Gavin & Stacey review: The Finale was the perfect ending to a special show
Well, folks it's over. Pass the tissues and start the rewatch, because we're going to be crying over this one for a while.
This final 90 minutes of Barry Island and Billaricay occurances hauled us over the coals and back again topped off with a hedge jump in Dave's Coaches.
I'll get straight to it - it was the perfect way to wrap up one of Britain's most beloved comedies. You're damn right I don't want them to make any more because it gave fans exactly what they want.
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We had to go round the Sonia-shaped houses for a bit but we got there in the end and it was glorious.
Comedy is at its greatest when it glimmers through the cracks in those incredibly odd, or sad, or heartfelt moments. John Sullivan is hailed as the creator of the UK's most beloved comedy, Only Fools and Horses, a show that knew how to have its audience doubled over in stitches at giant satellite dishes, Del Boy on a paraglider or some surprise blow-up dolls, and equally cut them to the core with the death of their beloved grandad, or Cassandra's miscarriage.
Ruth Jones and James Corden's writing on Gavin & Stacey stands shoulder to shoulder with the show often voted as the greatest British comedy of all time. You'll crack up in anticipation of a Pete and Dawn exchange or sob your eyes out at Mick's gently-crafted, stunning tribute to Smithy at his stag do or Bryn's speech to Stace on the wedding day. I hold my breath for an 'oh my Christ' from Pam and can barely contain a giggle when Steffan Rhodri appears as Dave Coaches and greets Ness with a "alright, Ness, how's it going, alright?"
Just because I speak like that sometimes and it's so familiar, it's still weirdly hilarious to hear it on telly.
Jones said in the pre-show screening that the show's success is partly because it's a group of characters who all love each other in different ways and in an uncynical way, and she's right.
That sort of relationships combined with the beautifully ridiculous or comedy derived from the everyday, is why, for millions of people it connects, and it stays and it's why the utterly uncynical ending of this series is what all fans wanted to see. A wedding between Smithy and Nessa. I'm so happy it happened. If you're disappointed with the schmalzty(ish), happy ending, were you even a true fan in the first place?
I was happy with the clever cliffhanger in 2019, I really was and if they didn't make any more, fine by me. But they did and if they didn't end up together it could have rolled on for years.
The strength of feeling for this union is such that at the press screening when Sonia reappeared a ripple of gasps floated around the room. Who saw that coming? I didn't! Fair play to Laura Aikman who kept her involvement under such tight wraps she apparently didn't even tell her parents.
But enough of the cosy, cwtchy, uncynical elements, the laughs were still there - from Pete's new look and its eye-popping aftermath, Pam's 'flow', Bryn's vicious reception of Dave Coaches as Gwen's boyfriend (loved that), even Gavin and Stacey had me in stitches thanks to the Dierdre Barlow glasses, after years of being the straight man-heart of the comedy. Mathew Horne and Jo Page deserve their dues for being the title characters, often overlooked in terms of 'favourite' characters, but I really enjoyed their outing in this final episode, Horne particulary seemed relaxed as his on-screen alter-ego this time round and it added to the whole enjoyment of the episode.
The callbacks were fan gold, we had an Owain Hughes reference, a KFC corn-on-the-cob revisit, Pam's friend Sue has lost her nickname and, yes, we almost got it out of Dave Coaches what happened on the fishing trip - but we don't know and neither do the creators. One of British comedies' greatest plot distractions.
And so, as Ruth Jones has also said, these characters will go on living, rent free in fans' heads for the forseeable, even after the proper finale finale and that's ok. The thread of Gavin & Stacey is always one that'll be pulled on, whenever any of the cast is interviewed, and fans will be able to get on Dave's Coaches as part of the tour, but don’t get me wrong, but to be honest, at the end of the day, when all’s said and done… do you know what I mean?
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Gavin And Stacey: The Finale is available on BBC iPlayer.
