Sky Atlantic’s Tin Star
3×06: “Come to the Edge”
Directed by Alice Troughton
Written by Rowan Joffe

* For a recap & review of the penultimate episode, “All Roads,” click here.
At the development site, Jack’s up to more painting. He’s also brought Catherine’s corpse.
What a way to begin this swan song episode.

Jack can’t help but revisit the past while he dreams, seeing all those who’ve died in his wake, whether by his hand or otherwise. The only one still living that he sees is Michael. Angela looks just as sleepless next to him, perhaps plagued by similar dreams/nightmares. She and her husband talk about what’s next, after today. Surely more violence. All they can do for now is enjoy each other’s company while it lasts. Anna suggests a little later that her parents ought to get married today, too. About time, hey.

The coppers have found Catherine and the state of things at the development site. Michael shows up and finds out what’s going on from a girl who passes along a message: a card that plays wedding bells. At the trailer park, Anna’s taking photos of Angela for the big day. Mom tells her daughter: “You‘re the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” All this family sweetness concerns me because there’s too much good happening at the moment. When will the other shoe drop on the Worths’ heads? Well, Jack’s getting cleaned up proper for his wedding day at Mary’s place while Anna and Angela have a girls’ day out. Michael’s counting his bullets.
Back over at the site, the coppers start digging below the gigantic crack.
And what’ll they find? Bodies? More than likely.

The wedding’s all ready, as Jack pulls up with a veritable train-load of people. It’s a perfectly weird wedding for a wonderfully fucked up couple. Mary does the honours of overseeing the “entirely fucking magical” ceremony. A short little one, just to pronounce the Worths as husband and wife. Once that’s over they all get to partying for the night. Good music, good booze, and good people—until Michael will inevitably show up, we know it’s coming. Later in the evening, Angela sees Michael standing in the dark distance, the music like an eerie homage to the semi-Western vibe of Tin Star, mixed with carnivalesque music that likewise embodies the other, wilder vibe of the series. Fitting that the Worths head off to confront Michael at the nearby amusement park. Nice use of “Beggin’” by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons here. As Jack, Anna, and Angela search for Michael they start to see a bunch of people are dressed as Michael, complete with rubber masks—AN INCREDIBLE SEQUENCE!
Inside the funhouse, Anna runs into the actual Michael, who gets her at gunpoint. Shit. Michael tells the girl she doesn’t “have to die.” He tries to turn her against her parents, saying they’ve sold her a “bullshit dream,” that there isn’t any life for the family after this is over. He says that if Jack and Angela leave Liverpool he’ll leave them alone, and Anna could start her life over normally. Simultaneously, Jack and Angela fight off the bullets, as the latter remembers so much pain from the violence of the past. Anna tells Michael to prove he’s telling the truth by calling off his people. And he does. Will Anna go through with Michael’s plan? She explains everything to her parents. She believes Michael. Then Angela says if their daughter wants out she can have out, all she had to do was ask. New question is, can the parents let their daughter go and leave her?

What did the coppers find?
A sea can buried full of burned corpses. Nothing but ash and skulls and bones.

“Will you look after each other?”

“Absolutely not”

At the cemetery, D.I. Vine finds Michael to talk to him about the kill list. He asks the man about where the Worths are, though soon he’s interrupted by an angry Michael, more concerned about reputation than human lives. Vine says plainly, he knows what happened years ago, and now he obviously knows why Jack is trying to kill a bunch of people. The puzzle pieces are fitting together. Before anything else can happen, Michael puts his fingers through Vine’s eyeballs and right into his brain. Absolutely VICIOUS. One of the worst kills we’ve seen on Tin Star, without a doubt.

Mary’s asking her kids to help her out. She has to go take care of things while they all have to stay away from her place for a bit in case things get bad. They all understand, and they love the woman they see as a surrogate mother. Her allegiance to Jack is very strong, despite everything they’ve obviously been through together. Jack and Angela are sending Anna off with Mary. Anna changes her mind, not wanting to leave her parents now that it’s happening.
Only all that gets interrupted violently when Mary swerves the car to make sure she takes a bullet from Michael’s gun, not Anna. It’s a brutal PTSD callback for the girl, remembering seeing that masked gunman shoot her brother dead as his blood splattered her face. Mary can’t be saved, either. Pains Jack to see her die, so he sends her off with a loving kiss. All that remains is one fateful, final meeting with Michael. He’s waiting to see them, singing Dionne Warwick’s “A House is Not a Home” (written by Burt Bacharach) to himself and loading his pistol in anticipation.

The Worths end up in the hands of Michael’s men, again brought back to that hotel where Danny took a header off the top of the building. Mr. Ryan sits them all down for a chat. His deal for Anna’s off the table now, as well. He has a new deal: kill two of them, one lives to “have nothing” anymore. Angela says she’ll go first because she’s the reason Michael’s got nothing. Anna figures she should, if Michael wants her parents to be hurt. Jack’s bored, so he’d rather be shot than listen to any more of this shit.
Michael puts a bag over Angela’s head and prepares to shoot her. He asks if Jack has any last words, the latter replying: “I‘ll figure it out when I get there.” This gets Angela laughing. The Worths start to make fun of Michael’s end to a 20-year feud. This just pisses Michael off, even Anna’s laughing at him. He throws her to the floor and starts kicking her. He’s unravelling, really. Each of the Worths keeps at him until Michael fires his gun, and Jack puts the henchmen in the way of those bullets. That leaves the family with a gun each and Michael on his knees. They don’t kill him, though. They’re leaving him alive for the coppers outside. Michael decides to go out a different way.
A truly BEAUTIFUL ENDING to this amazing, pulpy series!
“Baby Don’t Look Down” by Irma Thomas is a solid tune to end the show.
The family remains together, vanquishing their enemies. Who knows where they’ll end up from here.