The Last Weekend

This is a chilling 3-part series centred around the character of Ian played by Shaun Evans, whose friendship with Ollie is very competitive and toxic, and hits breaking point at the latest annual weekend get together where they both compete in a triathlon.

The story is told in the past tense, with Ian narrating to the audience and retelling the seemingly tragic events of the last weekend. The show keeps the tension as Ian's state of mind deteriorates and his obvious obsession with Ollie's wife Daisy grows, while being married to Em, which leads to him raping her. This made me question and judge Ian in his role as a narrative, especially as Ian's falseness changes the role of the narrator as usually the audience trust a narrator as they are the one that provides us with the story. Also Evans gives a good performance as a man who is completely driven by his obsession and sees that there is nothing wrong with him, when he is clearly very ill.

Rupert Penry-Jones is great as Ollie, who as a sub-plot is suffering from an inoperable brain tumour which he apparently hasn't told his family about but these facts turn out not to be whole truth and has a very dark perception on his fate. Ian's manipulation of Ollie in believing that Daisy is having an affair with her colleague Milo leads to a devastating conclusion that is done in a very tense way.

I thought that it worked as a 3 episode story arc as the tension and pace was good and fluid. Although the ending was quite abrupt but maybe that was to shock the audience.