Loveday Writing

The job of a season finale is to bring the season’s story arcs to a close, and establish new ones for the next season (if there is one). This finale did a solid job, but I feel that ending on a cliffhanger brought it down a bit, especially with no news as of yet, if it will be renewed.

The episode picks up right from where we left off with Anna blaming Eliza for Joe’s death and defending Owen, whilst also trying to guilt her by bringing Henry into it. Meanwhile, as this confrontation is taking place, Pete is putting the baby stuff he bought for Taylor into another office, but is not aware of what is going on. When Anna calls Eliza a liar, and Eliza subsequently calls her out for lying to Poppy, Anna throws the picture frame of Eliza and Henry on the ground, alerting Pete to what is going on.

Anna then threatens Eliza with a scalpel that Eliza left on her table. Pete tries to enter the room, but can’t as Anna locked the door. Pete tries to stop Anna by talking to her through the window, and tells her that he wanted to take Joe on the plane with them, but points out if they did, all their time and resources would have been sent on him and they wouldn’t have been able to save Poppy, and Joe would have died anyway from his severe head injuries. He tells her that Eliza made the right call to save Poppy, and Anna breaks down and says Poppy doesn’t want to be her daughter anymore, and drops the scalpel. Anna walks out and Pete tells Eliza that he’ll call the police, Eliza tells him to make sure that the police check on her welfare.

We then jump forward three days and the tone completely shifts as Wayne and Mira have their engagement party, where a card left by Chaya is seen on the dining table, apologising for not attending. During the party, it’s revealed that Taylor is in Adelaide getting an abortion. Graham asks everyone if any of them have heard from Chaya, and Mira mentions she is still at home. Leonie also mentions that Anna called the base to apologise for any distress she caused, it’s then revealed that Eliza didn’t end up reporting Anna to the police and Ryan argues with her about this.

Moments later, Graham decides to leave abruptly, Leonie follows him out and they argue about her choice to ground him. Leonie tells him that they both know that he shouldn’t be in the air and that he needs to stop punishing her for her decision. After Graham leaves, Leonie chats with Eliza, where she expresses her guilt for going on holiday, and Eliza tells Leonie that she knows that it was her idea for Ryan to gift her the holiday at the Great Barrier Reef. Leonie then informs her that it was actually Pete’s idea.

Meanwhile, Pete reveals to everyone that he will be going back to Adelaide, as Darren and Taylor are going to move in together and wants to give them space, and that a flight nurse friend of his there will switch places with him within the RFDS.

The next day, Wayne and Matty pick up Taylor from Adelaide Hospital. On their way home, they are asked to pick up a 25-year-old post-partum patient, Freya, showing signs of a uterine infection. Wayne and Matty are hesitant to pick her up, due to Taylor being onboard, but she tells them that they can’t avoid helping a postpartum patient because of her. Meanwhile, Pete and Graham go to Chaya’s house to wake her up, and let her know that Matty has been looking everywhere for the missing fentanyl, and give her a pep talk that motivates her to go to Joe’s memorial.

When Wayne and Matty are returning home and Freya’s condition starts to deteriorate, Taylor starts to breakdown and goes to the cockpit to be comforted by Mira. When she overhears Freya’s deteriorating further and Matty having to manually contract her uterus, she puts on a brave face and helps distract Freya from the pain, by getting her to look at photos of and talk about her baby. After spit balling a few ideas on how to treat her condition, Matty comes up with a creative way of stopping the bleeding, by creating a balloon ironically made out of a condom, so they can get Freya back to base and onto hospital. Wayne tells Matty afterwards that he does trust him and is an exceptional flight nurse, making up for their conflict earlier in the season.

Meanwhile, Pete, Graham and Chaya attend Joe’s memorial, where Poppy is happy and relieved to see Chaya show up. Pete also calls out Graham for his behaviour towards Leonie, after Graham has a go at him for essentially running away to Adelaide again to get away from Eliza. When Caleb approaches Chaya to talk, Graham plays the protective friend role, but Chaya chooses to speak to him anyway. Caleb makes a somewhat apology to her and also informs her that Matty broke up with him, due to the pain they caused her.

Meanwhile, as Ryan and Eliza are making their way to the memorial, late because Ryan misheard the start time that Eliza gave him, they argue about her giving evidence to support Owen. During the argument, Ryan asks Eliza if she still has feelings for Pete, when she avoids answering the question, Ryan pulls over and gets out of the car. Eliza asks him if they can talk about it later, but before he can respond, he gets a call over the radio about a fire at Anna’s property. When they arrive, they find the shed on fire, and Anna lying on a couch unconscious, next to a table that has an empty bottle of wine and box of anti-depressants on it. Eliza puts on a gas mask and rushes in to get Anna out, Ryan helps her, and Eliza gives her mouth-to-mouth, as her pulse is thready and she needs oxygen.

