An Underwhelming End To An Underwhelming Series
After 5 episodes of slow paced drama, I Am The Night’s penultimate episode showed some promise but its finale ultimately fails to ignite the right level of drama needed to make this as exciting as it should be. After a brief black and white flashback to open the episode, we catch up with Jay in prison, desperate to get out and check on Fauna. As the police taunt him and the other inmates tell him it’s impossible to escape, Jay perseveres, determined to make sure Fauna is okay. While Jay pleads with the police, Fauna finds her options limited as riots break out across the city. After being refused a lift from one of her close friends, she goes to see Mrs Hodel in the hope of scrounging enough money to get the bus home. Unfortunately, she has other ideas and drugs Fauna. As she regains consciousness, she wakes up to find George Hodel looking down over her. As the police arrive and take their orders from George, Fauna is confined to her bedroom, unable to escape. As Jay catches wind of Fauna being caught by George, he makes a deal with the police, promising to kill the powerful painter in exchange for him willingly being framed for murder. The police begrudgingly agree and as he escapes and goes on the hunt for Fauna, we cut back to Fauna who has problems of her own. Seeing through his nice-guy facade, the episode ends with a climactic showdown that sees Fauna trying to outsmart George Hodel while he paints her. After some quick thinking, Fauna manages to overpower him and looks set to kill him in cold blood with George’s own gun. Of course, she won’t do it, determined not to become a shadow of her father and instead, tells him to run away. As Jay arrives to finish the job, it’s already too late as George has scurried off and disappeared. The episode ends with Jay and Fauna going their separate ways, George Hodel never to be heard from and the police seemingly left with an arrest warrant for Jay but things left largely unresolved on this front. As Fauna closes out the episode with a burst of expository dialogue, reflecting on her time with George and the city as a whole, one final shot of the sunset closes out a rather disappointing mini series. Those expecting an exciting finale rife with action and dramatic tension certainly won’t find it here. The series as a whole has really failed to ignite anywhere near the sort of drama and excitement it should have and aside from a few stylistic ticks, doesn’t have an awful lot going for it. Long stretches of this 6 episode series have felt overlong and padded out unnecessarily. It’s a shame too as this is one series that’s held some real promise over the weeks but everytime it’s felt like the pacing is going to pick up, the expectations have been met with disappointment. Ultimately, I Am The Night ends on a whimper rather than a roar, ending a rather forgettable mini-series.
