The Deciding Battle
After last week’s flashback episode helped to fill in the gaps to what happened to Myfanwy, The Rook’s finale adopts a surprising change of pace, with quick-cut action and a final push to save our heroine once and for all. With an ambiguous, open ending and the foundation set for a potential second season, The Rook does well to end things on a bang although if this one isn’t renewed, especially given the low viewing numbers, the unanswered questions may remain that way. The finale itself begins with Myfanwy and her sister discussing plans to escape. With chaos and confusion surrounding the agencies, there’s never been a better time to go. We then cut to Dover with Myfanwy walking purposefully through to the ferry terminal. Attempting to stay calm, paranoia washes over her as the ferry is delayed. After splashing her face with water, she heads back to the waiting area only to be grabbed and taken away by a mysterious armed guard. After his night with Monica, Robert gets dressed and leaves after she tells him not to come back. At the office, Conrad learns from the Home Secretary that the office is under investigation again, thanks to the situation with Linda Farrier. Conrad realizes, thanks to some home truths, that leadership isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and he is now responsible for any, and all, problems the company faces. However, after some deliberation Conrad lets Linda go, only for her car to be ambushed en-route to her home and an armed guard takes her away. Myfanwy awakens to find her captor, Sophia, having injected her with a strange bee venom that keeps her incapacitated. Unfortunately, it turns out she works for the company responsible for selling EVAs and Myfanwy is put up for auction. With the sale complete and Farrier arriving at the auction house soon after, Myfanwy is put in an armoured car and taken away. Determined to escape, she begins hitting the wall until one of the guards opens the back doors, ready to inject her with the bee serum again. However, the other guard suddenly grabs the stick and stabs his comrade, revealing that he’s actually on her side and part of the resistance. Determined to break Farrier out, Myfanwy heads back to the auction house, evading the guards while the twins begin picking them off one by one. They run into Myfanwy soon after who tells them she needs to find Lorik to stop the operation once and for all. While the twins break Farrier out, Myfanwy comes face to face with Lorik. For the first time, Myfanwy embraces her powers and kills the Russian, clenching her fists as blood oozes from the man’s eyes and nose. Contorting and writhing in pain, he drops to the floor infront of her, leaving Myfanwy stunned at her own power. As Myfanwy leaves the house, she says her goodbyes only to find a letter in the back of the ambulance that reads “Blame it on me”. As she heads home to figure out just who she is, Myfanwy writes a letter to herself, promising to use her power for good and to make a real difference in the world. As she jogs down the all-too-familiar bridge we’ve seen before, we cut back to Farrier and Myfanwy’s sister who purposefully get in a car together and drive off, mentioning they have work to do. With some decent action and a tense third act, The Rook closes things out in a compelling way. I can’t help but feel that Starz’s latest drama could have been so much more thrilling had they chosen to adopt this pacing throughout the 8 episodes. Still, there’s been enough mystery and drama to make this an interesting and entertaining series nonetheless, closing things out with a compelling finale. Whether this one will be renewed again remains to be seen but if it is, hopefully we’re graced with a little more action and a quicker pace to keep things injected with a good level of excitement. The Rook ends as it begun – as an intriguing, interesting thriller that manages to land a pretty good finale, despite the flaws inherent with the series up to this point. It’s not the best drama out there, but it is a solid one, making for some entertaining TV over the weeks.
