One man’s journey toward some semblance of redemption ends in this final instalment of ITV’s The Trials of Jimmy Rose, and while it’s a conclusion, it ain’t happy by any means.
Well, it wouldn’t be happy viewing, would it? Nor would we expect it to be: Jimmy (Ray Winstone), in his desperation to keep his granddaughter safe, has offered to descend back into crime in order to pay off her debts.
Meanwhile, his best friend and brother-in-law Roy suffers a heart attack, which at least prompts Jimmy to give a heartfelt speech about how much Roy means to him, even if Roy isn’t conscious to hear it.
Jackie (Amanda Redman) is naturally not amused to discover Jimmy’s plans: she’s like one of those friends who, every time she complains of how she’s absolutely done with her partner’s behaviour, you urge her to just dump him, and yet never quite does. But at least it’s through her initiative that she convinces her erstwhile gentleman friend DI Steve to persuade Jimmy to use his position within the criminal ranks to grass on the very naughty men who are selling drugs and laundering money.
And he does! It is, one hopes in some little way, a sign that Jimmy, at long last, has learned to stop talking. That he might actually, at some point, listen to other people a little bit before bumbling into more mess. It’s still difficult simply to feel for him, though, as much as for everyone who has had to kind of get on with their lives with the constant threat and shadow of his well-meaning and disastrous presence at the forefront of their thoughts.
In spite of everything, Jimmy has saved the day. And so, Jimmy ultimately seems to make the sound decision to bow out quietly and leave his family to it. It’s sad watching someone who’s outlived his relevance and doesn’t quite seem to be able to recover it among the family who have got on better without him, but it’s hard to feel that sad.
On his way away from the family home, he takes a selfie with his phone, possibly to show how he’s grown into a greater understanding of the new world he has been let loose on, and in that way I suppose it’s an apt note to end on.
Ultimately, it is probably the image of Ray Winstone’s gratuitous bottom from an earlier scene that will forever be seared into my nightmares.
Aired at 9pm on Sunday 13 September 2015 on ITV.
> Buy The Trials of Jimmy Rose on DVD on Amazon.
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