Episode one
Chauvinism, one-upmanship and passive loathing form were the main themes of ITV’s latest three-part thriller The Last Weekend, a miniseries based on the Blake Morrison novel. Rupert Penry-Jones and Shaun Evans star as former University, (or ‘college’), pals Ollie and Ian, who along with their wives Daisy and Em arrive for a weekend of exchanging stern looks in an unloved cottage in rural Suffolk.
It soon transpires that this is no romantic or pleasantly reminiscent break for the two couples however, as the men take part in an annual wager over who wins a triathlon that spans the entirety of the three-day August bank holiday break with its disciplines.
Although the flashbacks and direct addresses were undoubtedly clever, both devices were overused to hammer home the fact that all was not what it seemed with the two friends.
Needless to say, it’s not hard simply to baffle viewers. The tricky bit is to make the experience intriguing rather than off-putting; and so far The Last Weekend has managed that triumphantly. Amid the sharply observed social realism, the background information continued to flow, and to grow increasingly menacing – although who’s being menaced and by whom it’s still impossible to say at this stage.
Episode two
By the second installment of ITV’S The Last Weekend, it was hard to emphasise or sympathise with any of the unlikeable characters (with maybe the exception of Ian’s long suffering wife ‘Em’). However, unsavoury protagonist Ian, played with sinister aplomb by Shaun Evans, and the plot became even more peculiar, but at the same time it grew more engrossing.
Last week saw the scene set as old university friends Ian, now a primary school teacher, and Ollie, now a top barrister, meet up for a reunion at a country house with prospective partners Em and Daisy.
We find out that Daisy had been Ian's girlfriend before Ollie apparently ‘stole’ her from him and that Ian still harbours a burning and actually increasingly obsessive desire for his old flame.
This episode casts a bigger sense of unease and distrust that was already cleverly planted in episode one and it becomes continuingly impossible to know who is telling the truth.
The veracity of Ian's version of events become increasingly doubtful and uncertain as Daisy contradicts him over the nature of their early relationship. Doubts also creep in over whether Ollie's inoperable brain tumour actually exists.
Ian, the protagonist, becomes more unstable and it becomes apparent, through a very tense and competitive triathalon, that his relationship with Ollie is based more on jealousy, rivalry and resentment than friendship.
The tension continues to rise until the final scenes where we see him find Daisy alone and upset and he takes full advantage of her vulnerable state to achieve what he sees as the ultimate victory over his old love rival.
In fact apart from these last scenes, nothing much has happened at all. Ian spies on Daisy and Ollie in bed; Ian and Ollie play a tennis match and have a bike race and life goes on.
But through it all, the nightmarish atmosphere continues and the sense of foreboding builds. The series is truly gripping and it would be impossible not to watch the final episode next week.
Episode three – the finale
By the finale of this intense three-parter, events had become so sinister that viewers were already subtly curious as to who would survive their idyllic country weekend and who would not. By this point, viewers have absolutely no trust in Ian, the narrator, making everything he says a complicated riddle.
As the gap between Ian's perception and reality grows, so does his manipulation of Ollie (whose behaviour is becoming increasingly strange also).
With emotions running high, the triathlon ends in a head-to-head battle in which only one man survives - leading to devastating consequences for the rivals and their partners.
The three-parter concludes at Daisy’s townhouse miles away from the high country grasses of all the preceding narrative and ends on a note which confirms that Ian’s narrative was anything but a true insight into the very long weekends events.