If you haven’t seen it yet, Happy Valley is a television series you should see. The last of the series just ended so I want to promote it before it disappears under another surfeit of maudlin Disney rehashes which seem to never stop. You really do want to stay up another hour to see the next episode. Yes, of course it is another good vs. evil production with a female (of course) heroine police officer (who is not, of course, particularly young or attractive) with a messed up personal life fighting against not only bad guys, wayward relatives and an incompetent state and police force, but it is filled with loads of irony! The title alone tells you what type of life the inhabitants of the valley must have. You know it is not at all happy. In a sense, the valley itself is a vehicle to contain the microcosm of the world we all live in.
Even my criticism in the first sentence about the stereotypical incompetence of the state and police force may be a little heavy handed. The fact is, ironically, many people do not yet see the dangers of the overreach of excessive political correctness and self-flagellation. When the government posts a job for a “dedicated alien life form liaison officer in response to UFO sightings” described in one episode, which is recognized by even the most incompetent police supervisor as absurd, and it is dismissed as joke by all except one poor dim-witted police officer, and yet, from reading papers and listening to the media daily, it would seem most people “out there” in the real world might have taken the bulletin seriously! In fact, I read one British review where the script was criticized as it was, in effect, white people making fun of aliens! I am not kidding! It is this small type of incident that makes you think and reflects that this series has a superior level of writing and direction. Frankly, you don’t find this depth of thinking in your typical American police series.
It is this combination of levels or irony and meaning that makes this series co compelling. At one point three dead bodies ring the edge of the moor above the valley and the camera pulls back from the horrors of violent death to look over the landscape of the valley and the world, as though they are a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the valley – or perhaps as a symbol of the violence in the valley. Catherine, our heroine, is alone, quiet, reflective, and alert to her surroundings and cues. She is quite the contrast herself to the useless cops who we see running about, sirens wailing, tyres screeching, missing the obvious opportunity to capture the bad guys – they are almost Keystone Kops. And yet Catherine, who so often understands the evil of the baddies, and sees through all bafflegab, has difficulty expressing the depth of the evil in the heart of the man who causes the death of her daughter….but her instincts are still true enough to be able to trust the convict now on parole, and this totally convincing ex-con helps Catherine by offering information in return for her help, providing the connexion the police officer needs. Of course, it is the parole officer who is using the illicit drugs, not the ex-con. A little touch, but good.
The heroine wants to retire and escape the mad world she works in; to drive her used Land Rover on journeys far from the valley to new lands of adventure and imagination. Sadly, of course, the Land Rover needs repairs, echoing the very difficulties she is having in being able to retire and to escape the shackles of her current employment. Life, and our plans, just aren’t that easy to implement.
At the end, she singlehandedly not only saves her own life, but others’ lives, too. She even saves the life of the baddie. So, Catherine, the criticized police officer who is getting in trouble with her boss, not only gets the bad guys that the entire police force could not catch, she solves another baffling case through her cogent analysis, keen observation, police skills and common sense. And it is all done so convincingly. I particularly love the ending line, where our heroine, after having accomplished so much, apologizes to her sister, saying that she is sorry she singed her crotched blanket. It is lovely!
