Screw Episode Six Review

Screw has reached it finale with the series entering into dark territory due to Episode Five’s cliffhanger.

Toby has been shot, forcing C-Wing into lockdown and the police have come in to investigate. Leigh’s a suspect because Toby had discovered her secret, and Rose suffers from guilt because she was the one who had smuggled in the gun. Tensions run high amongst the prison staff because of this.

Episode Five did have a cracking cliffhanger because Toby had been shot and Rose discovered Leigh with his body. Episode Six continues from this point it was impactful because Toby dies as Leigh tries to resuscitate him. The make-up effects were well done because the colour was drained from Toby’s skin before he died. This event had an emotional impact on all the prison guards since they lost a colleague in the line of duty.

The death affected Rose the most. She was hit with guilt and grief. Toby was her friend and she felt responsible for what happened. Leigh also felt the strain of her responsibility since Toby and the prisoners were in her care. Rose and Leigh were both overwhelmed with emotion because of the horrific events. Whilst these scenes had the potential for melodrama, Nina Sosanya, and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell are both terrific actresses and they sell the pain their characters are in.

Throughout the episode there was a symmetry between Leigh and Rose. As stated both had guilt regarding Toby’s death and had secrets that could lead to their imprisonment. This symmetry was completed when Leigh revealed why she disliked Rose. In my review of the first episode, I speculated Leigh and Rose had more in common than they first thought. This was confirmed by Leigh when she spoke to Rose because Leigh said she saw herself in Rose. Leigh wanted Rose out of the prison service out because she feared Rose would waste her life trying to help the prisoners.

Leigh also revealed her backstory and why she had an affinity with the prisoners. She was born in prison so that’s what motivated her to work in prison and live there. She can’t function outside of the prison. The episode shows her trying to end her dependence on the prison.

The main storyline was the police investigation into the murder. It was a typical investigation story that had red herrings, false paths, and had a couple of twists. This was the same formula in previous episodes, especially Episodes Two and Three where there were surprise twists. It was a standard police procedural and the attempts at twists were predictable. The final twist does tie back to the first episode.

The series does conclude on a slightly open end in case a second season gets commissioned. There were a few threads left dangling. However, Screw was met with a muted reaction from audiences, it only has a 6.7 rating on IMDB and my own reviews were mixed. There wasn’t enough material in this season to last six episodes, so how can they make another six episodes?

Screw’s season finale was a serviceable if unremarkable piece of television. O’Donnell and Sosanya did give terrific performances which helped to elevate the finale.