Loveday Writing

The episode cuts to the family preparing for Stuart and Claire at home, Audrey calls Em, giving her feedback on what she has written so far. When Em tells her that she can’t work as Stuart and Claire are visiting, she tells Audrey all about the issues Greg has with Stuart, and she encourages Em to write about it as another chapter for the book.

Greg and Stuart eventually end up bonding while Greg tries to ask Stuart for the cruise money to no avail. Meanwhile, Chloe and Em are hanging out with Claire, and Sophie has locked herself in her room, talking to “Cool Ben”. Despite her earlier wishes, Em tries to encourage conflict between Greg and Stuart and secretly record it on her phone for book material.

Throughout the episode, Stuart and Claire are telling Chloe conflicting stories about their trip to Italy, Sophie got $5 not her usual $100 as a gift from Stuart and Claire, and Stuart is waiting on the arrival of the “Cork Asian”, a famous wine promoter, to make a business deal on his grenache. However the deal doesn’t go through as the “Cork Asian” is just a model for the business and the real promoter is a woman with an unusual tasting ritual, who describes the grenache as “pig piss”. This all leads to the revelation that Stuart and Claire are broke, and Em’s hidden phone going off.

Interestingly, Em managed to say that Audrey was calling her and Greg didn’t actually catch on that she was recording material for her book, which she still hasn’t told him about. The episode ends with Greg and Em in bed, with Em admitting to him that this was the first time she saw imperfections in her father, and Stuart and Claire lying in Chloe’s bed, with Claire getting a notification that Denise Drysdale wants to order the grenache after Claire reached out to her earlier.

Overall I felt this episode had solid writing but was mediocre in its execution. The subtle hints of Stuart and Claire being broke were well placed throughout, however the hints weren’t subtle enough to make the revelation less predictable. I also felt that the “Cork Asian” character didn’t really add anything to the episode and the “real Cork Asian” seemed to consist of nothing more but outdated Asian stereotypes.

Stray Observations:

-Audrey’s text to Em: “Any fireworks yet? #shithusband”

-This episode marked the first appearance of “Cool Ben”.

-Brad, Nadia, Terry and Marlo didn’t appear in this episode.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I don’t say this often but your last chapter on Greg being too chicken shit to go through his vasectomy on the first try actually made me smile…twice.” (Audrey to Em)
• “An exceptional wine for unexceptional people.” (Claire describing Stuart’s grenache)