As the fifth episode of After The Verdict begins, someone tries to break into a house in the middle of the night. Clara (Michelle Lim Davidson) hears them and grabs something to defend herself. She finds Margie (Magda Szubanski) cooking in the kitchen. Margie admits she hasn’t slept alone in 15 years so she is having a tough time doing so again. Clara says the first night is the weirdest before she tells Margie to come to bed. Then, we see that Heidi (Tess Haubrich) broke into the house and is stealing items from a safe. Once she gets back to her car, she deletes the security footage to cover her tracks. She looks at the hideous jewelry she stole before finding security footage of Clara talking to her brother outside the family’s home. Margie wakes Clara early in the morning. For some stupid reason, Margie decided to check her emails at 3 AM and found out that the wedding rings they ordered were ready.

Then, she learns that Clara hasn’t done anything in bed since the divorce. Clara reveals she kissed Daniel though. Margie doesn’t understand that because she hates the guy. They hear a knock at the door seconds later. Clara yells for the kids to get their things since Dom (Richard Brancatisano) is there to pick them up. She notices Dom is doing that thing with his ear so he has something to say and doesn’t know how. He reveals he got a call from the insurance company confirming that they’ve approved the payout for the fire. Clara thinks she’ll get a deposit for a house and he’ll get to reopen his furniture store, but Dom says his half isn’t enough to rebuild the business in Sydney. It might be possible in Canberra though. Dom suggests moving down there to open a store with his brother. The other option is for Clara to reinvest her share back into the business so he can stay in Sydney and won’t have to take the kids.

That leads to an argument because Clara doesn’t want him to take the kids away. Before Dom leaves with the kids, he asks Clara to think about what he said. As Margie returns home, she learns that Trish (Virginia Gay) put the chain on the door to stay safe. Once Trish finally lets her inside, Margie tells her about the wedding rings being ready. Trish wonders if she is getting cold feet since she claimed she was done and had moved on from the trial. Trish claims she is sneaking around like she is having an affair. Margie tells her about sleeping with Clara but says she kisses boys. Trish calls it an emotional affair although Margie quickly denies it. She explains that they were asked to deliver justice and haven’t been able to do that. They couldn’t deliver justice for Belinda so it didn’t feel right to turn their backs on her. Trish admits she respects her for caring so much about it, but it doesn’t explain why she has been lying to her.

Trish feels like she is being punished for some reason even though Margie calls that ridiculous. She tells Margie to take the sunscreen with her. Heidi meets with Clara at the yoga class although it wasn’t planned. Clara tries to make an excuse to leave in a hurry. Before she can leave, Heidi asks what she was doing talking to her brother that day. Clara claims she lost her credit card so went back to see if she could find it and bumped into Angus. She goes on to say she didn’t like the way Angus treated her at lunch although she doesn’t like getting involved in other people’s families. When Clara says she asked Angus to cut her some slack, Heidi thanks her because not many people would do that. Heidi admits it didn’t work. As they leave, she tells Clara about Angus becoming the new CEO of Lang Ventures and his first decision was to cut her off. She has even been kicked out of her own home. Heidi asks if she can stay with her for a couple of nights until she figures something out.

Clara says it isn’t a good time because Margie is staying with her and things aren’t great with Dom right now. Heidi learns about the insurance money and Dom contemplating moving to Canberra. She believes the fire is what Clara needed to get her own place and her life back on track. When Clara asks if she was grateful in the end, Clara admits she is right and she should take advantage of this opportunity. Before Heidi leaves, she says she’ll find somewhere else to crash. Later, Clara meets with Daniel (Sullivan Stapleton), Ollie (Lincoln Younes), and Margie to show them a video of Belinda with Heidi. Belinda (Raelee Hill) talks about nearly losing the business before thanking Sarah and Bree for their help.

Heidi doesn’t look happy about being left out. The video was taken the night before Belinda died. The DPP was trying to build a case that Heidi and Belinda had a falling out. Now Clara knows Heidi, she believes she was unhappy in the video. She thinks Heidi got weird when she said she might not take the insurance money. It was like Heidi wanted her to acknowledge and thank her for the fire. Since Belinda didn’t mention Heidi in her speech, Heidi might’ve been upset then too. Daniel and Clara visit Paul (Nicholas Brown) who says he doesn’t know why Belinda wanted to sack Heidi. There was a period when things were rough because of cash flow issues and debt. When Belinda’s dad died, she inherited some money that she used to bail out the business. Her father drink too much malt and died after falling down the stairs. Clara wonders if Heidi knew Belinda was going to inherit that money. They wonder if Heidi might’ve killed him so Belinda could get the money.

Clara wonders if Heidi got mad that night and let something slip about Belinda’s father. She says Heidi has a way of telling you something without really telling you. Paul recalls finding Belinda’s family photo album open on her desk so she must’ve been looking at it the night before she got him. He should’ve realized that she was rattled because she never looked at pictures of her dad. Paul blames himself. Dom is surprised to find Heidi at his door. They go inside as Heidi says she heard a lot about him and not all of it is good. Heidi knows how he is using his kids as a bargaining tool to get her portion of the insurance money. She wants to hear his justifications to make sure her friend isn’t being screwed over again. Heidi doesn’t think it ended too well for him last time since his store burned down. When the kids enter, they’re happy to see Heidi who already knows Mandy (Randa Sayed) and how she doesn’t mind a married man. Dom thinks it is time for Heidi to leave.

