The episode begins with Jules Bullens (Richard Coyle) driving Charlie Bullens (Ryan Quarmby) to a soccer match. Along the way, Jules encourages him to keep the news of his release from the Academy as simple as possible, such as blaming it on a possible injury. Despite Jules’s very vocal support, Charlie’s performance goes from bad to worse, forcing the coach to take him out. Charlie’s performance is the least of everyone’s worries, when Rocky, a massive Bull Mastiff burst onto the field and wants to play with the soccer ball. Charlie is the first to come to Kelly’s (Eva Morgan) aid after a few dirty looks and choice words from several of the parents, Dylan (Richard Cottier) and Helen Clarence (Emma Keele).

It’s not long before several of the players start giving Charlie a hard time. When he doesn’t respond, Kelly gives him an ever harder time, which apparently mortifies Jules. When Paul (Warren Brown) shows up to get control of Rocky, Jules takes his embarrassment out on him. Paul ignores Jules’ insults until he goes too far.

After Jules runs away, the footage skips ahead 8 months to show Charlie choking out some random MMA Fighter (Nathan Fletcher) in a gym. Jules is congratulating Charlie after the fight when they are approached by Tash (Mia Carragher). Jules excuses himself but when Charlie joins him back in the vehicle, he wastes little time encouraging Charlie to hook up with her. Charlie appears much more interested in texting.

Elsewhere, Adam (Sonny Walker) visits Jessica (Sadie Soverall) in the hospital with a bouquet but immediately sneaks off upon seeing her mother, Natalie (Vinette Robinson). The Doctor (Jason Langley) soon shows up the announcement of not only Ketamine but steroids in Jessica’s system. Natalie backs Jessica’s claims that her daughter doesn’t use drugs but as for the steroids, she claims they are for an infection. Either way, the doctor doesn’t appear to believe them because he gives her the number for the office investigating a recent rash of Ketamine overdoses. When they return home, Natalie forbids Jessica to see Adam.

Elsewhere, Dawn (Poppy Miller) attempts to keep Josh’s (Oliver Nelson) concerns for his father, Louis (Rob Jarvis) at bay. He doesn’t have to worry too long because Louis soon joins them, although Dawn sends Josh away so that she can speak privately with Louis. This is when she learns that it was Vanessa and James who sold him down the river for selling cocaine to Ella (Kate Reed-Williams). He says he didn’t but he didn’t stop her from taking it which leads to Dawn accusing him of trying to seduce her and demanding he leave.

The story picks back up with a breakfast scene at Charlie’s house where he encourages his mother, Carianne (Christine Tremarco) not to expose his younger sister, Kat/Katarina (Leah Court) to social media. Jules soon arrives as well with several headshots for potential models for Carianne’s cosmetic company. Jules wastes little time voicing his opinion and also mentions Charlie asking Tash. Charlie does appear to appreciate the remark and rushes off.

Elsewhere, Kelly stands in a field while trying to call Bazi (Luca Kamleh-Chapman). She gives up after her attention is called back to the house where Adam is waiting with questions about what she’s said to the cops. He doesn’t appear to believe her and proceeds to warn her. Paul soon shows up and tells him that he doesn’t care if Kelly ratted on them or not, he better never speak to her cross again. Adam storms off. Sometime later, Kelly returns to the gymnastics gym and meets with Coach Debbie (Jodie McNee). Despite Kelly claiming that she doesn’t know anything about Jessica’s overdose and her parkour escapade, Debbie lets her back on the team. On her way out, Debbie warns her that if the roles were reversed, Jessica wouldn’t think twice about throwing her under the bus.

While Charlie spends several seconds admiring a random boy (Macaulay Cooper) in the locker rooms, Kelly goes looking for Bazi. Much to her surprise, Macca (Shane Walker) tells her that he’s gone back south to visit with family. She doesn’t appear to believe it but leaves without much resistance. Charlie’s phone is blowing up with meet requests from male admirers when he returns home. His attention soon becomes focused on Jules who attempts to pressure him into revealing what his classmates were teasing him about in the park, 8 months prior. Although Jules continues pressuring him, Charlie plays it down as childhood teasing.

Kelly continues her search for Bazi by visiting Dessie (Hebron Tedros). She is surprised, once again, to learn that Bazi didn’t likely go south to visit family because he no longer has any living relatives in the south. Bazi’s location is revealed to be at what appears to be a blacktop soccer charity for underprivileged players hosted by Jules. While chatting with Mas (Joe Spaere), Jules notices Bazi’s late arrival and Charlie’s interest in him. Assuming they are just friends, Jules later warns Charlie about getting too close to people in the neighborhood.

When Natalie apologizes to Jessica for her harsh accusations earlier, she is surprised to learn that Jessica has no interest in returning to gymnastics. Jessica appears to be concerned about what her teammates will think about her overdose. Natalie tries to assure her that no one knows anything and she’s already spoken with Coach Debbie. Natalie jumps to conclusions again and assumes it was Kelly who spiked Jessica’s drink when she learns that Kelly was with Jessica at the party. This leads to another argument.

Josh drops off some clothes at Louis’ hotel room. While there, Josh expresses his displeasure with Dawn kicking Louis out, but Louis immediately takes the blame. He also turns down Josh’s requests to come stay with him. Elsewhere it is revealed that Bazi paid Macca to lie to Jessica about going south.

Charlie is browsing through prospects on his phone when Jules calls his attention. After a quick conversation with Kat and Carianne, the two are off to some new place in town. On the way, Jules learns from Brain that Helen Clarence (Emma Keele) botched on the stand and claims she didn’t witness the actual assault. After quickly planning another strategy, Charlie and Jules arrive at their destination where Jules not only insists on Charlie’s drinking but he drops a derogatory remark about their waiter’s sexuality. Charlie only becomes more uncomfortable when he learns that Jules has arranged for what appears to be an encounter with a high-end call girl, Shona (Coline Atterbury), as an early birthday present.

One evening at the gym, Natalie attempts to ambush Coach Debbie, but the meeting doesn’t go nearly as Natalie intended. Although Debbie agrees to take Jessica back on the team, she claims that Jessica’s heart isn’t in it. She also doesn’t believe Natalie’s accusations that Kelly spiked her drink and refuses to punish her. When Natalie threatens to go to the press, Debbie threatens to out her for giving Jessica steroids.

While Charlie returns home to angrily confront Jules about arranging the evening with the call girl, Ella visits and apologizes to Dawn. She claims that her parents tricked her into telling them what happened at the party and then called the cops. Adam shows up in the middle of their conversation and isn’t nearly as nice as Dawn. Adam later visits Kelly at home while Bazi ignores her calls to meet with Charlie at a high-end hotel.

The episode ends by skipping 5 years in the future to the beach party where Charlie and Bazi are arguing about money. It appears that Kelly is blackmailing after learning of their relationship.

 

The Gathering Review

I found myself surprisingly intrigued once the episode started building momentum. I can’t say with 100% certainty that a lot of these issues are realistic but overbearing parents have always been a real issue. Although Jules and Charlie’s problems were far more interesting and better acted, I enjoyed learning more about Natalie and Jessica’s problems. Other than some of the incredibly dark scenes and the heavy use of UK slang, the episode wasn’t bad. It could just be me and I don’t claim to be an oracle of film, but I feel that most of the actors are believable.

Of course, there are some bad parts along with a lot of flip-flopping from scene to scene, but I’d give the episode a 5.4 out of 10.

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