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“Last Tango in Halifax” recap (2.5): Muriel’s Wedding

The first half of this week’s Last Tango in Halifax felt like a big gulp of comic relief after what has been a very heavy season. It’s as if Sally Wainwright said to herself, “OK, enough with Gillian losing her shit and Kate and Caroline being heartbreaking, let’s just laugh a lot!” But don’t be fooled, because alas! In typical Last Tango fashion, the last half then crashes over our heads and hearts with a devastating echo.

A few months have passed in Last Tango time since our last episode, and we begin at Caroline’s house. As the camera pans up her driveway, we see a bright red and white FOR SALE sign, a sign that really just shouts, “Remember how Kate isn’t moving in here anymore?” And I know it’s a big ridiculous house, and I know it makes the most sense for her to sell it, but oh, I love that house like I love Caroline, and this sign tugs at my heart. And then we see William coming out of the house with John, and giving teary goodbyes to Caroline, because BOOM, William is off to university. Oxford, to be exact. No big deal.

Fine, William, be super busy with a job that you hate, show up once just when you’ve gotten beaten up and are feeling low, and then run off to college! It’s not like I miss you or anything! Caroline tells him that she’s proud of him. And then William says, “I’m proud of you.” Ugh, William. You are almost as perfect as your mother.

Caroline also nags John about making sure he sends in his divorce papers. Finally! After the boys drive away, Celia casually mentions that the bungalow she and Alan were going to buy has fallen through. All of the British homes of my dreams are suddenly slipping through our fingers!

Over at Gillian’s, Ellie has moved in, she and Raff are still going to school every day, and they’re all taking care of Calamity the best they can. And at least Raff and Gillian are actually calling her Calamity, which makes me absurdly happy. It appears that Gillian is just existing on her own for a while, praise the good lord-still no Robbie, and no John, either. Robbie, in fact, has a new girlfriend named Sheryl who might be moving in with him. After Raff shares this news with Gillian, she says, “Right,” in that disappointed yet not surprised way that she does so remarkably and achingly well.

We then turn to Caroline sitting in her office just as Kate knocks on the door. This will be the one Caroline and Kate scene we get this episode, and it’s a jarring one. While things seem less frosty than they were at the end of last episode, there is a separateness that is almost worse, as if they have never been anything other than co-workers. Kate shares the news that she’s pregnant. It’ll be 12 weeks this Saturday. Except she’s not telling Caroline just so they can process that together emotionally; she’s telling Caroline so that she can properly arrange her time off of work, assuming all goes well with the pregnancy. Because they are talking as if Caroline is just her boss. Caroline processes this with a blank face, and says she’ll need time to work out logistics.

When Kate reaches the door, Caroline says quietly, “Congratulations.” And Kate can’t help but smile as she says “Thanks,” twice, a happy mother-to-be against all odds. Yet before the door is even closed, Caroline’s eyes glisten, and she takes a few ragged breaths, in that shaky but almost-controlled way that is almost worse than full on sobbing.

Caroline’s day continues to be pretty downright sucky that night as she and Lawrence share a quiet dinner, with her reading a book and him looking anxious. No Kate; no William; no Celia and Alan (who are at Gillian’s, helping with Calamity); it is a quiet and sort of sad house all of a sudden. But it’s still not worthy of what Lawrence finally spits out: “Can I go and live with my dad?” Dad, by the way, is now living with Judith. When Caroline asks why he’d want to do that, he replies, “He’s not boring.”

Oh, dear, dear Lawrence. I know your mum may be a bit uptight, but please, she is not boring. And when she says that you don’t want to live in Judith’s flat, you should really probably trust her on that one. And speaking of his dad, when John comes to pick up Lawrence for the weekend, he pulls Caroline aside and has some shocking news himself. Judith is pregnant.

Ha, this series! Full of weird, out of the blue pregnancies. Caroline appears absolutely befuddled by this news, and asks if Judith is planning on keeping it. John makes a series of vague John-ish words and gestures, signifying that presumably yes, but it’s complicated.

Much of the plot of the rest of the episode is taken up with some drama over Alan and Celia’s wedding planning, mainly to do with Celia’s sister Muriel, who Celia clearly hates. She hadn’t even told her about the wedding or about Alan, in fact, until Caroline mentions it to her, which is the reason why Caroline is “so far in the doghouse that there’s no hope of getting out,” as we kept seeing her say in previews. Alan and Celia travel to Muriel’s that weekend, and Muriel and Alan seem to get along just fine while Celia has constant Grumpy Face. All of which presents the fact once again that Caroline truly is her mother’s daughter: a bit snotty and definitely judgmental, yet there’s something amusing about it all the same.

