As the finale of The Split begins, Ruth (Deborah Findlay) talks about her podcast and explores the question of whether there can be a good divorce. She suggests that some divorces are not failures since marriage can be finite. Ruth doesn’t understand why they place so much weight on the idea that things much last. She argues that what constitutes a successful relationship is knowing when it is over and being brave enough to call time. She continues by saying a good divorce is one where memories are left to exist untainted, the children are guided through the storm, and two people can say they did it well. Ruth tells her client to be brave and never afraid. Ruth wonders what they might find on the other side.
After the intro, Nina (Annabel Scholey) tells Rose (Fiona Button) that she is okay so she doesn’t have to stay. Nina thanks her for pushing her to get back out there, but suggests Rose needs to do the same. She recommends meeting the family because James’s heart is still beating. At the office, Ruth tells Hannah (Nicola Walker) that Goldie is there to see her. Hannah explains Goldie (Meera Syal) is back for another round because she is marrying a boxing promoter who is half her age. When Hannah joins her, Goldie shows off her ring. Hannah has tried to protect her with a rock-solid prenup although Mr. Mukherjee is undoubtedly loaded. Even though he is 29, he is coming up on his third marriage.
They’ve put in an infidelity penalty clause although they usually don’t stand up in court. Goldie admits she doesn’t need his money and he doesn’t need hers. When Hannah asks about Davey, she learns that the poor guy had a heart attack. Goldie tells her to go ahead and say that he is too young and she is too old, but he makes her feel fantastic anyway. As for Hannah, Goldie doesn’t think she ever got over him getting caught with his pants down. Hannah believes it is more complicated than that. Goldie recommends giving it time like Hannah once told her. She confesses she was broken and humiliated after Davey, but Hannah helped her fight to get her life back.
Geordie insists it is time to get back in the ring and give life a few more rounds. Change is coming and they shouldn’t be afraid of it. Goldie invites Hannah to her bridal shower. Nathan (Stephen Mangan) storms into the building complaining he is having a heart attack. He lists those who died of heart attacks, including John Candy, Luther Vandross, and Chairman Mao. Hannah walks him through what she calls a panic attack. Once he calms down, he reveals it didn’t go very well when he talked to Kate. Hannah wants to make sure Kate knows nothing is going on between them and they didn’t sleep together, but Nathan says she fled on a bike before he could explain.
Nathan confesses he might’ve told her that his feelings for Hannah are complex. Hannah has complex feelings for many things too. Nathan admits he might’ve told Kate that he still loves her too. Regardless of everything, he will always love her. Hannah asks what she is supposed to do with that since he is having a baby with Kate. She asks Nathan what he would say if he would never see Kate again from this day. He says he doesn’t understand so she asks what happens if he never met Kate. When asked to give one word to describe that, Nathan says sad. Hannah believes that should answer his question. He wants to talk, but Hannah says that is what lawyers are for. She tells him that his lawyer counter-fired with a pretty blistering attack.
Nathan stops her before confessing he doesn’t want to do this and doesn’t want to get divorced. He worries they’re making a mistake, but she believes he is just frightened. Hannah is convinced they can’t fix this. Nathan leaves and meets with Melanie Aickman (Anna Chancellor) who shows him a newspaper article about her long-lost son. Everything has turned out well overall although she won’t let them call her mother or grandmother. She tells Nathan they’re easy on the eyes besides the wife who could lose a few pounds. Melanie wants to go back in hard and see Nathan get at least a quarter, but Nathan says no.
Nathan tells Melanie she is a terrible woman. He doesn’t want a quarter of Hannah’s shares and doesn’t want to be talking to Melanie in this Godawful office. He reminds her that she is a terrible, terrible person who has never asked what he wants. If he wanted it any other way, he would’ve gone to Hannah. Rose calls Allison who is with the transplant family liaison office. When she asks if the family is free tomorrow, Allison says the family is eager to meet her. She’ll talk to the family and get back to Rose. Nina attends the meeting. She believes Tyler is there, but it turns out to be another man. Melanie approaches her when the meeting ends and says she prefers the Chelsea meetings.
She knows about Nina being shafted. Melanie believes Nina needs to take a moral inventory of herself because they’re dry drunks. They still do damage to others, but primarily to themselves. Nina reveals she shagged her best friend’s boyfriend when she was 14. At 22, she slept with the husband of a woman she worked for. She did it again at 25 and lost count after that without feeling anything. She also stole from shops and friends so recent events could be called karma. Nina hasn’t had a drink in 10 months and that has surprisingly been the easiest part. Dry drunk sounds right because she can all everything while sober. Nina confesses she doesn’t like herself.
