Loveday Writing

As Tara is being treated her parents arrive and we are provided with an insight into her life. Her parents are oblivious to her lifestyle and her probation, and her GP mother has clearly pressured her, her entire life. Hugh later goes to Tara’s house to hide the alcohol and drugs, only for her mother to catch him in the act, and he ends up telling her and Tara’s father about her probation. While this is happening, Betty interrupts their discussion to tell them Tara’s condition has worsened, and Hugh and Penny realises she has Serotonin Syndrome.

Tara eventually recovers and decides to leave her job as she can’t cope with the trauma that comes with it.

Overall while I didn’t find it surprising that she overdosed, her decision to quit and leave did surprise me a little. I didn’t expect it to happen straight after her overdose, however I can see why she made this decision: the whole season so far has shown that her mental health issues and her ways of coping are unhealthy, which has ultimately led to this near-death experience, which has given her a much-needed and overdue wake up call.

It will be interesting to see where the remainder of the season goes without her.

Hugh—This episode provided Hugh’s birthday as bookends. The opening moments of the episode show Hugh running to work, which according to Penny, is a tradition on his birthday, and going into an exam room to see Ken and Betty surprising him with decorations and a birthday cupcake.

Hugh spends most of the episode treating Tara and after she leaves, he goes on yet another bender, before his family birthday party. After Hayley drives him to the party, he manages to insult and alienate his entire family, plus Ken, Jarrod and Penny. At the end of the night, Penny takes him to her and Jarrod’s house to sleep his drinking off, much to Jarrod’s anger. After she puts Hugh in bed, he declares his love for her.

Overall it was nice to see Hugh’s medical skills at work, however I am growing tired of his benders. I feel the writers have done Hugh a disservice this season, essentially unravelling the character development made over the last four years, by basically having him revert back to the man he was in season one. I’m hoping that the writers will focus on another part of Hugh’s character now that Tara has departed.

Ken, Ajax and Hayley—I honestly didn’t enjoy this subplot. While I am enjoying the unlikely friendship between Ken and Hayley, and another aspect of Hayley’s character being developed with the pole dancing, I felt Ajax suspecting her of having an affair and later outright accusing her of having one to be completely out of character.

When Ajax’s suspicions arise at the beginning of the episode, he asks Hugh for advice, which is to go through her phone, which Ajax at first refuses to do, as it is wrong. He later calls Matt, who advises him to talk to Hayley. Things come to a head at Hugh’s family birthday party, when he sees Ken and Hayley talking and giggling, and he confronts Ken and admits to looking through Hayley’s phone. Ken and Hayley tell him about the pole dancing class.

Matt and Charlie—They didn’t get much screen time in this episode, however it was crucial as they officially got back together. Ultimately while this outcome was predictable, I appreciate that it didn’t happen straight away. It will be interesting to see where their renewed relationship goes from here.

Meryl—Meryl is continuing to become a more unlikeable character, as she views the family abandoning her at her family dinner last week as her children being ungrateful, rather than a reflection of her own bad behaviour. She spends most of the episode dealing with the ramifications of Rod’s titty bar opening in town and complaints of the mine blasts from Whyhope’s residents. She later has a meeting with Jarrod at the titty bar and tells him to stop the mine blasting.

As I said at the beginning of my review, I felt that this was a filler episode. I feel this way as there was no real action, however Tara’s departure, and Matt and Charlie’s reunion are potential springboards for the remaining episodes of the season.

Stray Observations:

Dora sighting—At the farm nearby Matt and Charlie when they are on their date.

-Hugh apparently keeps his birthday “fluid” to prevent identity theft.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “You want to take this outside!?” “You mean more outside?” (Ajax-Ken when Ajax angrily confronts Ken believing he and Hayley have been having an affair)
• “I’m hoping it becomes an Olympic sport.” (Ken to Ajax on pole dancing)