Did we need so many families?

Just finished the series and loved it.

However I can't shake the feeling that having the Clarks and Newman family was a bit unnecessary.

The reveal of Alex Clark as yet another gruff-voiced hard-nosed skinny Londoner woman felt flat to me, as did rushing in both Trent and her in the final 2 episodes. In contrast we had lots about the Newmans (gingers) in the first half of the season and barely anything until Hector appeared in the final scene in Michael's flat.

Looking back I think it would have made more sense to combine the Clarks and the Newmans. Let's call them the Clarkmans.

Hector and Trent being combined would have given Sam's storyline more coherency - he's being dragged back to England to help Helen which is the only thing that could convince him to risk re-engaging with the Clarkmans. Sam and Alex would have had more compelling animosity as she would have hated him for killing her other sons and be even more protective of Trent/Hector as her last remaining son.

It would also give more oomph to the job offer at the end. Sam would have killed all of his brothers and his mother, but Trent/Hector could have used this as his chance to cast off the overprotective infantalising of his mother and finally build his own empire - having forgiven/delayed revenge against Sam for yet again sparing his life (in my rewrite Trent does not get shot).

No impact on Helen as she has no prior contact with either of the families. She would still have the "you killed Jason... oh no you didn't... oh it was your son" moments, and she would then be thankful for Sam not shooting Trent/Hector once she finds out about Jason being a spook himself.

Maybe it's setting up for something in S2. But as a standalone season, it felt we had one group too many in the mix.

Any thoughts?