Her little baby stares back at her with such love because she doesn’t know how truly horrible her mother is. When she says she doesn’t want her daughter to see it, Melanie recommends putting in the work and moving one day at a time. Nina is told to go home, hug the baby, and do better. That is what Melanie tells herself anyway. Nathan calls Hannah to tell her that he fired Melanie because he doesn’t want to do it like this. He wonders what he should do with Kate before the conversation ends. Hannah visits Kate (Lara Pulver) and asks if she can come in. She notices Kate has a lot of plants and it reminds her of Nathan’s mother buying them a yucca plant when they moved into their first flat.
After it died within a month, Nathan blamed himself and Hannah never dispelled that myth. She confesses she killed it because she didn’t know yuccas didn’t like coffee grounds. Nathan watered it just enough. When the blankets fell off the kids at night, he’d be the one to check. Hannah calls Nathan quietly amazing and hard to give up. She finished Kate’s book. Although she didn’t love it, the book packed a punch. It doesn’t say that people can coat it in words or find a language and narrative to house the inevitable fallout of divorce. She doesn’t think the brutality of divorce can be written since it is something you have to feel.
Hannah asks how you leave a marriage otherwise before saying anything worth its salt has roots that have grown deep. They have to be to tether you through the elements that inevitably hit along the way. If it has died, it has died. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t take a tug to lift it out of the ground. Hannah believes that tug means it has died and it needs to be removed so something new can grow. She is trying to say that Kate could do worse than Nathan and might find that she can’t do better. Once Kate asks why she is telling her this, Hannah says she loves him and he loves her. By default, she cares about what happens to her and him. Hannah believes her children will welcome this new person once they get their heads around it.
She wants to be there to support them, Kate, and this. Hannah admits she doesn’t have to like her, but she has to live with her. Kate has to live with her too. Hannah says that is the best deal she can offer. She goes on to say that Nathan and she are broken so they can’t stay together just because they’re frightened of change. Hannah believes Kate is the change. As Hannah tries to leave, Kate tells her that she didn’t kill the yucca since they like nitrogen from the coffee grounds. They joke it is probably better to keep blaming Nathan.
Rose goes to the cemetery where she sits down next to James’s grave. She admits she is angry at him because he did something so stupid, he never heard her message, and he never heard her saying she was sorry. She wanted that life with him so much. She can’t feel him anymore like she could when he’d walk in a door. Rose doesn’t believe in ghosts or heaven so she pleads with him to come back for a second because she needs to prove she wasn’t wrong. She wants to know that he did exist and that they did. She is interrupted when Glen (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and her girls run outside. They convince Rose to come home to eat something with them.
Felix is surprised when Leni shows up at his door. She comes inside because she wants to talk to him. She talks to him about the adventures they had together as she admits she lived her best life with him. This is one journey he can’t take with her because she knows what death looks like. She has been preparing for a lifetime to ensure she’ll be ready when it comes, but Felix doesn’t want to let her do it. He offers to take care of her and be by her side. He rejects her attempts to end their relationship and leave him. Felix insists he is not going to let her leave him although Leni says everyone has to leave someone one day. He says not yet before comforting his wife.
Rose finds Glen sleeping with the kids. He gets up and approaches before she manages to leave. Glen apologizes for brushing her off yesterday since that is the last thing he would want to do. He believes she needs to let go of her life plan if she wants life waiting for her. She questions whether that was Kurt Cobain or Tears for Fears. He reveals it was on the wall of the dentist’s yesterday. Rose jokes he is wasted at the church. Glen grabs her hand and says she will love again if she can love that strongly. Rose tells him to try these moves on Jeanette. In the morning, Zander, Leni, Felix, JJ, and the others meet. Hannah tells Felix that Leni would like to make an advance decision to refuse treatment under section 24 of the MCA 2005.
The living will is basically used to ensure Leni’s wishes are carried out. Hannah understands that Leni is considering continuing palliative care with the full support of her family. When it becomes too difficult, she intends to return to her original plan as man and wife. Felix says absolutely. They agree that they will no longer require their services. As they leave, Zander and Felix make plans to get together on Sunday. Leni thanks Hannah before they tell each other they got this. JJ asks Hannah if she’d like to grab dinner sometime, but she isn’t looking to be poached. JJ insists that isn’t what he is asking and instead just wants to know if the time is ever right. Zander tells Hannah he’ll see her at four when Melanie and Nathan come in. However, they have other plans.
