Why did Alison kill her son in Happy Valley?

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from all seasons of Happy Valley

Happy Valley reintroduced Alison Garrs (played by Susan Lynch) in season three following her devastating and tragic story in the previous outing. Alison was recently released from prison with Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) bumping into the former farmer and enlisting her for some help. Alison was now working as a mechanic after training while behind bars and was fixing up Catherine’s truck.

In the most recent episode of Happy Valley, Catherine and her ex-husband Richard Cawood (Derek Riddell) discussed Alison as well as Tommy Lee Royce’s (James Norton) upcoming trial.

Catherine urged her husband Richard to attend the court date with the pair believing Tommy was still linked to the Knežević crime family.

The police officer also brushed over Alison killing her son Daryl Garrs (Robert Emms) with Richard left surprised at the blasé manner in which Catherine spoke about the murder.

The slaying took place at the end of season two, which aired back in 2016 with viewers understandably rusty about what happened.

The disturbing case was the focus of season two with Catherine even in the firing line after Tommy’s mother turned up dead with the violent criminal convinced it was his nemesis who did the deed.

While it was never explicitly stated Daryl had developmental problems, he did appear withdrawn and on the fringes of society.

Nonetheless, he confirmed there had been no voices in his head and he had committed these acts of his own volition.

Therefore, she felt Daryl couldn’t survive if he was put in prison and would be killed if he was incarcerated.

So, it was a heartbreaking decision to take his life before he could face prosecution, knowing he didn’t fully understand the heinous crimes he’d committed.

Alison previously told Catherine about her son Daryl being the result of being raped by her father.

Although Daryl and Alison’s story has been told, it seems to feed into the greater fabric of Happy Valley.

What role Alison will have to play in the final outing remains to be seen but she has already helped Catherine and could do so again in the last two episodes.

Creator Sally Wainwright is tying up all the threads of the story together now with this year confirmed to be the last outing.

Viewers can expect the battle between Tommy and Catherine to come to a close once and for all after so much conflict between the pair over Ryan Cawood (Rhys Connah).

source: express.co.uk