Loveday Writing

This episode was all about farewelling Manju, with a few surprises thrown in.

Liz and Harry – As the episode was mostly about them, as well as Manju, I’ll start with them.

The episode kicks off with Harry making phone calls to arrange Manju’s funeral, with Liz and Heather nearby. Liz gives Harry a photo that Manju wanted by her casket, and it’s immediately apparent that he is taking his grief and anger out on Liz (although this was made clear in the final moments of the previous episode). Harry then asks Liz to look for the $35,000 Manju withdrew as a bribe for Cynthia.

Later, Liz, Ben and Heather are at Manju’s house looking for the money literally everywhere (the walls, the washing machine, and Liz asks them to look behind the electrical sockets, the hot water system, and in the mattress linings). Liz then leaves to see Cynthia at her house, asking if she received anything or heard from Manju. Cynthia tells her no and Liz notes a pair of new looking earrings she is wearing.

Liz then calls Victoria, her pregnant sister, and asks her for the money, claiming it’s to do with hotel bills and credit cards. Later, when Liz gets home, she tells Harry that she will find the money. Harry then tells her he wants to sell the house. When she points out to him that now isn’t the best time to make a big decision like this and that there are three other people involved, he immediately approaches Ainsley and Ben. They are both shocked, but agree to sell. When Liz points out they still needs to ask Heather, Harry has an outburst, telling Liz she is suffocating him.

The next day, Manju’s traditional Hindi funeral is held. Harry struggles to read his eulogy, but when Liz comes up and offers to help, he tells her to step back. Afterwards, Harry asks Ainsley to help him keep the Diya lit until Manju gets to the crematorium.

After the funeral, Liz goes back to Victoria’s to follow up about the money. Victoria tells Liz that she knows she was bankrupt, that her relationship with Stuart is over, and that she was fired from her job. When Liz tells her what happened with Manju, Victoria believes Liz was after Manju’s money and labels the house as a “refuge for middle-aged people.” Victoria tells Liz that she wants to help her get back on her feet and gives her the money.

Liz goes home and finds Harry lying on the couch. She gives him the money, telling him she found it in Manju’s freezer. Liz apologises for coming up to him during the eulogy, but he says he was lost, and when she asks him what he’s going to do with the money, he tells her that he’s thinking about travelling. Just as they are getting along, Liz tells him she’ll support him with selling the house and he makes another snarky remark. Liz reaches her breaking point, calling him out for being an arsehole to her.

The next day, Cynthia comes to the house. Manju’s bribe arrived in the post and she wanted to give it back to him. Whilst Liz tries to stop her from seeing him, she yells out for Harry, and she gives him the bribe. Harry then asks Liz where she got the money she gave him, and she admits it’s from Victoria.

The episode ends with Liz reading the letter Manju wrote which consisted of Manju insulting Cynthia, asking her to retract her complaint against Harry as he is wonderful at his job, and ends with her threatening to introduce Cynthia to the “unsavoury” people in her family if she doesn’t. The housemates laugh, and Harry starts to cry, releasing his suppressed grief and subsequent emotions.

Ainsley – As Liz, Heather and Harry are making arrangements for Manju’s funeral, Ben and Col show up to collect Simmo’s stuff from the house, giving Ainsley a one-sentence note he wrote for her. Despite Ben and Col’s best efforts to hide his location from her, Ainsley figures out that he’s staying at Pammy’s.

When Ainsley goes to Pammy’s, Pammy tries to lie about him being there and believes she dumped Simmo. When Ainsley makes it clear Simmo broke up with her, she lets her in and finds Simmo playing games online in his room. Simmo refuses to talk to her and tells her he won’t be at Manju’s funeral.

Later, Ainsley discovers that she is pregnant. She goes to see Heather at Ed’s house to discuss it, Heather tells her that she doesn’t have to do anything right now or tell Simmo if she doesn’t want to. Later at the funeral, Simmo shows up in his cricket whites and a little drunk, making a snarky remark about not being up to scratch.

Heather and Ben – Heather and Ben are in the background in this episode, with Heather constantly pointing out that Simmo is being immature in dealing with the break-up and Ben concurring with Simmo that he loved Ainsley more than she loved him.

During Manju’s funeral, Mel turns up and tells Ed and Col that Ben and Heather are still on. Later, when Heather returns from cleaning up at Manju’s, Ed tells her about it, but Heather dismisses it. Heather drives back to the house and calls Ben, telling him what Mel has done and asks him to take care of it. Ben tells her that he’s not with Mel anymore and that she should talk to Ed about his jealously. Heather tells him she’s not doing this for Ed and that she’s going to cut all contact with him, essentially ending their friendship.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid episode. We got to farewell Manju, with her Hindi funeral being spot on with the traditions and customs, we got a surprise with Ainsley discovering she is pregnant just after the breakup with Simmo, and the reveal of Liz’s sister, Victoria. The tension between Harry and Liz was well-paced and I’m glad Liz stood up for herself towards the end. Nothing against Roy Joseph, but in all honesty, Harry has been hard to watch and empathise with this season, in fact, I feel like he is the character that has had the least amount of growth and it is becoming infuriating.

This episode provided some springboards for the finale, including Ainsley’s pregnancy, Heather cutting contact with Ben, and the possibility of the house being sold. It will be interesting to see how the season ends with the next episode.

Stray Observations:

-According to Pammy, the Fitzsimmons men go down like a pack of cards every two or three years for some unknown reason.

-Liz nursed Manju for six months.

-Victoria didn’t know that Liz was in Melbourne and when Liz called her, her phone said “no caller ID,” hinting that they aren’t close.

-Victoria is portrayed by Geraldine Hakewill. Hakewill stars as Peregrine Fisher in Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. Hakewill was pregnant in real life when this episode was filmed, according to her Instagram page, she was 34 weeks along at the time.

-Manju’s letter to Cynthia read:

“Cynthia, dear,

 I cannot see you right now but I have no doubt you are handsomely presented, as always. I appreciate your attempt at style.

Please find enclosed $35,000 as an offer and a plea, mother to mother. I beg you to retract your complaint against my son. I cannot fathom a world where Harpreet is not a doctor. It is central to his being and his soul.

He has worked for his entire life, as have I, and while he has many, many failings in all other aspects of his life, he is wonderful at his job.

I trust you will make the right decision.

-Manju.

P.S. My hope is to remain civil but if you do not accept, I will not hesitate to introduce you to the unsavoury people in my family.”