I find it hard to believe that she jumped - very out of character & not good enough reason. I can only assume that the writers meant to imply that she left to go back up North. Not happy with that ending at all, don't think it worked and felt inappropriate for the tone of this series. Enjoyed the rest of it though.
I find it hard to believe that she jumped - very out of character & not good enough reason. I can only assume that the writers meant to imply that she left to go back up North. Not happy with that ending at all, don't think it worked and felt inappropriate for the tone of this series. Enjoyed the rest of it though.
... Wouldn't showing her getting on a train/bus to Euston/Paddington/Victoria to suggest she was going to travel have suggested that moreso than having her in a similar spot but a different place, staring out at the Thames, like Mickey Joy?
I assumed it was late at night and she would join another one in the next few days.
I don't buy at all Mickey Joy showing her the error of her ways and so her having a road to damascus experience.
It wasn't just Mickey Joy though. It was Clive betraying her, Billy coming undone and compromising himself over time like Joy did, failing to save an innocent man, facing being perenially overlooked by the boys club and ending up as a silk with only her job and a bottle in the bottom drawer for real company once a new pretty face comes along...
I wish writers would give a proper ending when it's the last episode ever. You wouldn't dream of writing a book and leaving the reade to guess the ending would you?
Seems to be par for the course these days. Even the superb Line of Duty had a disappointing ending. It's as if writers now consider tying up loose ends is an old fashioned concept, everything must be left ambiguous so that we end up scratching our heads.
Everything seemed so rushed as well. The build-up had taken a few episodes at a leisurely pace, then it's as if the writer ran out of time and was told to finish everything off in the final 15 minutes.
For what it's worth, I don't think Martha committed suicide. The "disappearance" wasn't meant to be taken literally, she had just disappeared out of Billy's life. After all, it was their relationship that was the strongest thread throughout the series, and the one which took the whole thing to an entirely different level.
I thought it implied Martha walked off and left the cambers everyone behind. I didn't think it was implying suicide.
I would agree. She said earlier she was homesick - I think she wanted to get away and the last thing she wanted to see was those two - so she simply gave them the slip
What a dreadful ending to a good series, so disappointed.
Unfortunately BBC tend to this as of late. Good set ups, poor finishes. Luther, Inside Men, Line Of Duty.... they can tell a decent story, just not provide a satisfying conclusion.
Well, it sounds like I'm the only one but I liked the ending. I much prefer it when shows leave you thinking rather than wrapping everything up neatly.
I don't mind open endings, but there are good open endings and crap open endings, and this is definitely in the latter category.
I remember when Silk began it was supposed to be a fairly realistic portrayal of a chambers. The last episode was so far beyond anything that could ever happen in a court of law that it could have been filmed on another planet. How could we take seriously a trial that was carried out like that?
All court drama scenes are different from the real thing, but they still follow certain conventions - this last episode threw all those away. Pathetic story and worse execution. No wonder the BBC are not going to make any more.
Unfortunately BBC tend to this as of late. Good set ups, poor finishes. Luther, Inside Men, Line Of Duty.... they can tell a decent story, just not provide a satisfying conclusion.
Been thinking about this tonight.
I'm an avid reader and once threw a book at the wall because the ending infuriated and frustrated me. I get totally involved with the characters as i do with good drama (as, clearly do we all).
In a one-off drama I expect a conclusión as I do with a book.
Silk was a kind of high class soap -episodic and by it's nature no conclusión. We were watching an ongoing story.
On reflection I like that the writer created people we loved (or didn't) and left us wondering what happened next. The Main actors were súperb - i watched their characters, not their acting.
(Please forgive mistakes - I'm typing on new IPad, hard enough, but in Spain it wants me to sepas spanish and i can't evento do that for reál).
That was very poor.
Was Billy supposed to have been found innocent of harassment, "I did it, but I was ill". Well, if you can't conduct yourself properly because you are ill, then you should be on sick leave.
What on earth was that drivel on the court room? There's blood on the sleeve and I just pulled the jacket out of the evidence bag and waved it around???
