Noughts + Crosses has come to an end with Callum and Sephy’s relationship tested to its extreme during a political crisis.
A month has passed since Ryan McGregor’s death and Callum (Jack Rowan) has joined the LM. The leader of the LM, Jack Dorn (Shaun Dingwall) plans to use Callum’s relationship with Sephy (Masali Baduza) as a way to strike at the heart of Albion’s government.
Throughout the series, the relationship between Callum’s journey has been one where he wanted to change Albion. He wanted to change from Albion by being an example but ends up taking a different course to this society’s instituted racism. He ends up becoming a terrorist and taking part in Dorn’s violent actions.
In previous episodes, Callum did have a bitter side because he saw Sephy as naive. In this episode, he was hateable due to how he treats Sephy. He tricks Sephy by using her feeling so the LM could kidnap her. This is why Sephy should have had bodyguards. Callum and Sephy were bitter to each other and their relationship had deteriorated so much that Sephy stabs him in the back in an attempt to escape. They only reconcile because Sephy reveals she’s pregnant.
The subplot involving Kamal (Paterson Joseph) and his illegitimate son, Yaro (Luke Bailey) comes to end. Yaro and Meggie (Helen Baxendale) try to sell the story to the press, but no one’s interested. It shows that the government has even more control than was already suggested. When the story finally gets told it’s twisted against Yaro: so not much different to real life.
The aspect I found the most interesting was Dorn’s character and plan. Dorn planned to cause as much civil disobedience as possible that it would force Africa to make Albion independent. It’s similar to what happened other independence movements did to force out their colonial masters. Dorn obviously went for a more violent approach. When Dorn and Kamal confront each other Dorn states that Albion is a backwater and the Crosses would be a minority trying to control an angry population.
The finale was a let-down considering how strong the rest of the series has been. After tackling series the ending felt like a cop-out. The series changed to the ending of the novel, for the worst. In the novel, Callum gets arrested and publically executed whilst the series shows Callum and Sephy running away to the countryside and going into hiding. The episode shows Kamal choosing his family over political aspirations and resigns as Prime Minister: which would have caused a major political crisis because he was only in the job for a month. It seemed like the showrunners were trying to round up as many plotlines as possible in case the BBC decides not to renew it for a second season.
The final episode was a bit of a disappointment feeling like a lacklustre conclusion and undermines the excellent work of the previous episodes.
-
Direction
-
Writing
-
Acting
