Inspector George Gently has been a well made and evocative series. It's brought the atmosphere of the 1960s back to life and the contrast between Gently's changing attitudes and those of his right hand man, John Bacchus, have been well handled.
However, in this last episode much of the previous interplay between Gently and Bacchus 1s sadly missing, indeed, our 2 heroes seem to spend most of the time apart. One has to wonder if this is the precursor to a follow up with Bacchus in charge and aided by Rachel Coles, as this seems to be the new 'team'.
While the story line is a decent one and continues the overall theme of Gently being a pursuer of police corruption, it does become a bit extreme and almost a parody of left wing paranoia. Gently suddenly discovering that his wife's murder was arranged by senior authority figures for pseudo-political reasons doesn't make much sense and the denouement is ultimately no surprise; in fact, it's straight out of 'Get Carter'.
In truth, I doubt that getting rid of a senior police officer would have had the effect desired by those who arranged it; surely, it would have lead to an intensive investigation, even in 1970. Discrediting him would have been far more realistic though, perhaps, not as dramatic.
Let's hope that there is at least another episode in which Bacchus and Coles hunt down the killer. For this episode, I think 7/10 is the best I can give it.
However, in this last episode much of the previous interplay between Gently and Bacchus 1s sadly missing, indeed, our 2 heroes seem to spend most of the time apart. One has to wonder if this is the precursor to a follow up with Bacchus in charge and aided by Rachel Coles, as this seems to be the new 'team'.
While the story line is a decent one and continues the overall theme of Gently being a pursuer of police corruption, it does become a bit extreme and almost a parody of left wing paranoia. Gently suddenly discovering that his wife's murder was arranged by senior authority figures for pseudo-political reasons doesn't make much sense and the denouement is ultimately no surprise; in fact, it's straight out of 'Get Carter'.
In truth, I doubt that getting rid of a senior police officer would have had the effect desired by those who arranged it; surely, it would have lead to an intensive investigation, even in 1970. Discrediting him would have been far more realistic though, perhaps, not as dramatic.
Let's hope that there is at least another episode in which Bacchus and Coles hunt down the killer. For this episode, I think 7/10 is the best I can give it.