We really are now into the wrapping up stages of this retrospective. It's time for the main villain's exit from the series and, despite some rather grueling, slapstick-heavy reaction sequences from members of the supporting cast, it's treated as a surprisingly sad and sombre affair. In the final episode, the series succeeds adopting a more sympathetic tone toward Scarface, with Ranger suggesting that his father is now so deeply entrenched in hatred and paranoia that death would really be something of a release for him. At any rate, the episode does a good job in acknowledging both sides of the occurrence, the happiness of the Farthing animals being balanced out by a clear sense of loss for Ranger and his family.
That Adder would be the one to off Scarface had been evident for some time - following the misdirected assassination scheme that wound up claiming Bounder's life, Scarface temporarily knocked Fox down to no. 2 on his public enemy list and focused his attentions instead upon wiping out Adder; not merely to avenge his son's death, but because Scarface recognised only too well that he had been the actual intended target of her attack, and it was therefore imperative that he destroyed Adder before she had another chance to strike at him. With Ranger's help, Scarface was able to locate and sneak up on Adder while she was basking in the sun - Adder escaped (although not without enduring a fairly gruesome injury), and the two creatures vowed that they would meet again in order to settle their vendetta. For the remainder of the series, Adder had kept an extremely low profile, as she recovered from her wounds and awaited the moment when Scarface would let his guard down. When, finally, Scarface is forced to return to the lake to drink, Adder launches a stealth attack from underwater, and Scarface receives his belated lethal injection.
Scarface knows immediately what's hit him and that the game is up, but he dies warning Adder that his death will not go unavenged. He’s not the last of his line – there is still Ranger, after all. He doesn't bank on his son having a greater capacity for magnanimity than himself, however. When Ranger learns of his father’s death, Charmer implores him to forgive Adder, asking him to "let it end here."
HORROR FACTOR: 6. We see some pretty nasty-looking twitching coming from Scarface's body before his lights finally go out.
NOBILITY FACTOR: 8. I can't say that I see anything noble or heroic in Adder's actions (after all, the plot has her do the dirty deed precisely so that Fox can preserve his own heroic integrity). I prefer to see this from Ranger's perspective - namely, as a release for Scarface - and from Charmer's, as means of allowing one chain of violence to finally end, and for the cycle of life to renew itself in a more positive and hopeful manner. It is in Ranger's presumed act of forgiveness that such hope is facilitated and, I think, where the real heroism of the series lies.
TEAR-JERKER FACTOR: 7. The shot of Ranger consoling a mournful Lady Blue over Scarface’s body, along with Charmer asking Ranger to forgive Adder, is surprisingly affecting. So much so that the Farthing animals who raucously celebrate his death frankly come off as a bit callous. I suppose that a bit of light comic relief was needed for such an emotionally heavy episode – hence, there’s this silly little subplot where Mr. Rabbit gets hiccups and the animals try various methods of curing him, along with some ridiculously cartoony scenes of Toad jumping up with elation and sailing high up into the treetops. Sadly, these sequences were an early sign of the kind of general cringe-inducing goofiness that was to positively dominate Series 3. Still wonder why I'm stopping short of that one?
RATING: 21
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