Yesterday I watched the final episode of Waterloo Road series 5 on BBC1. I had been looking forward to this for a long time as the final two episodes have been delayed due to the world cup and the series so far had been excellent.
If you have never watched it, try and see some episodes on BBC iPlayer because they are very fantastic. Featuring storylines such as abused teens who have snapped and murdered their parents, gay pupils who almost cause their teachers to be sacked because of false accusations, and school trips going very wrong resulting in a teacher going into labour!
Despite these brilliant storylines, I feel that the last two episodes were extremely rushed and did not meet my initial standards. Some people will not agree with me obviously, but I felt as if they had said in their meeting “Ok so we need to tie up any loose threads in these two episodes and give everyone a happy ending”. Admittedly everyone did not get a happy ending, Kim and Chris split up; of all the endings I would have wanted, I think them two getting together was what I wanted most!
What was going on with Bolton and Sam, I mean if my prom date had swapped me to be some bloke who shunned me, I would be pretty angry! Then there was the cliché of everyone in the hall looking at her as if she was the most stunning girl there; can I just say, she did look lovely but come on Waterloo Road is not exactly known for its cheesiness- I felt as though I was watching an episode of Glee. It was just too much. They won king and queen of prom and during this nice and fluffy crowning session, Kim Campbell seemed to have forgotten that Finn Sharkey was being hunted down on a desolate beach after leaving a suicide note in the form of a drawing of a gravestone. She is meant to be head of pastoral care!
Talking of Finn Sharkey, the actor who plays him, Jack McMullen, did a fabulous job of portraying Finn while on the beach with Amy. It was very emotional the scene where Chris Mead saved Finn from drowning himself in the sea; Jack played the part wonderfully showing an almost frighteningly emotional side to Finn which viewers have not seen before. While I have expresses my distaste with the last episode of the series so far in this review, I must praise this scene and its actors for the way the sensitive issue was presented.
Overall this episode was a disappointment to me, I felt it could have been much better if it had not been so rushed and also if there had been a dramatic end or twist which was not so predictable. My love of Waterloo Road has not been diminished at all and I will be watching series 6 when it returns in the autumn but my rating for this episode individually will have to be a 5/10. I found that I was only glued to the screen when Jack McMullen was acting and I was not surprised by any of the outcomes of the episode.
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