Weddings are generally the happiest days of a person’s life; but even this one day of peace, love and joy is stolen from the troubled Niall Kennedy (Jamie Bell), who’s “brother” Ruben Pallister (Richard Gadd) has turned up for revenge. For what, we’re still not exactly sure yet, but we’re now half way through Half Man. And it almost seems inconceivable how things can get even bleaker between the boys. So, there’s that to look forward to!
Episode three sees young Niall (Mitchell Robinson) tormented over the right thing to do. After graduating from university, and with the potential of a post-graduate place at Oxford, his future could finally be looking bright. But then Ruben reappears (Stuart Campbell), and along with Niall and Ruben’s mums, they ask him to commit perjury and lie in Ruben’s court case that Alby (Bilal Hasna) “groped” Ruben, which is what led is such a vicious attack of violence that Alby was in a coma for six months. Depressingly, their logic is: “juries have more problems with homosexuals than criminals.” But what decision did Niall make in the end – and what will the repercussions be? Let’s dig in…
Episode Three Ending, Explained
The insidious hold that Ruben has on not only Niall, but his mum is displayed in full force again throughout this episode, as Niall is gaslit and guilt-tripped into breaking the law for someone who’s made his life a living hell so far.
With both mums insisting that Ruben has turned over a new leaf – look, he’s even volunteering with kids now! DBS checks obviously not being a thing in the ‘80s – Niall refuses to believe it. And he’s proven right when Ruben’s mask finally falls just before an outing with the children.
Niall’s already told Ruben that he’s going to testify that he witnessed Alby sexually harassing Ruben but both Niall and Ruben are shaken when Niall’s girlfriend, Joanna, finds out about the plan, and pleas for Niall to tell the truth.
In a terrible bid to prepare him for questioning, Ruben drags Niall out of a van, screaming at him to lie better. But as with all the anger and rage, afterwards, there’s a moment of vulnerability. We get another glimpse into the man who was Ruben’s dad, when he revealed the only time he’s ever cried in his life was when he was eight, and his dad had a heart attack. But he wasn’t upset over the thought of his dad dying, only when he saw him coming back to the family home again. Ruben had wished his dad dead so one can only imagine the horrors he was exposed to at home – especially with his comment that “when someone stabs you, they attack your body, when someone gropes you, they attack your fucking soul…who you are as a man”.
His vulnerability continues when he admits he’s “proper scared” about the court case – this coming from a young man who usually struts around like the king of the world, brandishing his fists at anyone who disagrees. And it’s this rare vulnerability that finally allows Niall to say to Ruben, with confidence this time: “He groped you.” He confirms his misguided loyalty to Ruben, saving his “brother” but in the interim, denying justice to a sweet man who was beaten to a bloody pulp by Ruben, merely for looking at him the wrong way.
But Joanna has a last-minute intervention. For the first time, Niall admits he’s gay even if he doesn’t actually ever say the words out loud. But Joanna’s been to visit Alby, and he’s told her the truth. “What you are is ok,” Joanna, the ally, tells Niall for the first, much-needed time in his life, “but what you’re doing to Alby isn’t.”
Joanna’s full of all of the home truths Niall’s needed to hear, perhaps most importantly about Ruben: “Snakes might shed their skin, but they always crawl on their bellies.” Niall has never been around anyone who has understood the full extent of his abusive family dynamic – and who can clearly call it out for what it is. Joanna is the sole voice of reason to help him make sense of his situation – and he needs to follow her advice like a Glaswegian North star. Especially now he’s been accepted into Oxford Uni.
However, in court, it’s a different story. With the weight of the world on his shoulders – and with Ruben forcing him to repeat their trauma-bonding mantra to him beforehand (“You’re my brother from another lover”). Niall confirms to the court that he witnessed Alby “groping” Ruben before the attack. How he can do this, after seeing the full extent for the first time of how much Ruben permanently disfigured Alby, is almost unbelievable, were it not for the manipulation from Ruben and their mums. There are visible gasps from the galley, and Joanna gets up and walks out, disgusted. He’s ignored everything she wisely pointed out
The prosecutors pick up his flimsy story about not remembering a “sexual assault” but there are no further questions. When the defence – Ruben’s team – question him, suddenly Alby’s sexuality becomes the topic of discussion in court, trying to frame him as a “sexual deviant”. This finally triggers something within Niall. The defence team are trying to get Niall to publicly condemn a gay man as a predator in the most homophobic of manners but Niall finally finds the strength to challenge this, perhaps as a result of staying so silent about this for so many years before.
The look Ruben gives him when Niall says he can’t do this and has “made a mistake” is nothing short of murderous. “You cunt!” he yells at him, trying to lunge from across the court. “I’ll fucking kill you!…We won’t come back for this, I’ll make you fucking ugly!” he screams, in the very dictionary definition of rage. Niall has finally told the truth – but at what cost?
The final scene is back in the current-day, wedding timeline. We know that somehow Niall and Alby have more than made their peace, as they’re the couple getting married, but was it Niall’s time in the stand that got them back together? Once again, that information is held back in this episode, but Alby ominously points out “praying’s not going to save you now; the devil’s already arrived”. And the devil has just grabbed a microphone and informed the reception that he’s about to tell them about Niall. The worst man is attempting to give a best man’s speech. And it looks like decades worth of repressed fury is about to be released.
