Hitchcoc Jane Tennison is imperfect. She fits none of the moral imperatives that many of our media heroes seem to possess. What she does have is doggedness and skill at her craft. This is an incredible finale. One the eve of her retirement (she has no idea what to do next) she begins to drink heavily. She is also overwhelmed by the impending demise of her father, whom she idolizes. She starts work on her last case. A fourteen year old girl has disappeared. Soon it is realized that Sallie has more of a dark life than her parents imagined. She has started hooking up with some pretty serious characters at school. Her friend from across the street, a very pretty young girl, isn't totally truthful and Jane can't get a handle. Meanwhile, the drinking becomes over the top. She is having blackouts. She isn't remembering messages. She is also getting incredibly hostile and embittered. She and that neighbor girl begin to form a friendship. At one time, Jane almost gets them both killed, driving while drunk. Suspects are all over the place, including a young black man whom all the girls are crazy about.

Syl Dame Helen Mirren ends perhaps her most famous role besides that of Queens. Jane Tennison DCI is one of the most original female characters that television has produced in recent years. She is almost unforgettable. When Dame Helen Mirren first started, few people knew who she was and now everybody knows in the world that she is one of the finest acting talents from Britain. I knew she was in 1986 when I saw her play a maid in a Titanic film. As Jane Tennison, Helen Mirren embodies the role with such complexity that it seems so easy and natural. Jane approaches retirement with one last case but you know that Jane has lived for this job. They have this marriage between them. In the final installment of this legendary series, Helen and Jane bow out gracefully in the end. Jane battles alcoholism, loneliness, and her father's pending death. She reunites and befriends AA member, Bill Otley, played by Tom Bell shortly before his death. I felt the parents of the missing girl were quite believable in their roles. Jane's pending retirement is beset by loss, wonder, and disappointment. In the end, she bounces back, makes a shattering discoveries about the case, and you wonder what would happen to Jane Tennison that you want more. Maybe she is lecturing on crime techniques at a university or other British police officers. One can only hope that this is not the last we see of Dame Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison.

polar24 Too many police dramas nowadays are becoming formulaic, predictable, tasteless and plain cheesy. Enter Jane Tennison. A multi-layered, practical, and ageing detective, she is the anti-cliché of the U.S CSI cop. She is superbly played with grace, depth and honesty by the great Helen Mirren.Det. Supt. Jane Tennison is on the eve of her retirement when a tragic murder case of a young schoolgirl presents itself on her desk. It will be her most difficult case yet as she must juggle both physical and psychological weariness of work, compensation for these chasms in alcoholism, and the realisation of her dying love-lost father; with personal regrets and professional mistakes.While the murder investigation forms the frame of the story, the most intriguing and compelling part involves observing Jane struggling with her professional judgments while juggling her personal demons. In fact Jane's moral dilemmas are the essence of the story and provide most of intricate and poignant moments of the show. Ultimately, they also end up greatly affecting the outcomes of the murder case.Helen Mirren is achieving accolades left, right and center for her performances on the small and silver screen this season. I admit what got me most interested in seeking out this show was only from the great admiration of Mirren's work as Queen Elizabeth 1 & 2. I pleasantly charmed and beguiled by her guile and artlessness in Prime Suspect 7 and was actually quite entranced by her astute personality and I must admit fetching looks even at 61(!).Never (ever!) seeing any of it's predecessors before was pleased to find a detective show that along with a masterful and bewitching lead was also finely and crisply directed. Not to mention it actually did keep me guessing towards the end. This was a refreshing change from the nauseating CSIs and shoot-out cop shows, blessed with Mirren's beauty and terrific portrayal.

dcdcosta "The Final Act" is the splendid concluding episode of a (generally) gripping series. As in the very best crime dramas, the focus really isn't the plot or the "whodunnit?" but the character of the central players. And if Helen Mirren almost eclipses them, that's only a bonus for the viewer. The tension is generated not by the crime plot (which is serviceable but predictable) but from Mirren's gripping portrayal of the powerful and all-too-human Jane Tennyson who treads the tightrope of her final days in her career. She somehow manages to give us a woman who balances the angels and the devils in her character without once lapsing into the predictable or the incredible. And THAT's what keeps you leaning forward in your seat.God, but she's good!