As the second episode of Friends Like Her begins, Tess (Tess Haubrich) helps Nicole (Morgana O’Reilly) with her wardrobe in the past. Tess helps her pay less before stealing something from the merchant. In the present, Nicole seems to be keep tracking of her contractions. She tells Liam (Jarod Rawiri) that the baby is coming fast. Nicole has already called the midwife. Liam asks about Tess. He reminds Nicole that Tess is supposed to be there so she can take the baby. The midwife, Shona, arrives moments later. Tess tells Rob (Vinnie Bennett) she has never wanted something so much in her life. Nicole tells Liam this one feels different so she’s scared.

She goes on to say she’s not a good person. Liam tries to convince her to call Tess because cutting her out will haunt her for the rest of her life. Tess arrives as Nicole struggles to give birth. Tess thinks they should take Nicole to a hospital. Summer (Kirimaia Noel) listens to adults talk about her outside. Biddie (Amelia Reid) is asked when Summer will come around. Summer has sent multiple messages to Tess asking to be picked up. She grabs a bottle of alcohol. At the hospital, Nicole is told the baby is fine. In the car, Rob and Liam talk about having a baby. Rob admits he doesn’t know if Summer was a good baby because he was wasted for the first five years of her life.

Rob believes their mom is right when she says they’re lucky. Summer drinks with friends when her dad drives by. At the hospital, Shona and the others argue about whether Nicole should have drugs. Tess is forced to leave the room. When the men arrive, Tess tells them she was kicked out by Pat. Liam believes he can get her back in. He goes inside where he finds Nicole struggling to give birth to the baby. Before long, he comes out and tells them it’s a girl. They go inside and find Nicole breastfeeding. She is reminded she was supposed to bottle feed so Tess can do it from the start. Liam tells Nicole not to do this because it’s wrong. Nicole says the baby feels like hers. Tess gets upset and yells for her baby. Liam follows them out to apologize.

Tess believes Liam knew something was up. Liam admits Nicole didn’t want to call Tess when she was in labor. He’s convinced Nicole did this out of the goodness of her heart. Tess questions whether anyone does anything out of the goodness of their hearts. Tess claims she’s going to get Charlotte and take her home where she belongs. She can’t believe someone calls the cops. Liam promises to sort this out. The nurses talk about the situation. One says Nicole just took the baby and it latched on. Winnie (Vanessa Rare) tries to get in touch with Liam. Nicole tells Liam that the baby looks just like Emma. He thinks they have to give up the baby, but Nicole says Tess isn’t having her. Nicole says they made a mistake. Tess tells Rob she actually thought she loved them. Rob just wants to make Tessa happy.

Tess makes it clear she’s not giving up. At the store, Jools (JJ Fong), Andi (Jodie Rimmer), and Biddie wonder if they should buy more gifts for the baby. Fran (Elizabeth Hawthorne) interrupts to say they’re gossiping like silly school girls. Nicole gets ready to leave the hospital. Pat tells Nicole to stick to her guns because it’ll all come out in the wash. Nicole takes the kid to Fran’s place and learns Tessa and Rob are waiting for them. Tess asks what they can do. Nicole says they shouldn’t have asked her to do it in the first place. She asks why Buster was in the back of Danny McClintock’s truck outside the pub last week. Tess admits she couldn’t do it. She reminds Rob he promised to fix their financial screw-up. Summer buys drugs. Liam tells Nicole she talked him into buying a motel.

Nicole believes he was over his job as a cop and the salary wasn’t getting them anywhere. She says Rob was getting richer and richer so she thought it could work out for all of them. Nicole admits they’re drowning. She says Rob was giving them 500 a week. Liam believes that’ll stop now that she has another kid and can’t do Rob’s books. Rob and Tess argue about Buster before Rob gets a call about Summer being off her face. Liam speaks to Winnie about leaving his job as a cop and the motel. She tries to give him advice and explains that he should be solid. Fran drives by and sees them together. Nicole takes the kids to the store and sends Emma in to get diapers. Emma comes out and says Andi said Tessa already bought all the newborn nappies. At the hospital, Pat gives her some and says she should be proud of what she’s done.

Another woman takes a picture of the kids fighting in the car. Tess tries to comfort Summer at home. Summer complains she feels like crap all the time. Tess explains to her why it’s not that bad. Summer asks about Nicole changing her mind. Tess says she did something stupid and Nicole found out. When Tess is alone, she remembers being with Nicole in the past. Nicole tells her about her grandparents passing away. She’s there because her granddad left her $20,000. Tess invites her to the full moon party. Nicole’s friend suggests she’d get drugged and raped there. Once Nicole leaves, Brett (James Trevena) tells Tess that Nicole is not going to buy whatever she’s selling. In the present, Nicole gets out with a gun and takes Buster with her. There’s a gunshot moments later and Nicole leaves.

Fran approaches Winnie to ask her about seeing Liam a lot. Fran warns her that Tainui (Dahnu Graham) is dealing illegally even though everyone turns a blind eye to it. Winnie mentions all the stuff that happened with Rob back in the day. Tessa approaches Nicole and the kids. She asks if they can go back to the way it was. Tess says she took care of Buster by shooting him. That seems to upset Nicole even more. Tess goes home and tells Rob what happened. She says this is not over. Rob isn’t sure there’s anything they can do. He says they were taking money although Liam didn’t know about it. Tess argues that they can’t get by without them. When Liam returns, Nicole tells him the baby is named Cleo. Rob arrives and says they need to sort this out now.

He says it was his idea that they buy the motel in the first place. Rob admits he wants to look out for Liam since he always looked out for him. He offers them 2 million dollars and to buy the motel. Liam gets upset and yells for him to get out of the house. Nicole seems to like the idea of all that money. Liam doesn’t like hearing that.

 

Friends Like Her Review

The second episode of Friends Like Her was on the same level as the first. Although the story has some strong points, there isn’t much in terms of originality here. It probably won’t be that memorable in the end either. After giving birth to the baby, Nicole decided to keep it. Tessa is infuriated and trying to find a way to change Nicole’s mind including offering her family $2 million.

Something from their past is obviously playing a role in Nicole’s decision although we don’t know what just yet. We also know that Rob has some type of history considering Winnie and Fran’s conversation. The story is fairly interesting although a bit slow considering there are going to be six episodes.

A bigger issue is the likability of the characters since there is no one to really latch onto and cheer for. That may change when the secret is revealed, but it’s hard to care about any of them at this point. In fact, some of the characters are borderline annoying. This episode scores a 5.5 out of 10.

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