Eliza calls Pete for help, who then calls Wayne. Pete, Graham, Chaya, Caleb, and Poppy make their way out to Anna’s property in separate cars. Graham and Caleb separate from them to get the landing strip ready for Wayne’s plane to land to pick up Anna. Pete, Chaya and Poppy make their way to the property.

When Anna comes to, she and Poppy apologise to each other, and Anna also apologises to Eliza. When Anna starts vomiting on Eliza, she, Pete and Ryan dig a little deeper as to what was in the shed, as Anna should be improving now that she is receiving oxygen. Poppy informs them that there are wool bales in the shed, Ryan realises that due to the fire, the wool has released hydrogen cyanide. As Caleb carries a cyanide kit in his police vehicle, they are able to treat Anna, and get her on the plane. As Anna is being onboarded, Ryan gives Eliza’s car keys to Graham and asks him to tell her that he’ll see her around, clearly dumping her. Graham calls Leonie to apologise for his behaviour and she informs him that the base got their tender.

On the return flight, Matty tells Chaya that he does believe that she didn’t take the fentanyl and apologises for not being honest with her about his relationship with Caleb. Chaya admits that she took Taylor’s painkillers as she wasn’t coping.

Later, as Pete goes back to his ute, he finds Eliza washing herself off as she has been contaminated with hydrogen cyanide, due to her giving Anna mouth-to-mouth. Pete desperately tells her to get on the plane, but she tells him that Anna and Freya take priority, and she has already called an ambulance for herself. She and Pete sit on the back of the ute, where she admires the view and tells Pete that he should have been on the holiday with her. Pete tells Eliza he loves her and to stay with him, as she gets more emotional and her condition begins to deteriorate, ending the episode and season on a cliffhanger, as her fate remains unknown.

Overall, this was a mostly solid season finale, with the bus accident story arc coming to a close with Anna forgiving Eliza and herself. I expected it to end with Anna, Poppy and Owen going to court, but this was a more poignant ending to the arc. I felt Ryan breaking up with Eliza (in the most cowardly way possible) was inevitable but not unwelcome, and Eliza and Pete finally admitting their feelings to each other was long overdue. I’m also glad that the Chaya-Matt-Caleb love triangle came to an end, with the nice twist of Matty choosing Chaya by breaking up with Caleb.

I also appreciated Matty finally getting the spotlight with his expertise, intelligence and talent being put to use with Freya, and Wayne acknowledging and appreciating it, resolving the conflict between them earlier in the season. I also appreciated the happy note of Wayne and Mira’s engagement party, although the rapid shift from Anna holding Eliza hostage to the time jump to the party was a little jarring.

I also appreciated the foreshadowing of Eliza being hurt through her coughing. However, for me, the finale’s biggest flaw is its cliffhanger ending. I’m personally not a fan of a show ending a season on a cliffhanger, especially if they haven’t been renewed – if it’s cancelled, the show ends on an unsatisfying note due to a lack of closure.

The cliffhanger of Eliza’s unknown fate provides ample material for the start of a fourth season if it is renewed. If the show is cancelled and we are meant to interpret that Eliza is going to die from the hydrogen cyanide poisoning, it would ultimately be a poignant ending for her character and the series, as the series started with Eliza’s arrival, and it would be the perfect full circle for the series to end on with her dying as a medical hero.

In terms of the third season as a whole, I appreciated the season-long story arc of the bus accident, and its various consequences and aftermaths being sprinkled throughout the season. However, I felt that the love triangles were over-the-top and cliché, and immature for characters of that age and professional stature. That being said, I appreciated that the Wayne-Mira-Naomi triangle didn’t actually eventuate, and the Matty-Chaya-Caleb triangle didn’t last long.

Taylor’s pregnancy story arc was surprising, given Mira’s pregnancy arc in the previous season, however the outcome was unsurprising, which wasn’t a bad thing, and it provided some necessary growth for her character.

I felt that both Matty and Chaya were underused this season, with the love triangle story arc being their most prominent arc, which considering how this was executed, was quite unfortunate. However, I found Chaya’s relapse realistic and tastefully done, and Matty’s promotion and increasing assertiveness was long overdue. I also felt that Leonie and Graham were underused, but I appreciate the progression of their romance, as their relationship feels more realistic and down to earth, in comparison to the love triangles of this season.

In terms of a fourth season, for springboards we have the reveal of Eliza’s fate, Eliza and Pete’s new yet overdue relationship, Chaya (hopefully) restarting her sobriety, Wayne and Mira’s wedding, and more funding for the RFDS base.

I’m hoping that the show is renewed for fourth season and it isn’t cancelled on a cliffhanger, but as I mentioned above, it would still be a poignant ending for the show and Eliza’s character.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you to the cast and crew for their hard work in producing a solid third season for this high-quality show. Hopefully, we will see you all again for a fourth season.