Revving down

It seems after three series, the comedy Rev. has come to its conclusion.  St Saviour's Church is not just shut but sold off and Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) has resigned from his position as vicar.  There seems to be little wriggle room for a further series and it wouldn't be necessary, even if Adam officiated at a different church, because, as with a church community, Rev. was more than the eponymous figure.  It was a pretty brutal rounding off for any comedy.  Usually the last-ever episode (ill-advisedly) tries to cram all the famous high points from the whole saga into one half-hour segment, as with Seinfeld, among others.  Throughout the third series, the church was constantly under threat from closure but there was always a sense that somehow, as in the previous two series, St Saviour's and Adam would somehow pull through.  It was not to be.
In retrospect, closure was inevitable as every effort at saving the church fell through, through either the personal issues that Adam allowed to be exposed or through the small-minded, un-christian behaviour of the congregation.   The church hierarchy was more of an enemy than an ally, church commissioners greedily eyeing up the property value of an inner-London church.  The show recognises a reality.
There was a lovely tableaux of the Easter story (albeit a little late) but unlike Jesus appearing to his disciples, the congregation had nothing but contempt for Adam after he resigned.  It was only after an unexpected intervention by his wife (Olivia Colman, excellent in everything she does) that allowed Adam one final hurrah, as the stalwart church members turned up for last Easter at St Saviour's, including even Archdeacon Robert, giving some hierarchical sanction to breaking into the sealed-off church.  At the end, Adam baptised his baby daughter.  The legitimacy of the Easter Service is questionable and the baptism downright illegitimate as with the church being sold, it would have been deconsecrated first.  Certainly there would be no issuing of a baptism certificate and the privileges that confers such as being on a church electoral roll or allowed a burial in any church grounds.  Indeed, as his daughter will not remember this and with no official document, the point of the baptism seems a little odd.  There has been a few missteps by the writers of Rev. but overall it is a vivid and realistic picture of parish life that is painted and it definitely filled a hitherto unexplored niche on TV.  There have been some excellent moments of the ridiculous such as when Adam explained to an imam all the tiers of the episcopate above him, when arguably his front-of-house, as a humble priest at the bottom of the pile, is the most important role when it comes to ministering to the community.  There was an excellent cameo in the penultimate episode (to cap a list of notable guest appearances from others in the acting and comedy professions, especially Hugh Bonneville) with Liam Neeson reprising his Aslan role as an Irish vagrant who talks to Adam.  The audience is left wisely to make up their own minds if this was Adam meeting God for real or a hallucination, not unlike Neeson's Ra's al-Ghul appearing to a broken Bruce Wayne in the dungeon in The Dark Knight Rises.
I think Rev. could have gone on for a few more series but the creators may have felt the law of diminishing returns might kick in, with no new directions for their characters, whilst ensuring that no-one can come along to revive Rev.  Going out on a high point in the depths.  Poignant if not exactly affirming, but there were many pleasing aspects along the way, as we might remember the deceased.  As is the modern way, Rev. lives on in us.