This Way Up – Season 1, Episode 6 Review

After six episodes the storylines of This Way Up culminate for the season finale and the show’s strongest entry.

A day approaches for both Aine (Aisling Bea) and Shona (Sharon Horgan). It’s Richard’s (Tobias Menzies) birthday which Aine believes to be the perfect time to make her move. Sharon is set to launch her female networking group with Charlotte (Indira Varma), just as some big secrets start to reveal themselves.

This acts as a great pay off for both Aine’s pining over Richard and the relationship between the sisters. Richard has been quite distant with Aine despite her affection – she was like a desperate teenager in Episode 4 when Richard gave a brief response to her text. When Aine thinks Richard has a girlfriend she goes back into negative patterns by sleeping with her ex (Chris Geere), again. This leads to Aine finding out of Shona’s betrayal.

In the third episode Shona revealed to Charlotte she believed Aine tried to kill herself. Through Freddie, Aine finds out that Shona spoke to other people about her great secret. The sisters have a clash because of this. Aine was upset that Shona spoke to someone else about her breakdown and Shona’s babying of her. Whilst Shona reveals all her worries about Aine, revealing how she found her younger sister and stated she needed to speak to someone about Aine which made that moment from Episode 3 even more poignant.

Their argument was a moment where it swung from emotional and funny. It was a powerful moment in the series. Despite their barney the two still love each other and their interactions were often naturalistic and humorous. Although Shona and Aine were able to patch things up, Aine was cold towards Charlotte for understandable reasons.

The biggest moment of the episode was at the end. It was a twist involving the relationship between Shona and Charlotte, but with a little thought, it makes sense considering what we know about Shona. She has revealed that she doesn’t want kids and wasn’t interested in marriage.

When Aine’s angry she actually becomes incredibly biting. This happened during her argument with Shona and also when she was confounded by a homeless man flashing her. That’s London for you.

The strength with This Way Up‘s finale was how it was able to tie up some of the various storylines and makes a binge-watching session rewarding. It works as both a finale and a standalone episode.