Warning: this piece contains spoilers.
Phew … and breathe. So what did everyone make of that then? Personally, I loved it. There’s been a lot of talk in the past six weeks about Bodyguard and whether it’s good or bad, realistic or unrealistic, utterly over-the-top or pitched at the sweetest ratings spot. My take is that it may not be the most serious, or even the best drama of the year, but it’s certainly the most enjoyable. It’s a clever piece of popcorn TV that made for perfect Sunday night early autumn viewing. Why shouldn’t art be entertaining? There’s room on my TV for dramas that demand contemplative thought and dramas that drag you along in their exhilarating wake. Over the past six weeks, Bodyguard has kept me on the edge of my seat and biting my nails. For that, Jed Mercurio, I salute you.
The bodyguard
A happy end then for David, who nailed the bad guys (I particularly enjoyed the setup for Longcross). He faced his demons, saw a therapist and took the first fragile steps towards reconciliation with wife Vicky. Along the way there were some fantastic (and ludicrous) moments, as David was initially outsmarted by criminal not-quite-mastermind Luke Aitkens (extra bonus points to everyone who spotted that he’d been at Andy’s veteran’s meeting) and woke to find a suicide bomb strapped to his chest.
Walking a fine line between dark comedy and edge-of-the-seat drama, he then faced off with pretty much every member of the already over-stretched police force over whether or not to try to defuse it, made a definitive speech about war, love and the fragility of man and then headed off on his very own long walk accompanied by Vicky and followed at a distance by various police officers. Luckily, Richard Madden’s charisma proved more than equal to the over-the-top plotting and I was able to ignore the more mad moments in favour of desperately hoping that David made it to the end of the episode.
The politicians
It’s always the quiet ones. Sneaky, determinedly uncharismatic Mike Travis ended the episode as the last man standing after both the prime minister and secret service boss Stephen Hunter-Dunn fell spectacularly from grace after Ann Sampson’s decision to leak the kompromat. How far were the security services involved? I tend to think that they saw a chance in the aftermath of Julia’s death to get Ripa18 passed and acted accordingly and opportunistically. The real conspirators were, of course, elsewhere.
The conspiracy
I’m very fond of how all this worked out. From the revelation that it was Craddock rather than Sampson who was the guilty one (something I began to wonder after her perfunctory attempts to talk to David at the hostage scene); to the unveiling of Nadia as a scornful, fully-qualified engineer and bomb creator.
Full credit in particular to Anjli Mohindra, who played Nadia and who managed to say so much with her eyes throughout the series. From the terrified naivety she presented at the start, to the calculated zealotry she revealed at the end. That switch was in direct contrast to Gina McKee’s Anne Sampson, a woman who always sounded several shades more guilty than she actually was, but who turned out to have a moral code. Her line about a woman having been murdered demonstrating that she at least was always aware that this was more than a political game.
Additional notes
I still wasn’t entirely sure of Chanel’s exact role in the criminal organisation – sister, girlfriend, heir, boss? The last seems unlikely but it was an interesting thread left hanging.
I was glad that Julia did not rise from the dead. Her death was the engine that drove the plot and it would have been a cheap piece of theatre to go back on that.
I rather enjoyed Gina McKee’s little Francis Urquhart moment, even if it did leave me unsure as to whether she was entirely a force for good.
When Sharma became suspicious of Sampson, I half expected the scene to cut straight to Ted Hastings and the AC-12 team for the Line of Duty/Bodyguard crossover.
A few end-of-season shoutouts: to John Strickland for a tensely directed final episode, Sophie Rundle for ensuring that her part was always more than simply that of the wife and Stuart Bowman for making Stephen Hunter-Dunn superbly slippery.
Everything was very much set up for a second series, but while I’ve really enjoyed Bodyguard, I’m not sure how excited I would be about that. There was something very appealing about the idea of David getting his life back together and riding off into the sunset. Sometimes one series is all a good drama really needs.
Finally, thank you all for the many fantastic theories and deep conspiracy dives below the line. I haven’t been able to contribute as I would have liked but I’ve loved catching up with all the comments just the same.
Nerve-racking moment of the week
Pretty much every moment of the entire 75 minutes had me biting my nails, but this has to go to the moment when David had to try a bit of DIY bomb removal.
Villain of the week
Luke Aitkens might have been a hard-bitten gangland criminal, and Lorraine Craddock was a self-serving and weak police officer, but this is all Nadia’s. I was genuinely surprised when the mask dropped and I enjoyed the fact that, like the well-meaning David Budd, I too was thoroughly played.
Unsung hero of the week
So many to choose from this week. It could go to bomb disposal expert Daniel Chung, who bravely stepped forward when everyone else seemed primed to shoot David. Or to Vicky, who ran to her estranged husband’s side regardless of her own safety. But I’m giving it to my personal hero DSI Deepak Sharma, who just turned up and did his job week after week without grinding an axe or getting upset. Fortune might not favour the unflashy, DSI Sharma, but I certainly do.
So what did you all think then? Was the conclusion satisfactory or did you think it should play out in a different way? As always, all speculation is welcome below …
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