The Last Chapter was beautifully designed and stunning visually. For thrills and excitement there were images of motorcycles roaring along a highway in formation, wheeling uniformly into parking spaces, and enough shootings and explosions to please most action fans.
Top Last Chapter honours go to the excellent cast. It’s no surprise that Dupuis, Ironsides, Orsini, and Bonnier would portray their roles to perfection, and they did. The surprise was the talent of the rest of the cast; everyone was perfect.
Unfortunately, The Last Chapter failed to deliver the most essential criteria for a good story: resolve all plots, provide key characters with logical motives and closure and leave no loose ends. I wondered why the official CBC site provided in-depth synopses and after viewing realize that much of its information was misleading and focused on incidents and people barely mentioned or seen. As the final credits rolled, I had a very long list of questions, too many names and faces I could not assign or place. I saw too many important characters who came and went, purposes never explained or identified. And of course the infamous ending. Bottom line: there were no plot closures or resolutions, and key characters were left dangling.
In six hours (four if you exclude the commercials), what did The Last Chapter omit or ignore?
- Identify key characters, their personal and interrelationships. Who belonged to which chapter, their location and relationship to each other? Substitute jacket logo chart and steps for membership with a chart describing the organizational structure, locations, key members and links. Provide chapter name tags with their names for top gang members.
- Provide character motives. Ross becomes insane but his madness is no explanation for his fixation to kill Bob and he ignores the true culprits. So many scenes of Glenn, but not a clue as to why he would kill a close friend. It’s logical to kill Ross initially but did no one see the lawn “For Sale” sign? - problem solved.
- No loose ends; close all plots. Picture a 2000 Florida ballot counter: divining clues from hanging threads, dimpled scenes and where does this character go/fit. Who is dead, alive; is the merger completed, is Bob top biker? The unanswered questions and dangling story lines are endless.
- Use allotted time wisely. So much time for so many non-essential or repetitive scenes: Glen, barefooted aging lover boy; unlikable wayward teens; Ross’ breakdown, mourning. Count the meetings with the Mafia don that seemingly resulted in nothing nor identified his intentions. The Last Chapter presented several key plots, snapshots of home life and lifestyles, but where were the resolutions and closures for the stories and characters?
Based on Part 1, The Last Chapter must be
(mandated now) a continuing series. I can only hope that Part 1 isn’t going
to be the continuing story and character model if this is to be a annual
series. If The Last Chapter was primarily a documentary on Canadian biker
gangs, their growth and impact on the general populace, the programme has
shown that they are a danger only to themselves and each other.
It sounds contradictory but I liked The Last Chapter; but I was very
disappointed with the production.