Loveday Writing

The job of a season finale is to wrap up the season’s storylines and kick off possible storylines for the next season (if there is one).

In all honesty, I believe that this finale was a series finale. The job of a series finale is similar, only its job is to wrap up the entire show in a nice little bow (the rhyming was unintended there). While I’m yet to find any official news that the show has come to an end, based on the title and writing of the entire episode, as well as some of the social media posts from some of its stars, the show has come to an end.

In my opinion, it was an organic and satisfying end to an incredible show.

Heather and Ben – The episode kicks off with the housemates having a meeting (with Heather joining on the phone as she is at Ed’s house), with Ainsley telling them that they need to have an open house soon and predicts that the house will sell for $3.5 million. Ainsley also suggests that they move their stuff out of the house and get it professionally staged. Once the meeting ends, Heather asks Ainsley to take her off speaker and asks her how she is feeling. Ainsley tells her she’s good and needs to get out of the house. Heather tells her she can stay at Ed’s, but Ainsley tells her she’ll stay at Col’s granny flat.

Later, when Ainsley texts her saying she can’t get into the granny flat, Heather asks Ed if Ainsley can stay with them for a bit. Ed is reluctant but says she can. When Heather and Ainsley go for a walk in the park, Heather tells her she’ll have to get an Airbnb and offers to pay, but Ainsley’s fine with it. Ainsley then tells Heather that Col, Simmo and Ben are living together at Heather’s old house and they’re making it a “spin off house.”

Heather then goes to see Col, asking him why he’s having Simmo and Ben living with him. Col says he invited them and tells Heather to stop acting like a victim, pointing out that she is living with Ed. Heather later calls Ben and asks him why he is living with Col and Simmo, as they agreed to cut contact. Ben points out he didn’t agree to this and it has nothing to do with her. She hangs up and calls Ainsley, and tells everyone she is not selling. Everyone points out to her that she is trapping and punishing them all because she’s mad that Ben is moving in with Col.

Later, Mel goes to Ed’s house to talk to Heather. She tells Heather that Col asked her to visit as she’s blocking everyone else around her. Heather tells her that half the reason she is avoiding Ben is because she told everyone that they were back together, Mel then leaves. Ed then asks her why she cares that Ben, Col and Simmo are living together and that she shouldn’t avoid Ben because of him.

Heather calls Ben as he and Ainsley at a garden shop buying plants for the open house. He tells her that he is willing to move out of Col’s if it means she’ll change her mind. Heather asks Ben why he wants to live with Col, he tells her that Col is good company. Heather then lets it slip that Ainsley is pregnant. She begs Ben not to tell Simmo.

Heather goes back to the house, which has been professionally staged. Ben goes back to Col’s and struggles not to tell Simmo that Ainsley is pregnant. He then remembers that he left the plants in the car and goes back to the house. Heather immediately confronts him, thinking he told Simmo, but he told her he hasn’t said anything and that he’s had enough of her body blows, telling her that she has moved on. Heather breaks down and says she hasn’t. They hug and kiss. Later, Ainsley comes over with more plants and finds them in bed together. Later, Heather goes back to Ed’s and tells him that she cheated, he tells her to leave.

The next morning, the others arrive for the open house and find Heather sleeping in one of the bedrooms, Ainsley talks to Heather and she admits to accidentally telling Ben about her pregnancy but that Simmo doesn’t know, and apologises. As the open house is underway, Heather sits on the curb and Ben brings her a bottle of water. Ben tells her that they are as bad as each other and they hold hands, with Liz and Harry watching on from a distance, realising that they hooked up.

Liz and Harry – Liz’s and Harry’s storylines were more in the background. Liz spent time with Victoria, as Victoria set up an informal job interview for her with a big legal firm. Victoria tells her to lie about why her resume has gaps and informs her that she told their mother that she has returned from London.

Later, when Harry gets Manju’s ashes, she takes him to the Morell Bridge to scatter them, against the tradition of going to the Ganges, reminding him that none of his family visited Manju in the final months of her life, despite living close by. After he scatters her ashes, he comically runs away, but they end up sitting together and talking at the park. Liz brings up a house they could buy together, but Harry says he needs a clean slate. Liz asks him where he’s thinking of travelling to first, he tells her either Peru or Iceland.

Liz goes to the interview and tries to lie, only for Victoria to constantly interrupt. Liz admits to caring for Manju, which leads to Victoria pulling her away from them, telling her that everything she says will get back to their mother. When Liz tells Victoria she’s not interested in the job, Victoria tells her to pretend, but Liz tells the truth, politely declines the offer, and hugs Victoria before leaving.

