First, I have been meaning to thank all of you who replied to this thread. Its always nice to get other folks point of view about episodes you have only seen alone and have not discussed with anyone else.
Second, I have since acquired and watched several times the full ITV U.K. version of this episode. It was probably one of the better decisions I have made in my life...TV wise. This episode makes so much more sense when you see it intact. Especially in regards to how thorough the character of Will was. His demise may have been a suicide but it was no "accident". It is quite interesting to see how the investigation is pushed along from beyond the grave by his own pre-demise preparations.
For my money, any TV show that is filmed in such a way that acknowledges that there is a "4th wall" to break is always a brilliant thing. It is made quite clear to us on the other side of this wall that something is up as we are allowed to see the guilty expressions on Hathaway's face whenever his boss is not looking directly at him. It is obvious that Hathaway is holding back a great deal from Lewis right at the outset but we don't know exactly how much until the end. Conversely, we see Lewis' increasing doubts about Hathaway and his shocked looks whenever new revelations about James are brought forth by the suppoting players as they are being interviewed.
Many character parts and/or decriptions were cut down in the PBS version for no good reason that one can see other than to further muddle an already complicated storyline:
Lady Hugh was perhaps the most savagely cut part in the whole episode. The bits removed said a lot more about her attitude. She was at Will's funeral and she was even interviewed by JonJo before she was killed.
The character of JonJo had a fair few minutes of screentime taken away that explained much about himself (check out his computer screensaver) and his relationship with Will. His "lovely reading" commented upon by Hathaway later is actually shown in its entirety.
A "walk and talk" scene excised between Lewis and Hathaway details how wide a net Lewis was willing to cast as he wanted more information on Lady Hugh, Sadie McEwan, Zoe Kenneth, Charlie Newton the journalist, and Feardorcha Phelan thinking that Will's death might be the result of a collaborative effort.
Will's mom, Sadie McEwan, loses an entire scene which showed us that she knew her son a lot better than PBS would have us believe. She also gave credence to Lewis' voiced frustrations about the suspicious parallel timelines of Will's and James' life changing actions that he famously confronts Hathaway about.
Nova Rose loses a crucial scene with DI Lewis that was quite enlightening. Her commentary characterizing Feardorcha Phelan as an "Irish nut job" was a line that would have explained a lot to the audience that he was evidently a force to be reckoned with even way back when.
And Mr. Cooper the Allotment Manager's raison d'etre was finally made clear. Seriously, for the life of me I could not figure out why he was even in the show at all. However, when you view his missing scene showing him offering Lewis "a cuppa and a chat" as he is tilling his patch of land makes you realize that the writers have sort of used him in place of Laura Hobson as a way of helping Lewis answer his own questions about his personal relationship with Hathaway. This missing scene is placed right after Robbie shows some of his frustration at receiving yet another evasive answer from James after Will's funeral. Mr. Cooper, for his part, wants to get to the bottom of why a man like Lewis wants to work an allotment anyway.
But still for all of the questions that were cleared up for me, minor puzzles do creep up:
At the very beginning of the episode, was Zoe Kenneth in the club because she was waiting for Will? Or was she only there because she had looked everywhere else? All thru the program everyone kept saying how they thought Will was trying keep Zoe away from everyone which was probably why JonJo looked so stunned to see her there.
Did Will's father finally accept the fact that his son was irretrievably gay and opened COMMUNION as a gay friendly hangout in order to be closer to him? And did he know about Will's girlfriend? Or did Sadie keep it from him? Is it my imagination or did Will's father "throw shade" at Hathaway when he stopped in the middle of his tirade about Will's lifestyle choices to acknowledge the tall, good looking blond guy as probably another in a string of men who led his son along?? Particularly telling, after Hathaway acknowledges that they had met before, is Henry's comment "Well why wasn't he happy?" AKA "You're male, tall, not faggy looking, AND 'he thought the world of you' so why didn't you do for him?"
How did the Reverend King know Zoe Kenneth? Was he the only one who knew her secret?
Did Hathaway have Feardorcha's phone number already on his cell phone because he used to call him when he couldn't get a hold of Will?? Or was it for another reason? Why was every call from Feardorcha to James always accompanied by heavy breathing?
The relationship between Zoe and James was quite interesting. Did James desire Zoe because she had been close to Will? Might the fact that she seemed to desire him right back may have been for the same reasons as Hathaway's -- because he had been close to Will too? Was the story she told Hathaway about how she and Will met the real one? I am always amused when watching this episode is the look of triumph on her face as she parades Hathaway thru COMMUNION with her as if to say "Envy me , Bitches!! I got a new man"
When and how was it deceided that Robbie and James would go undercover (??) at the Gay Pride March?? The scene of Lewis and Hathaway speaking in the garden with Zoe K ends and jumps straight to them walking in the Pride March. And when they finally get to the pub Zoe doesnt seem surprised at all to see them there. Probably another edit that did not make the UK or US version would have explained this. Another likely phantom edit: After the epic argument between Robbie and James, the edit that shows Lewis going back to the nick, putting on his tie, finding out Feardorcha's prints are on the note from James' back, putting the protection team on Hathaway, sitting down at his desk and losing his tie all before Supt. Innocent comes into his office.
Was the reason that Zoe Kenneth has that angry look on her face after she observes Robbie holding onto James and preventing him from going back with her to the burning flat was because she realized that James was loved greater by Robbie, who tho callously and stupidly betrayed by Hathaway, was literally willing to walk thru fire for him? Did she realize too late that Will had never really loved her that much at all?
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