Loveday Writing

After Easton returns from the local bottle shop after running into Margot, he shows Diana the chef’s whites he bought for both of them. He informs her that he will only give her the whites on the condition that she comes up with a world-class, Michelin-level dessert by the end of the day. Diana tells him that she’s having trouble coming up with an idea as Denise is holding her gear ransom. Easton kicks her out of the kitchen so she can come up with an idea, she goes home to get her gear to find her bedroom converted into an office. She hides in the pantry away from Brett and Denise, only for Brett to catch her, however when she hears Denise insulting her, she comes out and leaves without her gear.

Meanwhile, Easton decides to use the shed instead of the house as the restaurant space and catches Jim trying to move his stuff back into the house by finding him in the skip bin. Easton traps him in the bin, informing him that he will be using the shed and will keep him in the bin, until he tells him where June is. Diana goes to see Nayani at their stall, and Nayani agrees to give Diana her own gear to use for the dessert and Diana hires her to work at the restaurant. Zhao’s sous-chef, Kwame, comes over to them, offering them his “hot cross bao buns” to try. Diana tells Zhao about the restaurant, when he comes over to say hello.

Later, Brett goes over to Jim’s to give Diana her baking gear and finds Jim waving a makeshift white flag from the bin and lets him out. Jim and Easton then fight each other, trying to force Brett to be referee. During the fight, Jim reveals that June left the family, however he doesn’t provide him full details. Meanwhile Diana and Kwame go to the cemetery to forage for blackberries, then flirt at a local fruit stand, and end up hooking up in Easton’s ute. When Brett returns from Jim’s, he stands up for himself to Denise and calls her out on her behaviour.

When Easton is finishing his set up in the shed, Jim reveals he doesn’t know if June is still alive or not and he didn’t have the heart to tell Easton and Denise the truth when they were kids. He also reveals to Easton that June hated country life, being a mother, never cooked and he bought the cookbook at a garage sale. Easton ends up burning the cookbook.

Diana returns to Easton, wearing the chef’s whites, and presents him her dessert – an Adelaide Hills fruit tart with a Fruity Hoops cereal crème anglaise on the side – the dessert is a representation of her losing her virginity to Kwame. Easton lashes out her, telling her that she needs to take her craft more seriously. She leaves the shed and breaks down in the kitchen.

The episode ends with Jim setting up another makeshift lounge area outside and drinking the French wine Easton bought for the restaurant.

Overall I felt this episode was funny but weaker in comparison to the previous episodes. While the overall story arc of the restaurant opening did progress, its focus was more on Easton blackmailing Jim about June’s whereabouts. This was interesting in itself as we find out more about June, who may or may not be alive, and apparently wasn’t the person who Easton, Denise and Diana believed to be. We also find out more about Jim as a character in the process, as he didn’t have the heart to tell Easton and Denise that June left them, however telling them that she died clearly wasn’t the right way to go. This episode and these reveals has certainly provided more questions than answers, as well as possible continuity error – if June didn’t compile the cookbook and hated cooking, why did she make the desserts in the first place?

As I mentioned this episode was funny, the funniest to date in my opinion, however I felt that the focus on June and the questions raised, while interesting and necessary, was where the weaknesses presented themselves, especially as it does enable possible continuity errors (like the cookbook error mentioned above).

Stray Observations:

-Minor continuity error: Denise vacuumed Diana’s bedroom floor in the first episode, indicating that the room was carpeted, yet when Diana returns and finds her bedroom converted into an office, there are polished wooden floorboards.

-Apparently Denise use to referee Jim and Easton’s fights.

-Brett supported Diana through her Year 11 netball season which consisted of 22-straight losses.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Why are you dressed up like you’re on a day trip to Chernobyl?” (Easton to Diana on wearing a HAZMAT-like suit while cleaning out the house)
• “Bless the bipolar old bastard.” (Diana to Easton on Jim)
• “I’m hardly a celebrity chef, I work for a living.” (Easton to Margot)
• “Elton John gave me a Rolex when I got my first star, I think he fancied me.” “You would have made a cute couple.” (Easton-Margot on how he got money for the restaurant)
• “Now that you can pay with more than your rugged charm and moderately impressive penis, I’ll be happy to supply you with wine.” (Margot to Easton)
• “Who says ‘rise above’?” “I don’t know…pole vaulters, astronauts, high jumpers?” (Denise-Brett)