Ainsley – Ainsley spent most of her time in this episode getting the house ready, which included taking some of her and Simmo’s wedding stuff back to Col’s house to give to Simmo. Simmo apologises for his behaviour the previous week and tells her that he thinks he was obsessed with her and that they’re better off being friends than a couple.

Towards the end of the episode, before the open house, Ainsley takes one last look at her room at the house, and asks Ben if Simmo is at Col’s, Ben confirms that he is, and she goes to see him. She apologises for not respecting his need for space last week, that she loves him, and whilst she initially offers to stay just friends, she tells him that she wants to be with him and that she loves him just as much as he loves her, even if she doesn’t show it the same way he does. She then tells him that she’s pregnant and they get back together.

Ainsley and Simmo return to the house as Denise, the real estate agent, texted her to let her know that they’ve received an offer. Denise tells the gang that the offer came from a local buyer and it was for $4 million. To everyone’s shock, especially Ainsley’s, the buyer is Lachlan. He is buying on behalf of his agency, as they are making a profit through buying multi-bedroom houses and marketing them to groups that are locked out of the market, like the gang were four years ago. The gang point out that the idea of them buying a house together was Heather’s, but Lachlan tries to claim it as his own.

Ainsley says to everyone that she needs a minute and considers backing out for a moment. Liz then asks the question of whether they can just walk away and let it all go, even if it means Lachlan buys the house. They all agree they are ready.

The episode, season (and possibly the series) ends with everyone leaving in separate cars, with Heather, the person who came up with the share house idea, being the last to leave, looking at the house with wonder.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid season, with the majority of the gang going through a lot of character development. Heather maintained her relationship with Ed, even though it clearly wasn’t meant to be, and successfully managed to move out. Ainsley had fully moved on from Lachlan, and managed to be with Simmo, and despite the break-up, they have a bright future together with their renewed relationship and unborn baby, Liz became selfless by caring for Manju in her final months, and Ben managed to have somewhat of a relationship with Mel. I felt that Harry had the least amount of character growth across the entire season and series: he never managed to find love, he stupidly hooked up with Anton at work, and still let Manju treat him like a child. However, the fact that he is going to go travelling now and start a new chapter of his life is a good note for his character to end on.

The inclusion of Lachlan and Mel, especially Mel, in this season was honestly infuriating. Lachlan is just hard to watch, whining and being a drama king, but at least he only had a few appearances. Mel was annoying and over-the-top, however I did appreciate her bonding efforts with Mia, although we barely saw her with her own daughter, Starlette. I felt like the writers were trying to force Mel into the group as a new, additional member, but it didn’t feel as organic as Col becoming an unofficial member of the group. Lachlan and Mel’s appearances should have ended with Starlette’s birth as I felt it was an organic end to their characters’ run. On the contrary, Col was a delight to watch this season and I wish I saw more of him.

Based on the episode’s title and writing, this definitely feels like a series finale and it ended perfectly with everyone selling and move on to new chapters in their lives. If this is the end, which I strongly suspect it is, I would personally like to thank the incredible cast and crew for this diamond of a show, it’s been an absolute pleasure to review it for the last four years.

Stray Observations:

Running gags – Col wanting Simmo and Ben to join him in the spa, and both Col and Ed telling Heather to stop acting like a victim.

-Whilst Heather is using the toilet at Ed’s, she uses toilet paper, despite Ed’s bathroom having a bidet.

-According to Heather, the bath in her ensuite is bigger than her car.

-According to Ed, Harry is the quietest one in the gang.

-Col seems to have turned the granny flat into an Airbnb.

-Col has purchased a pool table, a foosball table, an industrial barbecue, and a pinball machine for his house.

-According to Mel, she did hit on Col but he turned her down as she looked too young and made him feel creepy.

-Col likes Mel because she reminds him of Heather.

-According to Ben, Col takes risks with the stuff he cooks and the combination of things he puts in the washing machine.

-According to Col, it takes about five to seven days for Heather to pull back from a hissy fit. The fact that she called Ben means she is ahead of schedule with this one.

-There were callbacks to previous seasons such as Ben finding the deflated floaty donuts that he could be seen floating on in the pool of the first house the gang lived in, the feedback box Ainsley made in the first season, and the reappearance of Denise, the real estate agent that sold their first house.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “What is wrong with three hard-working fellows pooling their spatial and emotional resources to whether the storm of a broken heart together?” (Col to Heather on him, Ben and Simmo living together)
• “Did Col pay you to say this?” “He should have, but no.” (Heather-Mel)