As this episode of Alice & Jack begins, Paul (Sunil Patel) tells Jack about his options. He rambles about Jack’s options. Later, Lynn (Aisling Bea) tells Jack (Domhnall Gleeson) she is starting to think some people aren’t supposed to wear ties. Jack insists it is a show of respect. He says she is a pregnant woman with syphilis. Once Jack meets with Alice (Andrea Riseborough) she doesn’t tell him why she dreads seeing her dad. They meet Randall (Mark Cameron) moments later. Randall thanks Jack for coming and being there for Alice. During the funeral, Randall begins struggling and falls to the ground. A news report indicates that Randall died at his wife’s funeral.

Lynn finds out about Alice from the television report. She and Jack agree that they should talk about it. Lynn wants to know what percentage of days he was thinking about Alice since she has known him. Jack says 100%. Alice thinks she should’ve spat on him at the park. She complains that she gave him a chance and he didn’t even tell her. Lynn begins talking about getting divorced. She isn’t going to be anyone’s consolation prize. Lynn asks if he is going to start up with Alice again after this. Jack says they can’t even though he did all of this anyway. Alice goes inside and smashes his phone to stop it from ringing. Alice throws what appears to be ashes into the water below.

She tries calling Jack and leaves a message asking him to call her. Jack and Lynn go through the divorce proceedings. Jack is accused of adultery although he denies it. Lynn wants sole custody, higher payments, and two visits per week. Jack’s solicitor refuses. Jack eventually agrees to give Lynn way too much. He catches up with Alice and says it’s like he is living someone else’s life. They talk about Jack getting an apartment before he admits he hasn’t seen Celia in three days. Alice says she is the world’s happiest orphan. Jack visits a rental. At work, he tells Paul he can move in right away. He wants to pitch the syphilis project to Saul only to learn he already said no. Jack wants to talk to him although Paul doesn’t think that’s a good idea.

At home, Alice’s assistant Maya visits Jack. They bring him a few things. