Stateless – Episode 6 (The Finale) Recap & Review

The Seventh Circle

Ameer

The finale of Stateless (episode 6) sees Ameer brought back into the interview room where he pleads with them to listen to the truth. Eventually he caves and tells Clare he smuggled the money back from those who took it originally but they beat him to a pulp on the beach. With the extra money he had sewn into his pockets, he managed to pay for another boat over to Australia in the hope of meeting back up with his family.

Unfortunately Ameer faces some grim charges ahead unless he can get someone to corroborate his story. It’s made all the worse by Genevieve twisting her hand and trying to force Ameer’s confession into being a smuggler. This decision causes Clare to be directly responsible for the fate of these two refugees.

Back in the yard, Ameer speaks to Mina but sees her holding a shard of glass, blood oozing down her palm. When she tells him it’s a way of “dealing with the pain” he immediately brings her over to the nurse. 12 year old Mina’s put on suicide watch for the time being, prompting Ameer to speak to Mohsin and beg him to help back up his story. Sadly, he refuses.

In the morning, Clare sits with Ameer and he decides to sacrifice himself for his daughter’s life and protection. He goes on record and lies, telling them Mina isn’t actually his daughter as a way of granting her a protection VISA. It works too and on the back of this, tells Mina to pack her things up.

As their journey comes to an end, it’s an emotional finale for the pair when they say goodbye as Mina is taken away under the protection VISA and Ameer is forced to stay inside the detention centre. The final shots of the episode show Ameer looking at birds in the sky (symbolic for freedom of course) and as we cut to Mina, she looks out at the water.

Cameron & The Officers

Cameron stays at Janice’s house after the incident involving his kids. In the morning he completely ignores his sister and bundles into the car ready for work. En-route he shares a drink with Sully to take the edge off what’s happened.

Harriet happens to be acting GM now and in her place she promotes Cameron. Clare arrives inside the yard and she’s surrounded by the UNCs who try to speak to her while Harriet talks through the route they’re taking the human rights group.

Cameron goes one step too far as he and the other guards attempt to move the old man sitting in the yard back inside. In doing so, one of the Tamil refugees on the roof urinates on him and he snaps. Grabbing Javad by the scruff of his neck, he takes him out back and brandishes his baton, ready to hit him.

Only, it’s all too much for him and he collapses to the ground and sits alongside Javad in defeat. He rings Angie and break down sobbing, apologizing for everything that’s happened and walking away from the compound and his job.

Sofie

Sofie goes completely off the rails and starts dancing around her cell while Margot continues to investigate where her sister may be, finally settling on Barton Immigration Centre. When Sofie’s let out of her cell, she sees Javad who pleads with her to stay strong.

The next day she’s released from isolation into the yard with the other UNCs and immediately starts seeing everyone dancing. Sofie’s mental health continues to be a serious problem and with things looking grim, Margot desperately jumps through hoops to try and find out if her sister is in Barton.

In the wake of this investigation, Clare is forced to check over the files and realizes Sofie isn’t actually a migrant and is an Australian citizen with schizophrenia. With the Human Rights Commission en-route, Clare makes a bold choice and breaks the story to David outside. At the same time, Margot arrives at the compound.

The guards and medics work together and sedate Sofie in order to take her away to receive the medical help she so desperate needs. With her gone, Genevieve tells her to start spinning the smuggler story but instead, she heads out and speaks directly to the press. Bravely, she tells them the whole story involving Sofie and how she’s been transferred now. She admits that Sofie was wrongfully imprisoned and awaits what fate has in store for her in the future.

Margot hears the news and immediately heads to the hospital to be there for her sister. Hugging her, she tells Sofie that she’s home now.

The Review Write-Up

Seeing Mina now free and in Australia under the protection VISA is certainly a bittersweet way to end the show and asks a really important question – what is the cost of freedom? That’s something that’s run parallel to a lot of the drama that’s enveloped these 6 episodes and Stateless has done a great job capturing that in its rawest form.

The conclusion for all three of our main characters is probably as good a conclusion as you could get from a show like this and the final shots of expository text are a great reminder of just how much of a global issue immigration is.

For the most part, Stateless maintains its slice of life drama perspective on this with only a few melodramatic hiccups along the way that feel ill-placed (did we really need to see Cameron cheating on his wife?)

Stateless is a poignant, harsh reminder that under this glossy facade of “everything’s fine” is a world where very few things are. It’s a show that brings humanity and heart to a topic that’s been a big talking point in recent years and doesn’t look like disappearing any time soon. Regardless of your views on this topic, Stateless is a really well written limited series and definitely worth a watch.