User Reviews

Tom Baker enters for the last episode to play a priest manipulates by Ruth in the last step of her plan to completely destroy Mary, and it really brings the devil out of her in a way that seems quite illegal but definitely obsessive and scary. Ruth will get rid of her rival (who by this time has lost Bobbo but not the wrath of Ruth), take over her life completely and get Bobbo out of his mess. In the meantime, Mary can't get rid of his kids since Bobbo's parents don't want them, and her career is in the toilet because her books just don't sell anymore. So Mary begins going to church, and when Ruth finds out about this arranges to go to work for the parish priest. Tom Baker.

The blessed of a man takes over the faith and vows of a priest, and it was definitely uncomfortable but funny to watch Baker lusting over Julie T. Wallace. I felt I need a confession after seeing what is going on. Then there is the description of what Wallace as Ruth is going to have done to her, with flesh from her body to make her shorter, as well as her changing of her face completely. It's a painful process, but I guess for a she devil, it's worth it. Ethically, this episode is the most difficult to watch it is definitely an active evil with Ruth is doing, and by this time, she should really just feel sorry for Mary and move on.

This could have come off as ridiculous both in the novel and in the TV version of it, but it is so fun to watch the elements all come together. You begin to wonder too how many years will have gone by from the beginning of the series to the end, and it takes a lot of patience to put those questions out of the viewer's mind. We're not talking about realism here. We're talking about one woman's determined goals, and when you've got the eyes of a she devil, nothing's going to stop you from getting what you want. This becomes very frightening for Mary's climatic moment, and watching Ruth go through the pain, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her even though she was beyond crazy at this point for her obsession. Perhaps it's because of Wallace's performance that all is reluctantly forgiven, and along with Patricia Hodge as the tragic Mary, this ends up one of the great TV shows of the 80's.