Half Man episode 4 spoilers follow – major ones.
Violence is a constant throughout Half Man. Every time Ruben (played by show creator Richard Gadd) appears on screen, the threat of it feels thick in the air, tense to an unbearable degree.
Watching him, you know we're just one moment away from someone getting seriously hurt. It's there in the intensity of his stare, and it's there in those big muscles of his that could lash out at any given moment. You just have to watch the end of the second episode to know that's true.
So imagine our surprise, watching what happened to Ruben in the latest episode. And this is one final spoiler warning, as we're about to talk about something major that happens at the end of Half Man episode four...
Given the intensity of that connection, Ruben shares with Niall (Jamie Bell), one final explosion of violence was inevitable between the pair. Even one of them dying was always going to be a strong possibility, but who knew Ruben could be the one to go? And just two-thirds of the way through this six-episode season?
The new episode starts with guests at Niall's wedding trying desperately to get inside the barn, where we know Niall and Ruben have been talking. The police show up, but it's not until the end of the episode that we find out why.
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After we watch Ruben and Niall reconcile in the past, we cut back to the wedding, where what looks like a body is wheeled out of the barn by paramedics. You might be quick to assume that Niall is the one under the sheet, especially given Ruben's obvious strength and endless aggression. But no, it's Ruben lying there instead.
So did Ruben die? Did Niall kill him? Did someone else get involved?
That's not clear just yet, but what we do know is that it's extremely ballsy to throw in the death of a major character two episodes ahead of the finale.
Seeing the sheet and knowing that someone important must be lying there under it, you might have assumed that the credits would kick in then, setting up a cliffhanger to be revealed in future episodes. But no, Half Man doesn't do things by halves. Not by any means.
It's especially shocking to see, given how important Ruben is to the story being told. He is literally one half of Half Man, a show that revolves entirely around his connection to Niall and the toxicity that this brings.
Of course, this isn't the last we've seen of Ruben. No matter what might be behind that shocking reveal, Half Man has established early on that this is not a linear story, but one that spans multiple moments across his and Niall's lives. Ruben will surely show up again throughout the last two episodes, most likely building up to revealing exactly what went down in that barn on Niall's wedding day.
What this does establish, however, is that Niall isn't the only victim here. Despite every awful thing Ruben has done, he's a victim too, not just in these last moments, but also in all the ways his environment helped shape the monster he'd go on to become.
It was clever to hammer this point home at the end of episode four in particular, because this happens to be the week where we come to understand that Niall isn't quite the "perfect victim" we assumed him to be.
The way he takes advantage of Joanna's friendship, the way he treats his (admittedly terrible) mother… Niall himself admits it when he writes the opening line of his new book: "When I was younger, I destroyed my brother's life."
Whether you actually agree with that statement or not, Niall is hardly a good guy at this point.
That's not to detract from the bad things that did happen to him, including how Ruben manipulated him into losing his virginity, but still, Niall is a flawed human being as well.
Whatever happened, the threat of violence looms heavy still, not just in the past or present-day scenes, but in the future now too. It's a constant in every way possible, which speaks to how inescapable such urges are in a world where toxic masculinity continues to run riot.
Half Man continues to surprise us each week, somehow upping the ante with each new turn. And in doing so, Gadd's limited series has cemented itself as one of this year's best on-screen stories.
Half Man is airing on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK. You can keep up with Half Man's episode release schedule here.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
