Guilty Or Not?
What happens before the final day of court?
Episode 6 of “Anatomy of a Scandal” begins with Sophie arriving to see Kate in her office. She wastes no time asking about Holly Berry. Sophie knows there’s something wrong here, given the similarities between the way Kate and Holly organize their notes. ..
Kate keeps her cool and manages to shake off Sophie’s questions. When she heads out, guess what happens? Yep! Another Dutch tilt camera movement, as Sophie realizes that Kate is definitely Holly.
Kate heads off to see Ali, worried that Sophie is going to tell James and, by extension, the police. So does Sophie go to the police? No, she heads home to see James instead. At home for a while anyway. James surprises her and heads downstairs, warning her that the jury could vote against him. ..
What happened at Oxford that night?
James tells the story of how he and Holly had sex, but he is convinced that it wasn’t rape. Holly was a virgin and James didn’t realize this, and as a result, she was hesitant and afraid of him.
James tells Sophie the truth about disposing the drugs that night, and admitting that Sophie was her alibi that night. Sophie is shocked, given she didn’t even know that she was implicit in everything that’s happened. ..
Is James Whitehouse found guilty?
The final day of the court case is finally over. Kate and Angela both do their closing statements; Angela’s is all based on evidence, Kate’s is based on emotion.
After four hours of deliberations, the jury has come to a verdict. They have found James Whitehouse not guilty of rape, but they are still angry and frustrated with him. Chris speaks to Sophie up in the benches, telling her their boy has “dodged another bullet”, as James is let go and allowed to resume his normal duties as MP. Kate leaves the courthouse after exchanging a glance with James. Kate is seething with anger and bashes her TV with the remote.
Did James actually assault Olivia?
The Labour MP for Penthorpe, Malcolm Thwaites, has been arrested for soliciting young male prostitutes for sex. This is a big development, as it shows that the Labour party is committed to fighting against sexual exploitation and abuse.
James and Sophie were playing a game where they would call each other names and tease each other. But on this particular day, James admitted that he actually called Olivia a prick tease. This was something they were used to and it had never been a problem before.
Based on this, it’s safe to assume that James did rape Olivia, and he’s managed to weasel his way out of a conviction. The use of the word “prick tease” is also something Kate is aware of too, given she recognizes the language from her own horrific experiences.
What does Sophie plan to do?
Sophie is shocked when she sees Ali again. She’s trying to find out where Holly is and she says she’s off to Liverpool. However, this story doesn’t match up with the one about her going abroad.
Ali immediately rings Kate when Sophie leaves and lets her know, going on to confirm that Sophie knows that James lied in court. This leads to Sophie deciding to leave her husband, packing up her things and admitting she feels ashamed. James drops to his knees and apologizes. However, Sophie is unable to stay and prepares to tell their kids “the core truth.” ..
How does Anatomy of a Scandal end?
We then cut back in time. Kate heads off and meets Sophie, who apologizes for what happened to her in the past. Sophie has done her homework and has spoken to an acquaintance in the press. A lot of things happened the night Holly was raped, some of which could be prosecuted in court. Sophie wants to “course correct” the past, and part of that comes from giving Holly/Kate a second chance.
As we approach the Commons, both James and Tom are arrested while Sophie heads off with the kids. Kate meanwhile, prepares for court.
The Episode Review
So Anatomy of a Scandal concludes with a damning chapter that paints James as the big villain and shows that Kate is the victim in all this. But then there’s another victim too, isn’t there? Where is Olivia? After showing up sporadically through the episodes, we don’t even see her for the rest of the case -not even for the final verdict! We don’t even see her reaction at the end, nor does she even get a part of this rallying call to bring justice to James! Why is she not there on the rooftop? Does she not deserve to be there? ..
The sequel bait ending is also a little disappointing, and I’m struggling to see how this is going to be renewed. Of course, it really depends how many people watch this and get invested but personally, the way that this sexual abuse has just been nonchalantly shrugged off in favour of more thrills and different elements of the past feels quite disingenuous.
The story of Kate, a woman who has been falsely accused of abuse and then protected by the government, quickly becomes a soap opera with complex characters and a convoluted story. The authorities would have done more to investigate who Kate is before changing her identity, if they had known the true story.
It seems like season 2 of “The Crown” may change its tact and have both Tom and James on the witness stand to talk about what happened with Alec and the past. Unfortunately, neither character is particularly likable so I’m hoping for a guilty verdict.
The disappointing conclusion to Anatomy of a Scandal is one that could have been much better. ..
