Loveday Writing

The next day Harrow goes to meet Fairley for the group camping trip, only to find Nichols arriving seconds later and no-one else there waiting. Fairley then shows up and informs them that the group camping trip will consist of the three of them as they are his two best friends. While driving them to the camping site, Fairley tells them he has news he wants to share with them but won’t do so until they arrive at the site. While Harrow hopes that the hiking track to the site being closed will put a much-wanted premature end to the trip, Fairley dismisses him by climbing over the gate. While they are hiking to the site, Nichols tells Harrow that there is pressure to investigate Max Zoric’s death further.

As he is about to take a bathroom break, Nichols notices an old hut nearby, Harrow tries to convince Fairley to camp there but he refuses. Moments later, a ranger shows up and informs them of white ants in the hut, that the track is closed, and to be careful around the area. When they reach the halfway point of the hike, Fairley decides that they will spend the night there, and it’s revealed that Nichols was supposed to bring a stove and Harrow was supposed to bring a tent for everyone, however due to a miscommunication, Nichols didn’t bring one and Harrow only brought a tent for himself.  After fighting about the camping site, the miscommunication between the three of them over the supplies, Nichols finally admits to Fairley that his ‘outdoorsy’ qualities were really just lies he told on his dating profile to try and meet someone.

Later that evening, after they finally manage to get a fire going to cook their food. Fairley gets the whiskey he brought out of his bag and pours himself, Harrow and Nichols a drink and toasts to them surviving their professions. He tells Harrow that his father didn’t survive their profession as he saw his fair share of the dead in the war, and that it was too much for him. He then tells Nichols that he has to go to all the roadsides, lounge rooms, the bedrooms and blood-covered kitchens and see the worst of what we can do to each other but that he survived. Although Nichols appreciates Fairley’s compliment, he admits that ‘surviving’ for him has cost him two marriages, his relationship with his daughter, loneliness, and insomnia. Nichols asks Fairley why he never got married. Fairley reveals that he almost married a dancer, Titania, however when he waited all day at the Registry Office for her when they planned to elope, but she stood him up. She left a note for him when he got home complaining that he smelt of formaldehyde.

Nichols finds a harmonica in his pocket and starts to play and then sing the song, ‘Streets of Laredo’ with Fairley and Harrow joining in, until Nichols, Fairley and eventually Harrow notice a mysterious, disheveled man who believes he is dead, come out of the bushes. The man tells them that he was shot in the back. Nichols and Fairley try to find out who shot him and where, but he doesn’t know.  He then tells them his name is Branch and was a botanist before leaving.

The next morning, Nichols, Fairley and Harrow continue on their hike to the waterfall. When Fairley continues to show off his knowledge of plants, it’s revealed that his father had the interest in plants and he shared it with Fairley and his brother. Harrow manages to get phone signal and looks up Branch – his real name is Branch Goddard, he went missing three years ago, Customs was after him on suspicion of bringing in illegal plants to Australia, and he went missing with someone else. Nichols leaves to go back to their campsite for a rest and finds a tree that brings back memories of his days in the drug squad and identifies it as Coca (used to make cocaine), Fairley also identifies it as being native to South America. When Harrow digs around the tree trunk, he finds a pelvic bone.

Harrow, Fairley and Nichols dig further and realise that the man who has been buried there ingested a coca seed, he digested it before he died and the bowel material would have made excellent starting fertiliser for it to grow, which is why the tree grew through his pelvic bone, and that he was shot to death. Shots are then fired at Harrow, Fairley and Nichols. Harrow and Nichols hide behind a rock and Fairley behind a tree, Nichols tells Fairley to go and get help. Nichols leaves and the shooter finds Harrow, but Nichols sneaks up on him, making him believe he has a gun, and grabs his rifle. The ranger then comes along and reveals he is actually working with the shooter.

The shooter and the ranger take Harrow and Fairley hostage in the old hut, the shooter reveals that the man they shot was Branch’s brother. While Harrow tries to stall them, he discovers Fairley in the hut’s ceiling. Fairley comes up with a plan to burn the hut down with his whiskey, only to end up dropping and breaking the bottle, alerting the shooter and ranger to his presence. Harrow, Fairley and Nichols manage to get the guns away from the shooter and the ranger, and they are arrested. The other man that the shooter and ranger killed was Branch’s younger brother, Whitman.

