First Two Episodes Brilliiant, Then a bit Disappointing ( spoilers)

Hadnt seen this before, got it on DVD (series 1) and thought the first disc (first 2 episodes)was brilliant, very Jimmy McGovern, touching, witty, real with a great John Simm performance. Then a major part of the plot happens and I put in the 2nd disc (last 2 episodes) and it seemed to go a bit flat, soap opera-rey for me.Shame, I have no intention of bothering with series 2 now. (In particular the priest "relationship" got right on my tats, felt cliched).