widow, though. It's about the psychology - she needs to believe her husband was 'a good man', and Fitz, while something of a bastard, is not a COMPLETE bastard (and IS an expert in psychology!). What kind of man, in that situation, wouldn't tell the woman a white lie rather than call her barely-cold husband a liar.
Coltrane's acting is the giveaway, really. There are a million moments where he just takes the material to the next level, and his delivery of that line - reluctant to lie, needing to do it, telling the AUDIENCE he's lying WITHOUT showing it to the wife - is a positive masterclass.
God I bloody love this show...
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Dlp07
18 years ago
Yeah, you are absolutely right. Leaving it unresolved was a daring move and added a great deal of realism rather than just going for a last minute confession at the end. I think what I was trying to do on here though was provide a sort of explanation for people confused by the ending and wanting some kindof resolution. As you quite rightly say though, in reality there isn't always any resolution by any means. Obviously, if this was a real case I'd be a lot more concerned for Cassidy but as it's fiction I suppose I always just wanted to assume the best rather than the worst.
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pphree
18 years ago
From what the teacher says to Fitz at the end I read it like this;
The boy came to the teacher's house after school. He was vulnerable, looking for advice, comfort and reassurance from the only teacher who had ever shown him any kindness. The teacher realised he had feelings for the boy but also knew that this could ruin his career, so he reluctantly sent him away. The boy leaves and is killed, and when the teacher hears of his death he is consumed with guilt, feeling that in some way he sent the boy to his death.
At the end he tells Fitz that he has misread him. Fitz picked up on his guilt straight away of course, and mistakenly assumed it was the guilt of a murderer but it wasn't - it was guilt at the thought that had he not sent the boy away, in effect rejecting him by doing so, the boy would not have put himself in danger and been murdered.
Whoever did murder the boy remained unfound at the end. It's also why, in the following episode, Billsborough asks Penhaligon to get Fitz in for him. He can't ask Fitz himself because Fitz won't do it for him - Fitz is still annoyed with Billsborough for accepting an easy arrest instead of catching the real killer, more interested in a "result" than the truth.
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acetremendous
18 years ago
I read it just like you, pphree.
Part of what impresses me so deeply about this show - and I usually hate cop shows - is the combination of Robbie Coltrane's brilliantly multifaceted performance and the cold subtlety of the writing. This was one of my least favorite storylines, until the ending, which fascinated me.
Obviously the teacher felt some real guilt and shame. It is unclear throughout the show whether this was guilt from imagined misconduct, sexual indiscretion, or violence, but it is very clear that Fitz fully believes at the end that that teacher did NOT murder the boy. Whether or not Fitz is right, you know that he's carrying that weight from then on.
Powerful stuff! What wonderful television.
*********************************************
* "We may be stupid, but we're not clever!" *
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18 years ago
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Just_Call_Me_Nathan
13 years ago
I've just watched this episode and after it was finished I rewatched the beginning where Timothy is shown running through the forest. He is wearing a striped shirt and ever so briefly you see from behind a dark-haired individual wearing a tracksuit top with a hood who is also running.
My theory is this: the jogger whom the other man (I can't remember his name but he was the one who was having an affair) claimed to have seen did in fact exist - although the police and Fitz all assumed it was the teacher - and he is the real killer.
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nilbog44
11 years ago
He didn't do it. The whole point of the episode was that cracker has to share the burden when the killer strikes again. And it leads to the tension between him and the chief guy, since he arrested him knowing he wasn't guilty
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nina_glyndwr
12 years ago
Personally, I think either the father or the brother had something to do with the boy's death. Probably the father. He wanted a real 'lad', someone he could go to the pub with and watch football with and what did he get? After his hostile son Andy, he got a 'girl'.
He might have gone to his father's after going to see his teacher and told his father about his feelings and his father might have lost his temper.
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