Nathan shows up at the house a bit later. They sit down and begin negotiating. Hannah says they’ll get 18 more months here before she sells the house and they divide the proceeds. She gets first picks on paintings while Nathan gets books. Hannah is happy to transfer their health coverage so it’ll take care of Kate and the new baby. They talk about splitting the holidays although Hannah wants Christmas Day this year. Hannah reminds him that they’ll have to get their wills redrawn too. Nathan is adamant he isn’t going anywhere yet, but she says he is. Every night she goes to bed, Nathan isn’t in it. Since they’ve shared every inch of their life together, it is going to take time to get used to. She’ll do it slowly and begin filling the space with other things and people.
Hannah believes it is time. Nathan tells her he loves her to which she responds by saying always Mr. Stern. She gets emotional before the kids burst through the door. They all have a moment. Then, Nathan goes outside to look at Vinnie’s longboard. Liv (Elizabeth Roberts) sits down with her mother and reveals she is not going to do law. Instead, she wants to do Spanish in Argentina with Gael (Alex Guersman) as they are until they get older. Kate arrives at the door moments later and makes sure she isn’t too early. Hannah says no because she can’t cook, yet Kate can. Kate gives her a plant that Hannah isn’t sure will survive. Kate steps outside in time to see Gael trying to teach Nathan to ride the board.
She tells Nathan that Hannah invited her. Hannah watches her talking to Liv and Tilly (Mollie Cowen) through the window. Zander finds Nina in his office trying to take the letter. He says there is nothing to say and she should keep doing what she is doing. She has a lot of money to make up. Rose visits Prisha (Radhika Aggarwal) who says Rav is just out back. Rose is introduced to Rav and their kids, Jay and Shrien. Rav sits down and lets Rose listens to James’s heartbeat. She decorates his memorial later that night while remembering happier times with James. Hannah calls Christie (Barry Atsma). She admits she has thought about it. They’re walking along the High Line and he is holding her hand. They stop for bagels with Vinnie, Liv, and Tilly.
Hannah says she loves him, but she wants a life instead of a fantasy. It can never be just the two of them. Hannah’s life is here in London with her family. If he wants that too, he’ll have to accommodate her. Christie is told to just think about it. After that, we jump forward to Ruth and Ronnie’s wedding. Ronnie (Ian McElhinney) thinks he has finally won after waiting for so many years. Now, he wants to talk about legacy and the myriad of memories and tiny moments that make up a life. He recommends taking care of them and holding them gently in their hands. This life is less about what we’ve earned and more about who we’ve loved and who we leave behind. It is less about the life lived and more about who you live that life with.
Ronnie is grateful this family has let him share his life with them so close by their side. They share a toast before partying through the night. Later, Nathan and Hannah agree to be on Ruth’s podcast. She asks them the secret of a good divorce. Hannah claims you never really know a man until you divorce him, but no one tells you how hard divorce is. Although they make vows to love and honor, those vows are hard to keep. Still, they put so much into the wedding or the happy ending. They forget to put as much love and care into the way we divorce. Hannah tells her clients that it is easy to marry, yet it is hard to know how to divorce. Nathan admits there is plenty of mudslinging.
After the war, Hannah tells her clients they must wait for the dust to settle on what’s left of their lives once they put their weapons down. Everyone leaves Hannah alone as she walks into the backyard. Hannah believes people have forgotten that there is a birdsong above the parapet.
The Split Review
The final season of The Split is now over and it was an outstanding, emotional trip from start to finish. The finale had everything one could ask for including humor, emotion, and closure. The Split did a fabulous job of bringing the characters to life and shining a light on the difficulties of divorce. While Nathan and Hannah made past mistakes, both characters were easy to sympathize with and obviously well-acted as well the other characters.
The Defoe family was a powerful entity that carried one another through the most difficult times. Whether it was a loss, divorce, shoplifting, or fraud, the family always helped one another and came out stronger in the end. It was good to see that Nathan will still be a part of that family since most divorces don’t end on such a good note. The series had many powerful, deeply emotional moments dealing with relationships, death, and moving on that will likely leave viewers reaching for tissues.
In terms of powerfully effective dramas, it is hard to top The Split’s 3rd season as it regularly pulled on my heartstrings. The finale scores an 8 out of 10. Recaps of The Split can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support us here.
