Loveday Writing

This episode is all about Kay Walters and again lives up to its title.

This episode picks up where we were left off by kicking off the day after the events of the previous one. Helen and Dale are on-air interviewing Kylie Minogue as part of a special feature. After they go off air, the tension can definitely be seen and felt between them.

Later, they are seen signing promo photos and Christmas cards. Helen talks about how to publicly announce the end of their relationship, telling Dale that them in the suburbs was never going to work.

The next day, Jean gives Noelene her cookbook, showing her a roast chicken recipe that she can use for lunch with Rob’s family, and gives her preparation advice. Kay Walters then calls the office, asking to speak to Helen, but as she’s not around, Noelene ends up speaking to her. Noelene then tells Helen that Kay Walters wants to offer them her addiction as a story.

Helen and Noelene go to Kay’s apartment, where she tells them that her heroin addiction was the result of being in such a public family and that she wants to be compensated for her story. As they are leaving, Evelyn arrives. Evelyn then goes to Kay’s door, demanding to be let in. Later, Geoff angrily calls Lindsay and tells him not to air the story. However, Lindsay points out to him that Kay is a grown woman and even if they had rejected her story, she still could have gone to other networks. Geoff breaks down when Lindsay informs him that Kay is being paid for her story. Meanwhile, Dale is working in Helen’s office when he hears Charlie leave a flirty message for her.

When Helen is in make-up, Dale confronts her over the message Charlie left her, asking if something is going on and Helen confirms that there is. Dale tells her that he’ll present the office camera man awards at the Christmas party by himself, and will tell everyone that she has a migraine. Later, Helen speaks to Charlie on the phone and he tells her that Vincent wants her to work for him.

Meanwhile, Geoff goes to see Kay, using his key to try and enter her apartment, only to find that she’s had the locks changed. Once he realises this, he tells her that he’ll be evicting her.

Dale goes to the Christmas party and immediately starts drinking. He runs into Tim, who tells him that he got everything he wanted. Gerry then comes up to Dale and asks him if Tim is the same camera man he was talking about, and he confirms this. When Cheryl talks about doing Helen’s wedding make up, this sends Dale further over the edge and he ends up drinking more. When he sees Gerry and Tim talking, he goes over to them and Gerry tells him that he’s going on to a nightclub.

When Gerry, Tim and Dale go to the nightclub, Dale wants to dance and dances with Tim, then kisses him. Tim immediately leaves the dancefloor, telling Gerry to look after Dale before he leaves the club.

The next morning, Dale wakes up in a random bed with a random man, and sneaks out. Meanwhile, Noelene manages to cook lunch for Rob, Rob’s brother, Glen, and Glen’s wife, Kerrie. Glen and Kerrie try to be friendly, although are a little ignorant, as shown when they believe that Noelene is Chinese and Rob corrects them, only for Kerrie to then greet her in Japanese. Jean calls Noelene just as they are ready to eat, telling her that Kay has been calling demanding to speak to Helen, but now wants to speak to Noelene. Kay is demanding that the interview and payment for it happen today. Noelene makes calls – she doesn’t get Helen or Dale, so she tells Kay that it can’t be today. Kay threatens to go to another network and Noelene says she understands. Dale then calls back and tells her that he’ll be able to do it.

When Dale meets with Helen to interview Kay, Helen can immediately tell he is hungover and stinks of alcohol. She tells him that she’ll do the interview alone. When Kay asks for immediate payment, Helen tells Noelene that she’ll give her $100 to get by as they have no other choice. The interview proceeds with Kay saying she is committed to staying clean whether she has her parents support or not. When Noelene goes back to Rob’s place, he asks her how long she plans on working as he wants to have kids but would prefer her to stay at home (much like Kerrie does for Glen). Noelene tells him that she wants kids too but doesn’t want to stop working, hinting that there may be a break-up on the horizon.

The next day when Dale and Helen show Lindsay the interview tape he tells them that he wants to essentially make it a hit piece against Geoff and Evelyn. As the bulletin is being broadcast, Kay Walters shows up wanting to be out of the story, offering to return the cheque, but Helen says it’s too late.  

When the autocue shows the revised script with the hit piece on Geoff and Evelyn, Helen gets up and walks away from the desk whilst on air. She then goes to the editing room, takes the interview tapes and destroys them as Lindsay and Dennis run around looking for her.

The episode ends with Helen walking to Charlie’s door, him opening it for her, and them kissing as she steps inside.

Overall, this was the best episode of the season so far with a singular focus on Kay Walters. Kay’s decision to sell her story for money to feed her drug habit (she says she’s committing to staying clean but I’m not so sure) was always going to happen, and Lindsay was always going to take advantage of the opportunity. However, I appreciated the writers showing Geoff and Evelyn’s human side and heartbreak over Kay’s choice. Helen was never going to broadcast the story and her walking off and away has been coming for a long time.

In regards to the Dale subplot, this is something I also saw coming, as he is clearly struggling with the break-up and the fact that he can’t really talk about it too deeply with others. However, one critical note I have is that I’m not a fan of the Charlie-Helen romance or hook up, he hasn’t been developed enough as a character and the shift in Helen towards liking him has been too quick.  

It will be interesting to see where the finale takes us with Helen’s abrupt yet unsurprising decision to quit.