Loveday Writing

The focus of this episode kicks off almost immediately – the crew have to attend to a man, Nick, who has fallen and find his missing young son, Ben, who has epilepsy and doesn’t have his medication on him. Eliza and Matty tend to Nick, while Pete goes up in another plane with Graham and Darren, to fly over the area and look for Ben. Darren thinks he’s found something, only for Graham to point out that it’s a bonfire as a way for Ben to find his way back in the dark, which is also a sign that the RES search party are calling it a night.

As Eliza, Matty and Mira had to take Nick to Adelaide, Leonie picks up Henry from footy training, where it’s clear he’s struggling both with the sport and making friends. Leonie reassures him that overnight trips for RFDS staff don’t happen too often. Eliza calls him and tells him that the hospital inquiry findings involving his father will be coming out tomorrow, which means he’ll be in the news again.

When Eliza, Matty and Mira go out for dinner, Eliza tells them (and the audience) that Ed had an affair years ago with his junior registrar, but only found out about it a couple of months ago. The registrar came forward about it during a review when the hospital board finally decided to do something about sexism and sexual harassment within the hospital. The registrar kept text messages, which showed the affair was more than a fling. Ed ended the affair and she left the hospital.

The next morning, Pete starts early to join the search party, while Ed sends Eliza a link to an article on the hospital inquiry findings, which includes a picture of the registrar he had an affair with. Eliza then calls Pete on his satellite phone to talk about their hook up, however Pete stops her as the satellite phone’s battery is low.

Later, Pete decides to go out on his own to find Ben. Meanwhile Taylor goes out to Wyama on her own to strain the fences. Taylor calls Pete and asks him where he is, when the call ends, the satellite phone’s battery dies. Pete then sees smoke from a distance.

Meanwhile Wayne is studying for an Advanced Pediatric Life Support exam when Leonie tells him that one of the search party’s choppers has crashed. Wayne goes out there via another chopper as it will get him there faster than Eliza and Matty. He treats Patrick, a man who was thrown by the chopper and landed on his feet. Wayne radios Eliza and tells her that Patrick has a tension pneumothorax, the same thing Rhiannon died from, and they need a chest tube. Wayne does his best to take the pressure off Patrick’s lungs to help him breathe.

Eliza and Matty arrive, where they assist Wayne further. Eliza tells Wayne that Patrick is his patient and follows his directions when they have to put a chest tube in when Patrick’s condition worsens. Meanwhile, Pete manages to find Ben sitting within remnants of an old building. Pete ends up carrying Ben back to the search party on his own as Ben’s too weak to walk.

Meanwhile, Darren and Taylor meet at a look out with a view of the whole town, talking about what everyone could possibly be up to. Darren asks Taylor how she is and she tells him that she thinks that if she got lost that no-one would come and find her. Darren tells her that heaps of people would come looking for her, including him. Taylor kisses him, but Darren pulls away after a few seconds. Taylor apologises only for Darren to start apologising himself, with Taylor believing he pities her, and she runs away.

The episode ends with Eliza calling Pete while she’s at the base to continue their conservation about their hook up, unaware that Henry is behind her, listening to the entire conversation. When she turns around and sees him, she ends the phone call. Henry calls her a hypocrite and asks her if the marriage is over. She tells him she doesn’t know and he storms out. Meanwhile Pete returns home to find Taylor sitting on the verandah looking up at the stars. Pete proposes to Taylor that they stay at Wyama for a while. Taylor then tells him that everyone has been telling her that she’ll be able to feel the spirit of her parents around, but she can’t feel anything. Pete tells her he can feel the spirit of her mother around them every time he looks at her.

Overall I felt that this was the best episode of the season so far. While there were other medical situations going on, this episode mainly focused on the missing child and the search for him. I appreciated the detail of Ben’s name constantly being called out by the search party in the background, as Eliza and Matty treated Nick. I also felt this story was well-paced by breaking up the episode with the interactions between Darren and Taylor, and Eliza, Matty and Mira.

I also appreciated that Eliza and Wayne’s dynamic improved as they were treating Patrick, and that Matty managed to break the tension of Eliza revealing her husband’s affair to him and Mira by asking for some of her nasi goreng, which he wanted to try the moment the plate of it was put down on the table. The dramatic, emotional and comedic moments were balanced out perfectly and were well placed.