And so the curtain falls on Stephen House’s cameo as head of Police Scotland.
It was, in truth, a mixed performance. But not one that was as bad as the muted applause today will suggest.
Despite his blips, Scotland now has a single police force and – for better or worse – that is no mean feat.
That is not to say Sir Stephen’s performance was polished – there were certainly enough controversies to give the critics their column inches.
Stop and search, routinely armed officers, the M9 tragedy – these are just some of the hullabaloos that he oversaw.
Indeed, there was a general view that the 57-year-old forced his Strathclyde policing model on the country, rather than adapting it.
His method – when he took over command of the single force in 2013 – was to try and make Scotland Glasgow.
This created inevitable problems, but in truth the transition was probably as smooth as the audience could have hoped for.
While there were notable issues in the transfer from eight divisions to one, at least the system did not break down entirely.
And Sir Stephen did achieve some stand-out successes.
Policing at the Commonwealth Games was well-received.
Under his watch crime has fallen to record lows and detection rates are significantly up, while his focus on domestic abuse has also drawn praise from campaigners.
Yet these successes were not quite enough to protect him from the sense that the creation of the single force had not been performed with the nuance and care it deserved.
As he departs, his successor – who will be announced later this week – stands waiting in the wings.
They will know that the show must go on. Whoever replaces Sir Stephen will face a monumental battle to restore public trust in the force.