Mickey the star witness, except he offered about zero evidence. And the killer was left-handed, yes because you can only shoot someone in the head on the left if you are left handed??
They bugged Martha's office so they could hear Clive bonking Harriet? Or does she rehearse all her speeches and questions out-loud?
I can only assume Martha has gone to another chambers, hopefully not to return.
Yes. You are supposed to declare evidence to the defence before producing it in court...roll eyes. Some of the dialogue in court was totally ridiculous.
I am sorry but Clive being Head of Chambers seriously, he has been QC for 5 minutes. Wanted CW or Martha to get it both have FAR more experience than Clive.
Maxine Peake is fantastic, I am baffled too.
Billy is another one I am baffled too
I am sorry but Clive being Head of Chambers seriously, he has been QC for 5 minutes. Wanted CW or Martha to get it both have FAR more experience than Clive.
Maxine Peake is fantastic, I am baffled too.
Billy is another one I am baffled too
I used to work in Chambers (in Lincoln's Inn) for many years. The job of Head of Chambers is mostly admin and performed by a much older barrister with a far lighter workload. Busy and successful QCs like Martha would never have enough time to take on this role.
She was frustrated, frustrated that chambers was going down the prosecution route, frustrated that due to her being distracted with Sean she missed a vital piece of evidence, saddened that billy was going and saddened that clive was betraying her. She spoke of her being homesick and I guess a change would allow her to continue with defense. Not all drama needs a "and then we went home and went to bed, it was a very good day" ending. Let it be partly ambiguous, let us all draw our own conclusions.
Did I see this right? The guy retrieves the jacket, stuffs it into a bin liner from the cafe bogs, and then without any forensic analysis at all of said jacket, it's produced in court as evidence in a murder trial? O rly?
I didn't particularly mind the ending (did the writers know the show was being cancelled before they wrote it). I took from it that she was fed up with everything and has just packed it all in.
However, that whole story with Mickey Joy was awful. All that nonsence about telling the truth just once, it was an awful storyline and not very well done.
Having defended the Billy prostate cancer story as evidence of Peter Moffat as a writer who has something to say, I was left baffled by last night's series closer by what on earth we were supposed to conclude from Silk as a series. I love a series where depth of character means you have to think and characters have a real richness (Mad Men being the prime example) - but that's not what we saw yesterday evening. Shouldn't the end of a series mean an opportunity to round off a character's journey in a satisfying way? Letting the viewer draw their own conclusions is rather different from placing a huge question mark over whether the central character lives or dies. What were we supposed to take from the final scene? That Martha has, in the course, of one episode, become so disillusioned with the law thanks to the unmotivated and extremely conveniently timed machinations of a man she despises? As a result of which she has jumped into the Thames or gone north? Pur-lease. It all felt contrived and not true to Martha's character at all.
I expect much, much more of Peter Moffat and this was a weak conclusion to a weak series that proves that the BBC's London in-house drama team are totally clueless when it comes to popular drama. And the amount of fawning over each other the production team and their chums were doing on Twitter last night only confirms that.
Unfortunately BBC tend to this as of late. Good set ups, poor finishes. Luther, Inside Men, Line Of Duty.... they can tell a decent story, just not provide a satisfying conclusion.
Absolutely THIS. We, as viewers, are asked to invest in characters and the story and then the writer ends on a complete farce. "Finding a jacket" to send a guy down for murder??? WTF. Then the ending itself... Why can't writers start winding down the story mid-series in order to give a more satisfactory conclusion?
And to be clear: I neither demand "happy" endings or everything offered on a plate, but you've got to show the viewer a bit of respect.
Did I see this right? The guy retrieves the jacket, stuffs it into a bin liner from the cafe bogs, and then without any forensic analysis at all of said jacket, it's produced in court as evidence in a murder trial?
Yep, utter tripe. Along with recalling Mickey without having a clue what he was going to say.
Completely different to previous series.
