'Guilt' Exits with a Delinquent Whimper

After two seasons and a whole lot of waiting and hype... well, that was a lot of build-up for nothing. The series finale of Scottish fan favorite Guilt opts for the least exciting outcomes in nearly all the story threads, and much of that can be attributed to the decision to use conversation to drive the plot. The finale is weighed down by too much dialogue and not enough action. Didn’t they learn the golden rule of storytelling? Show, don’t tell. 

To wit, the episode opens with Maggie monologuing; she’s a very classic villain in that sense and loves to speechify. She’s prepared to take her enemies head on if they dare. She’s been a great foe and we expect a showdown. We won’t get one.

Sheila squares off against Max, tossing out a line that sounds important but means nothing: “Beginnings are where you find the endings.” What irks me the most about the intensifying threads is they feel significant, but the payoff isn’t sufficient. It implies something more substantial is in the works, but by the end, things fizzle out disappointingly. It’s like they wanted to write a caper but forgot the heist. It all happens on paper and off-screen when it comes down to stealing the money. It’s cerebral theft. There’s a way to make white-collar crime dramatic, and this isn’t it.

Max offers Yvonne his evidence against Maggie in exchange for the phone data of Roy Lynch and Sturrock’s communications. She declines, wanting to take Maggie down without getting tangled in Max’s sticky web. Good choice.

Erin (Sara Vickers) returns. The last we saw her was in the Season 2 finale when Max ghosted her for America. She exchanges barbed pleasantries with her mother. Maggie seeks closure, wanting to repair things before she goes. (Either out of Edinburgh or to her death.) Erin admits she’s found a good life separate from the Lynches’ legacy.

Aliza demands Max’s bank documents to stop the deal and end Sturrock. He won’t give them up, and further, tells her she’ll stay until she figures out how they can both win: Max getting his money and Aliza taking Sturrock down. Kenny, the show’s favorite punching bag, has survived his encounter with Teddy but is badly banged up and in a coma. Yvonne and Skye talk at the hospital, and Skye is angry – she will do something about the Lynches since the police have done nothing for years. Yvonne says Kenny wouldn’t forgive her if Skye went up against Maggie. Skye counters that if she doesn’t do something about Maggie, who will? Great setup! But we don’t see Skye beyond this point.

At Kenny’s office, Max searches for paperwork as Jake accuses him of not caring about anyone but himself. He claims all who have encountered Max have been ruined in some way. Max disagrees, and his brother asks who the exception is. On cue, Erin walks in.

Jake gives Erin and Max space to talk. Erin asks about their relationship. Max says not now, but soon; he wants to explore a future together; where can he find her when he’s ready? Dundee, she answers, and Max giggles. (Maggie made fun of Dundee as well. Scottish folk, what joke am I missing?) (Ed Note: Dundee sucks, that’s what you’re missing.) 

Jake comes running back in: “Maggie Lynch!” The brothers narrowly escape.

Elsewhere, Kenny wakes up from his coma and finds Yvonne is there. He proposes they go into business together, trying to dissuade her from going after Maggie. Yvonne says sometimes Kenny’s too good, implying she’s ready to get dirty to take Maggie down. After she leaves, Teddy enters and begins talking repentantly. He’s prepared to answer for his crimes but wants to spread the pain around first. Kenny starts panicking but tries reasoning with Teddy. “I can give you what you might just need the most: forgiveness.” Teddy then goes to Yvonne and admits he worked for Maggie, offering recordings of her conspiring to murder the Brothers McCall.

Sturrock is talking tough on the phone to Maggie. He’s enjoying a bit of leverage and says Max has Aliza, not her, and Max is the one getting his deal over the line. Maggie is pissed and starts to get a little threatening, but Sturrock backs down. He’s giving Max and the American to Maggie to handle.

Aliza and Max are preparing to carry out their plan at Sheila’s. Stevie is there and claims to want redemption – except he’s seeking it from Maggie and secretly calls her goons. When Max is ready to leave, Sheila tells him that she and Jake have made a deal to split the money. “If you wanna know how this finishes, just think about what you did at the start.” Max retorts that there was never a plan between her and Jake, and Max even warned that Sheila would target him. Stevie will keep Sheila company so she doesn’t try to stop the deal. Max adds insult to injury by saying he can’t pay what they agreed, instead giving her a “wee bit of petrol money.”

After Max, Jake, and Aliza are gone, Maggie’s henchmen arrive. Sheila hides. Stevie’s surprised to see a gun pointed at him. He just spoke to Maggie that morning: Max in exchange for a clean slate. The henchman quotes, “Gun sighted,” then shoots Stevie in the head. Maggie’s gotten her revenge for Roy’s death. As the only character who dies in the finale, Stevie’s end is ultimately unsatisfying.

Aliza and Max turn up at Sturrock’s office. That was their big plan? To just show up? Sturrock confirms the bank transfer to Max. Aliza allows the merger but says she’ll take her boss’ job. Meanwhile, Jake visits Kenny. He thinks they should have been working together to get out from under Max this whole time. Yvonne shows up to arrest Maggie for conspiracy to murder. At first, Maggie is unfazed, but Yvonne reveals she has incriminating recordings and that Maggie’s society pals have abandoned her – once Yvonne told them there was evidence linking them to Roy Lynch. Maggie’s had it. “This is my f*cking city!” The cops cuff her, and that’s the end of Maggie. Underwhelming.

Sturrock tells Aliza she’s been sacked, but she’s smiling. “Look at your phone. The documents are out there.” Aliza shorted the stock and cashed out, cutting out Sturrock and Richard. She was able to expose them and still get rich legally. It’s not a bad ending for a character who is never even named.

At his brother’s request, Max meets Jake at the cemetery where their mother is buried. Jake reveals he’s taken the money that Sturrock wired. He’s paid Kenny, Skye, and Danny and is keeping the rest for himself in the hopes that it will make Max a better person. Max is livid.

It’s time for Max to do some soul-searching. Do we care? He walks the streets of Leith with meaning, then shows up on Erin’s doorstep in Dundee. They share a smile, and then a baby cries. Max looks like he might run away, but his face settles into determination.

Final Thoughts:

• Max didn’t learn anything; change was foisted upon him. He didn’t earn his happily ever after with Erin.
• Max, a father? That poor child. 
• Maggie and Sheila were the most complex characters in the show. Best performances, too.
• Endings are important. Unfortunately, this one was dull.