Summary
Down Cemetery Road delays the inevitable for as long as possible in “Lights Go Out”, but a late flurry of violence sets the stage for the finale.
The last episode of Down Cemetery Road felt like a penultimate episode, so it stands to reason that Episode 7, “Lights Go Out”, should feel like a finale. It doesn’t, though, in part because it endeavours to keep its various conflicting parties at arm’s length for so long that, when they inevitably collide, there isn’t a great deal of time left. But a flurry of late violence, the death of one main character, and the uncertain fate of another, set the stage pretty perfectly for the climax.
We knew that everyone was heading to the same place, but thanks to some deliberately tricky editing, the first few minutes of “Lights Go Out” turn into that one episode of The Mandalorian where Luke Skywalker turned up. It’s impossible to tell whether it’s Amos or Downey closing in on Dinah’s temporary safehouse until her incompetent guards are both dead and the gunman is inside. Luckily, it turns out to be Downey, and Dinah is thrilled to see him.
Amos isn’t far behind, though, so Downey is forced to spirit Dinah and Steph away. It’s worth pointing out now, since she sadly catches a bullet in the head later, but Ella Bruccoleri has been really good in this in a very understated role.
Briefly, we cut back to London to check in with the British government. Thanks to Zoe leaving all of her collected evidence with Janice, along with instructions to call DI Varma if she happens to disappear, which of course she has, our reluctant sympathetic copper finds his way to Talia Ross. On the subject of actors being really rather good in thankless parts, Lydia Leonard has a moment here as Talia that is positively redolent with smug menace. It’s great fun to see C, who has been tormenting Malik all season, get a taste of his own medicine. As for Malik himself, I have no idea where he is, which has only just occurred to me.
Anyway, nobody told Sarah and a very seasick Zoe, who are trapped at sea aboard a stalled boat with a kidnapped captain, that Down Cemetery Road Episode 7 isn’t really a comedy anymore. Their interactions are very funny as a result. I was especially partial to Sarah getting the captain on-side by pretending that the mysterious, unmapped island — which is technically English sovereign territory, thanks to the Ministry of Defense — is being used by the English for nefarious purposes. Hearing that, he’s all too happy to help.
And help he does, by dropping Sarah and Zoe off on a beach that the signage implies is full of landmines, and then hastily sailing away and leaving them to it. It’s the thought that counts, though. In a stroke of contrivance that would probably be more of a problem in a different show that takes itself more seriously, Sarah and Zoe stumble on Downey and Dinah’s hiding spot pretty much immediately, moments before Amos also finds it and arrives with a big assault rifle to avenge his brother’s death.
Downey’s death here in “Lights Go Out” feels like a terrible shame in how matter-of-fact it is. He gets his heroic moment by luring Amos away, allowing Sarah and Zoe to flee with Dinah, but his stand-off with Amos amounts to very little beyond his being outsmarted, shot in the leg, and eventually killed by unceremonious stabbing. And Sarah and Zoe don’t even make the most of the distraction. By the time Amos gets back to where he found them — where, by the way, he accidentally killed Steph when he opened fire on the buildings — they’re still there, trying to decide what to do.
What they eventually settle on is Zoe luring Amos away while Sarah flees to the cliffs with Dinah, with both avenues proving to be pretty dramatic. Sarah and Dinah need a way down the cliff to access the inflatable boat that Amos arrived on, but the only conceivable route is jumping off into the sea. Zoe, meanwhile, has to leg it, which Amos sees as an opportunity to practice his marksmanship.
Sarah and Dinah eventually make it to the boat and circle the headland to pick Zoe up, prompting a mad dash across the beach and the funny reveal that there really are landmines under the sand after all. Zoe’s fate is left unknown, and Sarah is forced to leave her behind when Amos turns his attention to her boat. It’ll be up to the finale to reveal how all that shook out, but with Malik hovering somewhere in a helicopter, and the Scottish boat captain still lurking not far offshore, I reckon everyone will be okay. For now.
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