Harrow then sees Branch in the bushes nearby, telling him that the men who killed Whitman have been arrested, and gets him out of the bushes to get medical help. Harrow explains to Fairley and Nichols that Branch is suffering from Cotard’s Delusion – a mental disorder in which people believe that they are dead, which can be brought on by severe trauma.

When Harrow, Fairley and Nichols return to Fairley’s car, Harrow asks Fairley what he wanted to tell them. Fairley reveals he has decided to retire.

The episode ends with Harrow, Fairley and Grace returning to the Institute to find Dr Bramson (Matt Day) autopsying Max Zoric. Renae asks Fairley and Grace to come into her office, when Harrow goes to see what’s going on, he finds Mila Zoric in Renae’s office staring at him.

Overall I felt that this was one of the series’ strongest episodes – the change of scenery made the case of the week more compelling and provided for solid character development in Nichols and Fairley in particular. The fights between the three men were hilarious and were balanced out perfectly with their bonding and vulnerable moments, putting the chemistry between Gruffudd, Gilshenan and Garvey on full display in a difficult but realistic environment.

I also felt that the writing of the episode was solid with Branch at first being portrayed as a ghost, only to be the same man we saw shot at the beginning of the episode, and ostensibly throwaway lines being crucial to the outcome of the case of the week, as well as the slowly progressing the James story arc, with none of these lines going to waste.

As Harrow, Fairley and Nichols were front and centre, there was little focus on the James story arc and Grace subplot. The James story arc didn’t really progress that far, other than showing him trying unsuccessfully to get his phone back, two people trying unsuccessfully to find James by pretending to deliver his mail, and Fern pressuring him to get a job as she’s having to pay for everything due to Callan being jobless. Meanwhile the Grace subplot concluded with her and Ben finishing moving out of their old home and Ben taking a job in Brisbane. I’m sure this will be addressed again in future episodes but it was barely touched upon in this one. In all honesty, I didn’t mind a break from the James story arc for one episode, and the Grace subplot doesn’t really interest me nor did it add anything to this episode. That being said, based on the preview for the next episode, it looks like we’ll be diving back into the James story arc as it hints at both Harrow and Fern doubting James’ stories.

Stray Observations:

Episode title translation: Per Stirpes – By Roots

-Renae apparently doesn’t like Fairley referring to her by her first name.

-Trees make Nichols nervous.

-Nichols has had two failed marriages and has an estranged daughter, and a dishwasher he never uses as he only has plates for one.

-Steph has moved to Toowoomba.

-Fairley’s father left him, his brother and his mother when he was 12.

-The whiskey Fairley brought with him on the camping trip cost $2,000.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Are you feeling old, do you need a sports car or tattoo?” (Edwina to Harrow)
• “I think you know what this is about.” “Fine I’ll replace them.” “What?” “Nothing.” (Fairley-Harrow going back-and-forth)
• “What are you doing here?” “Apparently I’m in Fairley’s ‘gang’.” (Harrow-Nichols)
• “I need an excuse to go camping with my two best chums?” “Yes.” (Fairley and then Nichols and Harrow answering his question simultaneously)
• “Maybe he’s getting married.” “To who?” (Nichols-Harrow speculating on Fairley’s news)
• “You need nitrate tablets and a lower BMI.” (Harrow to Nichols)
• “Your permit’s in order?” “Oh I hope not.” (Ranger-Harrow)
• “I was looking to make an impression on someone so I wouldn’t end up dying alone. But you’ve saved me the trouble ‘cause Dr. Solipsism here was only thinking of himself, as usual!” (Nichols to Fairley on his outdoorsy dating profile and then on Harrow)
• “What do we get that others don’t?” “Free gloves.” (Harrow-Fairley on theirs and Nichols’ jobs)
• “I suspected your ability to pick up twigs would come in handy.” (Harrow to Nichols on Nichols tricking the shooter by making him believe that he was holding a gun to his back)
• “Fishing, climbing, show jumping!” “There was no photos with horses!” (Harrow-Nichols on Nichols’ dating profile)