Loveday Writing

When Ollie, Margie and Clara meet up at the furniture store, Ollie tells them that he corroborated Clara’s fake alibi. As Daniel isn’t returning Clara’s calls, she suggests going to see Heidi. When they go to Heidi’s apartment, she asks them if they’ve seen anyone nearby as she’s noticed a guy lurking around. Before they can have a deeper discussion with Heidi, Clara gets a phone call from the police, wanting to speak with her, Ollie and Margie. When they arrive at the police station, Dom is there as the police have identified the arsonist who burnt the furniture store.

Detective Sarti reveals that the arsonist is Dean Walsh, who has a criminal history of harassment and stalking, and was part of the ‘Free Heidi’ group. Sarti reveals that Walsh took photos and kept notes of all the jurors, except Daniel. Sarti thinks that Walsh may be trying to get revenge on jurors, especially jurors who doubted Heidi’s innocence. This leads to Clara admitting that her barbecue alibi was a lie, that they’ve spoken to Heidi, and what she said about wanting the furniture store to burn to the ground. Afterwards, Clara tries to apologise to Dom but he won’t accept it, and questions whether the kids should be around her. Clara tells him to have the kids stay with him and Mandy.

Clara goes to see Daniel and tell him about Walsh, but he’s dismissive of her, however after she leaves, he calls Walsh and tells him that the police know about him. Later, Heidi calls Clara to let her know that the police have filled her in and will have patrol cars driving by her place as well. Meanwhile Daniel is working on his boat and is ambushed by Walsh when he goes into his boat shed, asking him what his so-called plan is. Ollie also tries to convince the junior solicitor he hooked up with in the previous episode, Eliza, to go out to dinner with him but she refuses.

Later, Margie comes home and Trish asks her what’s going on. Margie tells her about the stalker, just as Clara comes over asking to stay. After letting the truth about the decorative dove’s origin slip, Clara leaves, with Margie calling her out on dragging her and the others into the situation. When Clara goes home and notices a blue car stop in the street and hears someone get out, she drives off and goes to see Ollie, with Heidi coming over later and bonding with him over a video game. Heidi later gets a message, ostensibly from Walsh, saying ‘now you’re free, you’re mine.’

After getting the message, Heidi, Clara and Ollie go to the police, only to be told that the phone the message came from was registered in Clara’s name, using her licence and Medicare card details. Afterwards, Ollie takes Heidi and Clara to the luxury apartment he’s trying to sell, on Sarti’s suggestion that they spend the night elsewhere.

At the apartment, Heidi makes a joke about the balcony before Clara asks her what she thinks happened to Belinda. Heidi tells them that she can’t believe Paul would ever hurt her, that he had a temper but was a loving husband. However, her solicitors felt it was easier to show reasonable doubt and that Belinda possibly committed suicide as there was no evidence that Paul killed her, but she believes Belinda was pushed off the roof. The next morning, Ollie wakes Heidi and Clara up as he makes a mess in the kitchen by cooking breakfast. When they leave the apartment, Clara and Ollie watch a video Walsh posted, accusing Paul of Belinda’s murder. Clara tells Ollie they should go to see him. Meanwhile, Daniel convinces Walsh to go off the grid, telling him he can drop him off in the bush with a tent and food.

Ollie and Clara go to see Paul, who is angry at them for both tricking him into letting them into his apartment and for letting Heidi go free. When Ollie asks him if he blamed Belinda for losing the baby (which Heidi said earlier), Paul asks who told him that, and when Ollie says it is true, Paul angrily shoves him, and kicks him and Clara out of the apartment. Clara’s phone rings and Daniel is calling her, offering her a place to stay but she quickly and politely declines. When Clara sees her car graffitied with the words ‘die doubter’, she takes off to buy a second-hand flute for Mia for a school concert, only to find the shop is closed. When she believes she is being followed again, she hits the car with a discarded cello, only to discover it’s an older lady behind the wheel.

Later, Ollie calls Margie and tells her about the situation, remarking that she’s right about Paul and suggests that there are two lunatics out to get them. Ollie and Margie drives to Daniel’s place and discover that his car matches Clara’s description. While they’re waiting for Daniel to leave, Ollie’s rival colleague calls, where it’s revealed he took Heidi and Clara to the apartment and made a mess to sabotage an open inspection she was hosting. When Daniel leaves, Ollie and Margie follow him to the middle of nowhere where they come across a crime scene that Daniel immediately flees from. When they get out of their car and sneak around to see what is going on, the crime scene is revealed to be where Walsh’s dead body has been found.

Meanwhile, Clara calls Heidi and tells her that she feels she’s losing her mind. Heidi tells her to call in sick to work tomorrow and pack a bag, telling her they need to get away. When Clara meets up with Heidi, she misses a phone call from Ollie, with him and Margie telling her that Daniel is her stalker and to stay away from him. The episode ends with Heidi and Clara leaving town, with Daniel watching and following them.

Overall, this was a solid second episode as we saw character development in Ollie, Clara, Margie and Heidi, and further questions were raised to add to the mystery. Daniel’s motivations in stalking Clara and Heidi, as well as his connection to Walsh haven’t been made clear, but I’m sure they will be in future episodes. Whether he is connected to Belinda and/or Paul isn’t made clear either. I personally feel like, two episodes in, that it’s too easy for Daniel to be a bad guy, but we’ll see what happens. I also appreciated that Ollie had more of an active role in this episode.

I’m looking forward to seeing where we go next with Clara and Heidi leaving town to go to Heidi’s parent’s house, and finding out why Daniel is stalking Clara, and exactly what he is up to.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “You said that you’d rather burn to death than listen to that bloody noise.” “I didn’t really say that, did I?” “Yes.” (Mia-Clara, then Mia and Jamie in unison)
• “You didn’t overlie did you?” “How do you overlie?” “By discussing capsicums.” (Margie-Ollie-Margie on him telling the police they had lamb kebabs with capsicums to corroborate Clara’s fake alibi)
• “How can I say this…having sex with you was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.” “One of? That’s positive.” (Eliza-Ollie)
• “I’m just hearing about our stalker and our new friend, the murderer.” (Trish to Clara)
• “Are you going to be alright at work by yourself?” “I have a meat cleaver.” “I have a scalpel.” “I have a buzzsaw.” “I have chloroform.” “Oh, you win.” (Trish-Margie going back and forth)