Okay.
Quote:
“It was the bleakest, cruellest, most depressing exit imaginable for this character.
Emmett, Kieron and Bronagh are beautiful, talented, dedicated actors. Richard, Chris and Patrea are wonderful writers, and Steve is an inspired director, enabling his actors to do their best work and making a soap look like a movie. All of these people and the crew have put everything into making these episodes, and have everything to be proud of. Some of the scenes this week have been among the most honest and memorable drama I've seen, far beyond what is usually expected from soaps. We've had so many unforgettable scenes, with Brendan and Cheryl's last scenes in the club being incredibly moving, and the final Stendan scene even more so, with Ste broken and desperate, and Brendan trying to make it easier for him by not giving in to emotion, but falling at the last hurdle. I'm so glad they told each other what they mean to each other one last time. And the music, especially the Johnny Cash cover of 'One', was chosen perfectly.
My issue is with the ending. Brendan is one of those rare characters who is so fully formed that it feels as if he still exists when he's off screen, and, having had it reiterated over the past few weeks that his greatest fear is going back to prison, it's horrible to think of him being locked up for years, with no love and no hope. We know that for him, death would be preferable, and it was only because for once the Hollyoaks police were competent and managed to shoot to disarm rather than kill, that his attempt at 'suicide by cop' failed. Maybe he'll be top dog in prison, and he'll be the one everyone's afraid of – a watered down Seamus, just as he feared. Maybe he'll have a nice cellmate who's up for the occasional shag. Or maybe he'll be a target because of his sexuality, or because he killed a woman, or because if the abuse by his father is used in mitigation, he'll be seen as a victim – another of his fears. His relationship with his children has thawed a little lately (off screen) but will Eileen bring them over to visit him? I doubt it, especially now that she knows he's a murderer. Will Cheryl come over to visit? She'll probably be too busy with her happy ending, and too wrapped up in guilt, to visit regularly. He's already said he won't let Ste visit. He'll have no one.
He asked Cheryl if she knows what unconditional love is, and of course she doesn't. She rejected Brendan when she found out he was gay. She gave him a false alibi when he was wrongfully arrested for Bex's murder, but disowned him for making her miss the royal wedding. She blamed him for Lynsey's death even though she knew how much he loved her (and it was Brendan who stood by Lynsey over the Silas thing while Cheryl dropped their so-called friendship) and barred him from the funeral until the last minute. She encouraged Ste to marry Doug despite knowing how much Brendan loved him, and even organised the wedding. She was oblivious to his tangible pain during their attempt at family counselling, and constantly badgered him to spend time with Seamus when it was obvious – even though she didn't know the details – that Brendan's skin crawled every time they were in the same room. It's true that Cheryl forgave Brendan some terrible things, and always came round in the end, but still to hear Brendan tell her that she was the only one who never let him down, was bitterly ironic. It was the other way around.
Her happy ending would, in isolation, have been lovely, but in the context of her heading off for a new life while her brother takes the rap for what she did, and her best friend's lost the man he loves, it felt calculated to make us hate her. The only thing that stopped me wanting her shiny red car to plummet off a cliff was that it would cause Brendan even more pain. At least as it is he'll feel his sacrifice was worth it in some way.
All of this speaks of Brendan's love for Cheryl and his lifelong protection of her, and had it ended in his death he would have gone out in a blaze of glory and on his own terms. As it is, Walker won. He wanted Brendan to live to see his life ripped apart, and that's what he got. Perhaps Brendan will feel that a weight has been lifted now that he's confessed to the three killings he committed (and two that he didn't), and he'll feel some sort of redemption in being punished for his crimes. I'd argue that he's spent twenty-five years being punished, but he has his Old Testament beliefs that, as well as contributing to his self-hatred, seem to bring him some comfort. So he may feel that he's done the right thing, but I doubt if that satisfaction will sustain him day after day, year after year in a prison cell.
And then there's Ste. He and Brendan love each other and need each other. They've both said in the past week or so, “I can't do this without you.” In Dublin, Brendan said, “I can't live my life without you.” Realistically, Ste would do everything in his power to support Brendan. He would pester him until he caves in and lets him visit. He would go and see Brendan's lawyers and tell them all the mitigating circumstances he could think of. He would make sure Cheryl does the same. He would write to him every day. But we won't get any of this, will we? Kieron's work in this storyline with Emmett has been extraordinary, and his scenes in the final episode were heart-wrenchingly raw. He will be fantastic as we see Ste go into his downward spiral, but if we don't see him fighting for Brendan, his behaviour will be better suited to having been bereaved than having lost Brendan to prison. It's awful when fantastic scenes like the post-Dublin one where Brendan broke down in Ste's arms and Ste promised never to give up on him, are devalued by subsequent events.
Brendan is and always has been a tragic character – that's a major part of his appeal – but his exit was too grindingly dismal to feel properly tragic. I appreciate that a lot of people are relieved that he didn't die, perhaps hoping that it leaves us with the possibility that if Kieron decides to leave sometime in the future, Brendan will come back to get his boy for a sunset ending in the vein of the one McDean (temporarily) got. I'd love to think that's a realistic explanation for letting him live on in this sort of half-life, and if anyone can persuade me that that's more than a pipe dream, please do. I wish I could believe it.
Drama producers are free, of course, to do whatever they like with their characters and it's in the nature of soaps that as far as the show is concerned it's goodbye to Brendan, hello to the Roscoes, Clare, whoever, and they have to move forward. But they must want us to invest in characters and storylines, or what's the point? So the choice of prison as Brendan's exit, leaving us in limbo, with no catharsis and no closure, makes it feel as if his story has been left unfinished.
I hope Kieron will decide soon to spread his wings and leave, before we inevitably see Ste forgetting that the love of his life is rotting in jail, dying a little more each day. I hope the reaction to his performances this week will give him the belief in his own ability that he seems to lack. Emmett and Bronagh, do him a favour and tell him.
I'll always be grateful that we had Brendan Brady for over two and a half years, and that we saw him glimpse the possibility of a future, and achieve a few moments of happiness and peace thanks to Ste.
We'll always have Dublin.
”
it still allowed me to post there
