The episode opens with another brief scene from the night of the rave. Jacs Gould (Alice Englert) and Kel Summer (Mia Artemis) are shown partying and dancing with several different guys. In the present timeline, Jacs spends the morning swimming at the beach and taking photos. At one point, she attracts the unwanted of some random guy but races off as he begins to approach her. It is also briefly revealed that Jacs has responded twice to Kel’s unidentified contact, with pleas to talk.

She sees the random guy again in the café area of the beach but is drawn away by Bronson (Thom Green), who introduces himself as knowing Kel. Their conversation further reveals that Bronson had met Kel on a dating app known as Ambyr. Despite this, he claims they never hooked up because he felt that Kel was hung up on someone else. Much to Jacs surprise, Bronson says that Kel talked about her often and commonly referred to her as the most passionate person she knew. It doesn’t take long for their conversation to sour when she refuses his offer to write a piece on her work for the local paper. Her denial leads to him trying to blackmail her for using Kel’s death photo in her work.

After Jacs confrontation, she uses the Ambyr app to not only identify the guy that scared her off earlier as Benny (Christian Byer), but she also learns that he and Kel had been in contact. This preludes into what appears to be several memories of Kel and Jacs spending time together.

Jacs’ mood doesn’t improve when she returns home to find her mother, Kathy (Essie Davis) and some man introduced as Barry (Daniel Frederiksen) kissing. Kathy offers Jacs to join them for breakfast and Barry even mentions her exposition award but Jacs remains aloof. Shortly after this, Jacs narrowly misses a call from Kel’s unidentified recipient who she believes is Benny.

While developing photos in the dark room with Angus (Thomas Weatherall), Jacs receives an Ambyr math with Benny who tells her that she has a nice smile. She asks him out for drinks, but his answer isn’t yet revealed due to Kathy’s heated interruption. Bronson has apparently made good on his threat to oust her for using Kel’s deceased photo.

Kathy eventually forces Jacs to visit Val (Victoria Haralabidou) and apologize for using the photo. Jacs appears stunned by Val’s response which is opposite to that of Kathys. It is unclear whether Katchy is being honest or just being nice for Jacs’ sake because she rushes off. With Val gone, Jacs uses the opportunity to snoop through Kel’s bedroom. She appears to be in the process of taking several photos and books when Kathy discovers her and makes her put them back. This scene ends with an extended flashback of Jacs and Kels’s earlier trip to the rainforest. This time, there appear to be two guys with them. One guy in particular, Raffa (Sean Keenan), Kel appears to have a thing for. For some reason, Jacs doesn’t fancy him.

Jacs attends what appears to be a house party later that evening and becomes surly the moment she arrives due to Jai’s (David Howell) snubbing her. He says he is surprised that she even came. This leads to her grabbing a bottle of liquor and drowning her sorrows. Things only get worse when Abby (Domino McCathrion) jumps down Jacs’ throat for using Kel’s photo. Much to Jacs’ surprise, it is Angus who comes to check on her. He also tells her that people are forgetting that it was Kel who left Jacs to discover the body. His kindness immediately sours when he refuses her advances and leads Jacs back into the bottle. She spends the rest of the evening getting sloshed before deciding to arrange a meeting with Benny.

The encounter begins decently enough but sours the moment Jacs reveals herself as Kel’s friend. Benny claims he didn’t know that Kel was dead or that he was saved in her contact list as ‘Do Not Message.’ She doesn’t initially believe him until he becomes emotional. The two of them end up in a heavy petting session but things take an immediate turn for the worse when Jacs grabs a fork and jams it into his arm. It doesn’t appear that Benny resists, although he is clearly in pain and this is how the episode ends.

 

Exposure Review

What a strange ending! It does seem that Jacs has an innate hatred for men. Still, I’ll give the series a bit of credit for trying something slightly different. I mean a self-destructive, feminism-preaching heroine isn’t anything entirely new, but there are different spins here and there. To put it plainly, after two episodes, the series has a refreshing feel to it.

The short runtime helps keep things on track, although it does make some of the timelines a bit confusing. I do appreciate how most of the flashbacks are presented in a home video and this helps eliminate some of the confusion. Despite that, the series could do a better job of explaining things. I’d give the episode a 5.6 out of 10.

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