Gillian has also decided that she’s tired of all this feet dragging, and volunteers herself and Caroline to plan this wedding for them. Caroline eventually agrees, and the two meet at Gillian’s during the weekend to look at venues. As Caroline pulls into the drive, Robbie, his new girlfriend, and Ellie and Raff and the baby are all headed out. The new girlfriend Sheryl seems exuberantly, if a bit awkwardly, friendly, a bit too perky for either Gillian or Caroline’s tastes. As they wave goodbye, Caroline says pleasantly, hilariously, “She’s annoying.”

In a somewhat sad twist of fate, Caroline takes them to the same hotel we spent so much time in last episode, where she and Kate fell out. Even though it’s where they broke up, it struck Caroline as a lovely place for a wedding. Gillian has gotten dressed up for the occasion, which we don’t see that often, and while they share lunch, Caroline dishes out the dirt about Celia and Muriel. I think it has something to do with a man, who used to date Celia but ended up as Muriel’s husband, but to be honest I have a hard time following as all I can think about is how damn fine both of these women look.

They both also seem quite happy, and quite happy with each other’s companies, and it’s so wonderful to see both of them smiling and laughing, especially with each other. As they tour the grounds and the hotel workers keep filling them with alcohol, they agree that the hotel seems perfect for their parents. As Caroline is on the phone with Celia at one point to tell her just that, Gillian leans over to share a sudden realization she’s just had: that the hotel staff might believe that the wedding they’re looking into is for them, Caroline and Gillian.

When Caroline asks why they’d think that, Gillian responds that she guesses they remember her bringing Kate here, and so they probably think “I’m just another one of your women.” And they suddenly collapse in giggles. I collapse in giggles. We all collapse in giggles. Caroline tries to keep it together long enough to finish the phone call with her mother, the effort of which just makes her laugh harder, and this has to be the best Last Tango in Halifax scene ever written in history. She finally musters out a high pitched, “Bye bye!,” as Gillian twirls her hair around her finger in mock-seduction-“Don’t do that, it’s frightening”-and then both women descend into actual big bellied laughter.

 

As a taxi drives them back to Gillian’s, we learn that in her drunken stupor, Caroline has left her phone at the hotel, which is bad time for Lawrence. He’s sitting alone at Judith’s flat, where both Judith and John had left hours earlier-Judith in a haze of distraction, John following after to make sure she doesn’t drink because baby. Lawrence calls Caroline and asks her to come get him, and apologizes for calling her boring. And I feel bad for all the mean things I’ve said about Lawrence over the last few weeks, because right now, he just appears somewhat small, and lonely: just a boy in need of a good parent.

The two adults will eventually return to Judith’s flat, and indeed they have been drinking, baby be damned, and as they argue, John discovers that Lawrence is nowhere to be found.

The good times continue to spiral into darkness here, as Caroline and Gillian lay out on Gillian’s country couch and their drunkenness spreads from fun giggling to overly honest confession, as drunkenness is wont to do. Gillian asks what really happened with Kate, and Caroline stares into the distance, delivering this heart aching monologue.

“I blew it with Kate. I really blew it. And I only realize now how lovely it was, how precious. And I’ve tried to apologize, but she won’t listen. I think she’s decided that I’m bad for her. There’s nothing I can do or say. I’m just in a box now with ‘bad’ written on it. Well, not bad. Just arrogant, inept, selfish, repressed, just emotionally crippled.”

Maybe these things are true. But you are a beautiful emotional cripple, Caroline. And while I was one of the ones defending Kate’s rage last episode, it’s suddenly unfathomable to me that Kate is able to stay away from such a specimen as Caroline Elliot.

When Caroline passes the shoe back to Gillian, however, and asks about Robbie, Gillian says that’s a different story altogether, and oh, how true that is. And then begins minutes of painful anticipation, as Gillian leads up to what we all know she’s going to say: that she murdered Eddie. She murdered him after he repeatedly beat her-“I’ve shed blood in every room of this house.” She murdered the only true family Robbie had ever had, and that’s why they can never work, even though they “could have been great together.” The horrible, trembling Nicola Walker cry face is back with a vengeance.

Caroline’s eye get large when Gillian first confesses, and then as she continues to tell the tale, Caroline seems to sink into herself, stock still on the couch, unsure about why Gillian is telling her this-the last thing Gillian says before they fall asleep is that she’s not sure why she’s told her, either-and we’re left wondering what Caroline is actually thinking about it all.

The last scene of the episode shows both women passed out on the two couches, with Gillian soon jumping up to puke in the sink. But clearly, she wasn’t drunk enough to completely forget what she had said, and she looks into the living room at Caroline’s still sleeping form, her face full of horror and regret.

Next week is the finale of the Series 2. (And yes, a Series 3 has been confirmed, although who knows when we’ll get it.) What do you hope to happen? How do you think Caroline will react once she wakes up? And do you think there’s any future at all for her and Kate?

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