I re-watched the last scene and I am positive Martha didn't kill herself. Billy saw her on the edge of the road. So unless she literally spun round and took a flying leap over the quite high river wall within seconds then she couldn't possibly have had time to jump. She clearly just walked off down the street with the passing bus covering her exit. When Billy looked up it was only back to the same spot as before, he didn't turn his head left down the street ;-)
Comments
... Wouldn't showing her getting on a train/bus to Euston/Paddington/Victoria to suggest she was going to travel have suggested that moreso than having her in a similar spot but a different place, staring out at the Thames, like Mickey Joy?
It wasn't just Mickey Joy though. It was Clive betraying her, Billy coming undone and compromising himself over time like Joy did, failing to save an innocent man, facing being perenially overlooked by the boys club and ending up as a silk with only her job and a bottle in the bottom drawer for real company once a new pretty face comes along...
I can understand Clive being made Head of Chambers - one reason being even in this day and age, law is still male dominated.
Exactly. Stupid girl moans about being felt up but then picks Clive hoping to get a shag out of it.
Seems to be par for the course these days. Even the superb Line of Duty had a disappointing ending. It's as if writers now consider tying up loose ends is an old fashioned concept, everything must be left ambiguous so that we end up scratching our heads.
Everything seemed so rushed as well. The build-up had taken a few episodes at a leisurely pace, then it's as if the writer ran out of time and was told to finish everything off in the final 15 minutes.
For what it's worth, I don't think Martha committed suicide. The "disappearance" wasn't meant to be taken literally, she had just disappeared out of Billy's life. After all, it was their relationship that was the strongest thread throughout the series, and the one which took the whole thing to an entirely different level.
I would agree. She said earlier she was homesick - I think she wanted to get away and the last thing she wanted to see was those two - so she simply gave them the slip
Unfortunately BBC tend to this as of late. Good set ups, poor finishes. Luther, Inside Men, Line Of Duty.... they can tell a decent story, just not provide a satisfying conclusion.
I remember when Silk began it was supposed to be a fairly realistic portrayal of a chambers. The last episode was so far beyond anything that could ever happen in a court of law that it could have been filmed on another planet. How could we take seriously a trial that was carried out like that?
All court drama scenes are different from the real thing, but they still follow certain conventions - this last episode threw all those away. Pathetic story and worse execution. No wonder the BBC are not going to make any more.
Been thinking about this tonight.
I'm an avid reader and once threw a book at the wall because the ending infuriated and frustrated me. I get totally involved with the characters as i do with good drama (as, clearly do we all).
In a one-off drama I expect a conclusión as I do with a book.
Silk was a kind of high class soap -episodic and by it's nature no conclusión. We were watching an ongoing story.
On reflection I like that the writer created people we loved (or didn't) and left us wondering what happened next. The Main actors were súperb - i watched their characters, not their acting.
(Please forgive mistakes - I'm typing on new IPad, hard enough, but in Spain it wants me to sepas spanish and i can't evento do that for reál).
Gibón up.
None at all
Clive Reader was not much cop at all. Never was.
Yes. You are supposed to declare evidence to the defence before producing it in court...roll eyes. Some of the dialogue in court was totally ridiculous.
CW was easily the best choice.
I used to work in Chambers (in Lincoln's Inn) for many years. The job of Head of Chambers is mostly admin and performed by a much older barrister with a far lighter workload. Busy and successful QCs like Martha would never have enough time to take on this role.
However, that whole story with Mickey Joy was awful. All that nonsence about telling the truth just once, it was an awful storyline and not very well done.
I expect much, much more of Peter Moffat and this was a weak conclusion to a weak series that proves that the BBC's London in-house drama team are totally clueless when it comes to popular drama. And the amount of fawning over each other the production team and their chums were doing on Twitter last night only confirms that.
Absolutely THIS. We, as viewers, are asked to invest in characters and the story and then the writer ends on a complete farce. "Finding a jacket" to send a guy down for murder??? WTF. Then the ending itself... Why can't writers start winding down the story mid-series in order to give a more satisfactory conclusion?
And to be clear: I neither demand "happy" endings or everything offered on a plate, but you've got to show the viewer a bit of respect.
I was so disappointed and sad that a great series degenerated into run of the mill garbage. Maxine Peake and Neil Stuke in particular deserved better.
Completely different to previous series.