The curtain has fallen in a very strange way dear Rake-on-ites.
When I said I wanted Cleave (Richard Roxburgh) to have it all and then lose it unexpectedly in a mishap, I didn’t mean I wanted him to:
- Get the girl
- Get the work
- Get his family back on track
- Everyone to live happily ever after- except Barnyard (Russell Dykstra)
I didn’t see this ending coming and to be honest I don’t know what I even think about it at the moment. I expected Cleave, in his usual way, to stuff everything up and end up in misery once more. In misery, in a funny ironic way that the audience knows will be temporary and that Cleave will go on life’s journey, never learning anything and being the jerk we love so much.
What I didn’t see coming was Cleave to have all his ducks in a row and then be shot down when he finds out Barney’s cancer has returned. It’s as if, all of his happiness had a cost. The cost of his best mate’s life, in the end. It was just so damn sad. It wasn’t funny. I felt ripped off that Barney got punished. I felt miffed that Cleave got everything he wanted in the end when he so clearly didn’t deserve any of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cleave. I love to hate him even more. I’m really confused as to why, in the final moments of the last episode the feeling was one of sadness and hurt, which was then, hammed up with a really silly scene, reminiscent of ‘Moulin Rouge’, with Cleave and Barney flying over the Harbour Bridge in a hot air balloon, Cleave hanging from the bottom. It was like when the car drives into the sky at the end of Grease. Silly! Silly! Silly!
All of the loose ends with our beloved characters were tied up neatly and all endings were satisfying for the outside characters. The Cal McGregor (Damien Garvey) email debacle and the one hundred and twenty million dollar fraud case saw the downfall of the billionaire media mogul. Everyone else got what was coming to them, either good or bad.
I just don’t get the rest of it. I wanted to write this recap and say that the ending was wonderful and hilarious, it just wasn’t and I don’t understand why, at the last moment, they took that from their dedicated audience.
Maybe the ending will grow on me in time but for now, I’m lost and confused and feel a little bit miffed.
Christ on a bike!
Rake is on ABC1 8:30pm Sunday night
No. No. No. It was tragicomedy at its best. I literally laughed and cried at the same time. It was perfect! 🙂