The others go to Paul’s place to retrieve the photo albums. While looking through the pictures, Ollie begins believing there is something going on between Daniel and Clara. Although they deny it, Margie mentions that they kissed. Clara wants to focus on the murder now that they think they have a motive. Ollie catches up with Eliza Perez (Emma Diaz) to tell her about the motive. He believes Heidi killed Belinda’s dad to save the business. When Belinda wasn’t grateful enough, Heidi killed her. Ollie suggests the cops could find something since they didn’t even investigate the death of Belinda’s father. He apologizes and leaves on an awkward note. Later, he tells Margie that he can’t believe Daniel and Clara found love when they lost it. Ollie continues complaining about losing Eliza while Margie takes care of her mother. They also talk about how Margie’s mom wasn’t always accepting of Trish and their relationship. Margie wishes she would’ve acknowledged their relationship just once. When Clara tries to pick up the kids, Dom tells her about his conversation with Heidi.

The kids are at Mandy’s parents’ place and Dom isn’t going to tell her where that is. He won’t let her anywhere near them as long as Heidi is out there. Clara approaches Heidi at the yoga class. She claims she wants to thank her for talking to Dom who told her to forget about Canberra. She is also getting to keep her money. Heidi knows it sounds crazy but she has been thinking about buying a house together. Although Clara doesn’t seem thrilled with the idea, they agree to check it out after class. Ollie takes the cream from the room so he wants to replace it. Margie gets upset when she finds out that it has been discontinued. She goes on a rant so Ollie doesn’t think it is about hand cream. Margie goes to Trish to admit she is punishing her because she never lets her be. She always wanted her mom to watch them walk down the aisle, but she can’t now.

When she is angry, Trish always interrupts and reminds her of positive stuff. Although Trish insists she is trying to support her, it feels like denial to Margie. Once they apologize to one another, Trish says she hates sleeping by herself. Daniel learns about Heidi and Clara possibly buying a house together. Clara believes she has to keep Heidi close to prevent Dom from taking the kids away. Daniel asks her to drop a pin so he’ll know where Heidi takes her before the call ends. Zoe (Coco Jack Gillies) asks Daniel if everything is okay. Heidi and Clara go looking at houses together. Clara brings up the idea that the death of Belinda’s dad helped save the business at one point. Heidi tries to change the subject before saying Belinda wouldn’t have killed herself. She claims he died peacefully in his sleep. Trish and Margie talk about old times. They also look at the rings they purchased. Trish apologizes for treating her like one of her patients.

They scream together to let out their frustrations. Clara calls Margie to tell her what Heidi said about the dad dying. She is convinced Heidi did it now. Margie tells her she’ll call her back later. Trish tells her it is okay as long as she doesn’t do anything stupid. Daniel meets with Eliza later without the others knowing because he wants to cut a deal. Later, Clara calls Mandy to ask if she can hear the voices of her kids. They chat briefly before Heidi comes over to tell Clara she is being tried again. The jury at her trial was tampered with. Heidi thinks it is crazy that someone is claiming they were bribed. Heidi thinks she can help make him take it back. Clara wonders why she thinks it is a him or why she’d be able to speak to this person. Heidi thought she’d have suspicion of who it might be. Clara wishes she could help, but she won’t. Heidi gets upset after everything she did for her. Although Clara says she is grateful for everything, she isn’t eager to help Heidi.

Clara immediately goes to Daniel who insists he won’t go to jail because he made a deal. They agreed to give him a suspended sentence, community service, and two years good behavior bond. Daniel believes coming clean is the only way to keep everyone safe and say he is sorry. He thinks Clara was right about wanting to vote guilty. He’ll get to teach in prisons as part of the community service. Daniel says it’ll be worth it because Heidi will be retried. When he says she shouldn’t be alone, Clara says she is staying with Margie. Daniel tries to call Zoe as she steps away from her phone at the library. A girl there tells her how her friend dogged her again. They talk about going to a listening party together. Daniel begins worrying when he goes to the library and can’t find Zoe. He calls friends and Zoe again. Then, he calls Clara to tell her that he is worried Heidi might’ve taken her. Clara tells him that Heidi has been hiding out at her parents’ farmhouse.

Daniel goes there immediately. He looks through the window and bangs on the door only to find it unlocked. Once he goes inside, he finds a pool of blood on the ground.

 

After The Verdict Review

The fifth episode of After the Verdict confirms that the series isn’t right for all viewers, but others may enjoy it. Truthfully, there are certain aspects of the show that are more enjoyable than others. At times, it feels grounded when the characters are attempting to protect the ones they love and find out who killed Belinda. There is always the mystery of Heidi and whether she was responsible for Belinda’s murder.

Another thing that drives the show is the fact that Clara and the others could be putting their lives at risk by attempting to find out the truth. Unfortunately, the show falters in certain areas. For instance, some of the characters are annoying and other things are highly unrealistic. It is easy to see why people would hate on After the Verdict because it gives them plenty of ammunition.

Nevertheless, it is a good way to kill an hour each week and there is a genuine interest in finding out what is happening and what happened. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of After the Verdict can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work by following this link.