Loveday Writing

Later, Taylor, Darren and Timmy go to Wayne’s house for dinner per Wayne’s request to Darren in the previous episode. When Timmy tells Darren to put some music on, Wayne tells Darren that the speakers are connected to his laptop. When Darren tries to find some music, he finds the email from Melbourne Hospital about his successful job application. Over dinner, Darren asks Wayne when he’s leaving for Melbourne, they get into a fight and he leaves with Taylor, only to have a fight with her. Wayne and Timmy sit in the backyard by a fire, Wayne admits to Timmy that he was right about the fact that he and Darren don’t talk to each other enough. Timmy tells Wayne that whilst he was at uni and he was taking care of Darren, that Darren couldn’t stop bragging about his dad the doctor, and that having ‘Mr. Perfect’ as a dad is great as a child, but it’s difficult as a grown man.

The next morning, Mira packs her bags and she and Wayne end their “unofficial” relationship (this is after she arrives at Wayne’s for dinner only to see him, Timmy, Darren and Taylor sitting happily together and decides to leave).

Later in the day, just as his and Matty’s shifts are about to end, they are called out to attend to Shawn Everitt, a 32-year-old man who attempted suicide. When they get to him, Wayne tries to intubate him, however he is having difficulty getting through due to Shawn’s neck swelling. Matty tells him to do a surgical airway but Wayne doesn’t listen, he eventually gets through and they take their patient to Adelaide Hospital. When they get to Adelaide, the doctor who attends to Shawn chastises the paramedics for treating him as an epileptic instead of a suicidal patient. Wayne chastises him on his ignorance of the nature of outback medical care.

When Wayne and Matty return to Broken Hill and after their shift has ended, Wayne comes to Matty and apologises for his behaviour, and encourages Matty to keep questioning him when he feels the need.

Overall I felt that this was a strong subplot, as it provided further insight into Wayne’s character – his ambitions, his stubbornness, his passion for patient care, but also his ability to apologise and take responsibility for his behaviour, or in this case, when he snaps.

Eliza and Pete – When the episode begins, Pete is casually eating his breakfast when he sees Taylor come into the kitchen, with Darren behind her putting his shirt on. This leads to him looking up teenage sexual health resources when he gets to work, and asking Eliza for advice on how to have the ‘sex’ conversation with Taylor. While Eliza jokingly puts on a bad Australian accent and pretends to be Taylor, she tells him to cover the topics of contraception, protection and consent.

Eliza and Pete attend to a snake bite patient, which Eliza is excited about but Pete not so much, as he has a fear of snakes. On their way, Henry calls Eliza and tells him that he doesn’t plan on coming back to Australia, Eliza tells him that they’ll talk about it later when she finishes work.

When they go their patient, Archie, and his ten-year-old daughter, Dylan, Pete runs away from the snake again when Archie asks him if needs to see it as he put in a bag, and Eliza takes his blood. Archie is reluctant to board the plane, asking for the anti-venom, however Pete tells him that they don’t have enough to give him and he needs to get to the hospital for proper treatment.

On their way back to base, Mira is about to descend when the landing gear jams. Mira places a PAN call to ask for emergency services to be on standby and makes an emergency landing, whilst manually opening the landing gear. The tension escalates when Archie freaks out, with Pete having to get out of his seat to firmly tell him to calm down to prevent Dylan from freaking out. While Mira manages to get the landing gear down, it’s unclear whether it’s locked, so Mira still has to do an emergency landing, and Dylan gets out of her seat to tend to Archie. Knowing that Dylan likes Shania Twain songs, Eliza, Pete and Archie sing to and with her to calm her down and get her back into her seat. Mira successfully lands the plane.

Later, Eliza and Pete go to the pub to play pool and chat with Ferret, who was meant to be on a date with Matty, before Matty was called away to attend to Shawn Everitt. When Matty eventually arrives, they leave, and Pete reveals his fear of snakes comes from being bitten by one as a child. After getting ice-cream, Eliza invites Pete back to her place and just as they are starting to hook up, she gets a text from Henry informing her that he will be coming back to Australia, but that Ed will be coming with him.

Overall, I enjoyed the exploration of Pete’s fear of snakes, the tension during the emergency landing scene, and further exploration of Eliza and Pete’s developing romance. It will be interesting to see how Ed’s arrival will affect both of them.

Matty – Matty wasn’t heavily focused on but he had some fantastic moments in this episode. He questions Wayne on his behaviour, which he is initially chastised for, however Wayne apologises and encourages him to continue speaking up. Matty also manages to go on his date with Ferret, despite the setback of having to attend to Shawn Everitt at the tail end of his shift.

Taylor – Like with Matty, Taylor wasn’t heavily focused on but she had her moments too. Darren invites her to dinner with Wayne, Mira and Timmy, per Wayne’s request in the previous episode. When she comes over, she gets along with Wayne and Timmy, however Timmy questions whether she’ll be able to get Wyama back in the black. After Darren fights with Wayne over his job offer in Melbourne, he and Taylor leave and end up fighting on the way out when Taylor calls him out on not being honest with her about getting Wyama back in the black, and he in turns calls her out for never asking him for his opinion. Their argument isn’t resolved by the end of the episode.

At one point, Taylor goes to Pete’s to find him repairing chairs for her. He admits that she was right about him needing to get his shit together, and he awkwardly attempts to ask her about her relationship with Darren, only for her to stop him in his tracks when she unexpectedly hugs him for his efforts to help her with the Wyama repairs.

Leonie – Leonie generally only gets a few scenes in each episode and this trend continues with this one, however she does get a small moment in the spotlight when she vents her anger about Wayne resigning to Graham. Graham comments that Wayne’s resignation explains why Mira is off kilter.

While this was only a minor moment, it would good to see Leonie have one. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Leonie and Graham interact more.

Overall this was a solid episode with the medical and personal scenes perfectly balanced out, as well as flawless continuity from the previous episode, specifically in regards to Taylor having dinner with Darren’s family, and Matty going on a date with Ferret.

Stray Observations:

-Wayne put his resignation letter in an envelope for Leonie which says “Leonie (don’t hate me)”.

-Eliza is afraid of dementia, public speaking and karaoke.

-Eliza managed to juggle her medical studies and career with having Henry, due to Ed being a stay-at-home dad during Henry’s early years.