Plot holes in episode 4
I know this is a sub for the show so this might not be popular but I have to get these off my chest:
- Reuben's wealth
There's no way Reuben would have amassed his wealth in two years out of the clink. The explanation is just 'the rigs'. Even if he worked there for two years flat out he'd be doing well but not that rich that he could buy a big house and bank roll Niall's mum.
2)Maura
Her character is so underdeveloped and confusing - I really found the thought she'd commit suicide over her son going down for 14 years for GBH or whatever hard to believe - we never even see them on screen together - I feel it was just an excuse to show 'shocking' shots of her looking vacant and talk about more violence and taboo stuff . The son had already been in prison and she knew what he was like - it's not like he got 30 years for some horrible, taboo crime. The idea of Niall not hearing about any of this is also completely absurd.
- Niall's mum
She's an absolute mess of a character. One minute she's meant to be a working class, salt-of-the-earth social worker dropping truth bombs to her son and telling it like it is, but on the other she has completely sold Niall down the river from the word go for frumpy Maura and her psycho son and this weird obsession with Reuben continues throughout the show to the extent she becomes completely morally bankrupt for a random crim she barely knows. It's like they haven't decided what type of character she's meant to be.
the library dude - this felt like a real stretch. The posh, stuffy old library man blackmailing people. They could have come up with a much better reason that Niall needed money.
Niall's personality transplant - he is a completey different person in this episode and the explanation is just 'the trial'. I get this is kind of the point, but there's not even a hint of who he was in the earlier episode.
I just feel like this fourth episode was so incredibly jarring and it's completely gone off the rails.
The first episode was really brilliant - the 90s, the West Coast of Scotland setting, the charisma of the young actors, and now it's just Richard Gaad storming around trying to look hard, and a Jamie Bell wearing 15 year old's clothing.