Alas, we're at the final straw, the last bit of our murder mystery in idyllic Bodkin. For most shows, finales of a season, or in this expected case, an entire series, are often the most important episodes. But for a murder mystery, it adds an extra layer of expectations to it. It is, in every sense of the word, the final chance to finish your story. And to have any hope of your creation being a memorable one, you must do it right. And Bodkin... does this quite well, actually.
No, I haven't completely swayed to a point of ecstacy about the show, and it still will not be the most memorable experience and/or story you have witnessed. But it redeems itself in the end, by seeking closure to previously weird story arcs, allowing for final development of its characters, and by giving us a satisfying ending. Episode 7 does what we have come to mildly enjoy about Bodkin. While most of mystery itself is finished at this point, having had 6 episodes for the unraveling of the disappearances and murders, "Empty Your Pockets" shows us what all of our characters do upon hearing the outcomes of that investigation.
Waiting tirelessly, Emmy finally shows the bite that goes with the earlier bark, Gilbert comes to important selfaware conclusions and Dove shows us yet another different side of herself. While most of these outcomes are enjoyable, they remain in the safer space of creative writing that we have come to expect from Jez Schafer's construct. The dialogues remain predictable, the jokes keep it comedy rather than the dark comedy we expected, and the character development, where applicable, edges ever onward with no ground-breaking events. The show reminds me of a good and clean cut at the barber: after seeing the same one for a while, you know what to expect, decent, nothing fancy, just safe. That sort of feel.
While I make up my mind about the show's overall score, episode 7, the series' finale, cuts a clean 7 out of 10.