Spoilers ahead for Happy Valley series 3 finale.
As Happy Valley came to a close last night, there was a line that for many people perfectly summed up the series the nation has taken to its heart. 'I think I might've singed one of your crochet blankets,' says Catherine Cawood to her sister Clare, handling the incredibly traumatic face off with Tommy Lee Royce with a characteristic dark humour.
But for me, it was a a line in her give-them-all-the-awards face-off with Tommy that stood out as underlining everything writer Sally Wainwright has tried to do in provoking conversations around the dually brutal and insidious male violence that women face every day.
As Tommy began what he clearly framed as his explanation and redemption moment with Catherine, she cut him off, screaming: 'You are so fucking deluded.'
It was a line that felt like a satisfying salve, and began a masterclass cross-examination of the excuses violent and abusive men can and do try to justify their behaviour, taking any opportunity to reframe the situation away from their blame.
In Happy Valley, Tommy never served any jail time for his treatment, rape and abuse of Catherine's daughter and his part in her suicide - he was initially jailed in series one with drugs offences. In real life, reported rapes have a 1 per cent chance of making it from the initial report into a conviction.
And in the real world, every day, high-profile men are able to walk back from supposed-cancellations following sexual offences and allegations thanks to expensive legal teams and PR strategies, trawling a litany of excuses and explanations behind them. But in Happy Valley, Tommy came up against Catherine.
You know that feeling when you walk away from a fight and 10 minutes later think of what you should've said? This was the polar opposite of that. And to see Catherine picking apart the lies and excuses of an abuser, rather than allowing him an explanation and a platform to twist the story, was a gift for women from Sally Wainwright.
‘You’ve got me all wrong,’ he tried to explain, painting her as a woman with a grudge, someone she was overstating his crimes, overlooking his attempts at fatherhood and the cruel twists of fate he felt he'd been handed.
‘Have I?' she said back. 'Are you not the freak who murdered Kirstin McAskill? That erased and traumatised Ann Gallagher? That kicked the shit out of me so I was four weeks in hospital’
When Tommy - in a moment that surely drew indignant breaths around the country - said he forgave Catherine, she got to say to him: 'And you forgive me? You delinquent fuck. You have no idea what you did to Becky and you forgive me? You crippled her. You reduced her to nothing, with your endless abuse and your nasty threats. This bright, beautiful girl reduced to nothing because of a non-entity like you.'
When he cried that he loved Becky, Catherine got to counter: 'You loved her? You threatened to chop her tits off.'
When he cried: 'I didn’t mean that,' Catherine got to scream back 'You said it!'
When he cried that it was Catherine's fault her daughter turned against him, she simply got to tell him 'Oh fuck off you moron.'
The fact is, every day women - and the families left behind - don't get to take down the men that have wronged them. They barely get the convictions they deserve. Sometimes they have to watch as the men who've abused them rise above the ranks while they're deleted and silenced instead.
But Sally Wainwright allowed Catherine Cawood to have a moment where every word hit, where every excuse was batted away, where no space was given to the abuser.
And for that, yes, give them all the awards.