I Have Got You
After 9 episodes of character drama, the finale of The Village is finally here. Picking up where we left off from before, we return to find Katie rushed into hospital while Sarah entertains her date, blissfully unaware her daughter is phoning. As Liam tries to calm her down, she phones Patricia instead who, midway through talking about her surgery, heads to the hospital with Nick. While Ben drowns his sorrows in alcohol, Sarah eventually does check her phone and makes it to hospital in time where she pleads with over-worked nurses to find Katie. Eventually one does help her, leading her down the corridor where her daughter is being kept. While she rushes to be by Katie’s side, her date arrives and sits in the waiting room for her, where he finds himself engaging in a conversation with Nick. Meanwhile, Enzo makes plans to propose to Gwendolina and, after some initial hesitation, convinces Gabe that this is the right move. He tells him to use the old ring from his previous marriage which prompts him to call on the help of an old nemesis from the nursing home. With an acapella group at hand, he proposes to Gwendolina at her house and she of course says yes. Back at the hospital, Sarah rushes to Katie’s side after an awkward run-in with Nick and her date as the baby is coming and Katie starts contracting. A short labour later, she gives birth and after some initial scares, starts breathing and all seems well. When things have settled down a little, Nick goes and sees Katie where they talk about his time in the war and the issues they’ve had together. She asks him about his best friend in the war and this brings up old memories of Cooper. Given the lukewarm and oftentimes contrived nature of Nick’s storyline this year, his ability to connect with Katie at the end is certainly one of the highlights of the series. Against the wishes of her mother, Katie decides to go and see her baby, whose currently kept in a warming station. Upon seeing her baby for the first time, Katie decides to keep him. It turns out he was oxygen deprived when he was born and Sarah warns her that he may be difficult to handle going forward. Katie heeds the warning but decides to go ahead nonetheless. As another musical montage kicks in, Nick holds the baby for the first time while Sarah kisses her date, possibly hinting to more serious things later on. With the episode drawing to a close, many of our characters’ fates remain unknown. Will Enzo and Gwendolina have a happily-ever-after? Will Ben head up to Canada? And most importantly – will The Village be renewed for a second season? As a previous commenter mentioned in last week’s episode, the sound mixing in this series certainly needs some work. With overlapping vocal tracks coinciding with the dialogue, it can sometimes be difficult to discern exactly what characters are saying. For the most part though, The Village has borrowed most of the better elements from This Is Us, thrown them together and delivered a melodramatic bubble of character drama. While most of the show has been enjoyable, it’s always felt somewhat on the fringes of becoming a memorable series. There’s certainly potential here and if it is renewed for a second season, it could do with a few more mellow moments and more characterisation to help balance it out. Having said that, The Village certainly ends on a high with some good character arcs fleshed out and a consistent journey from start to finish. For that alone, The Village is worth checking out even if it isn’t as good as it could be.
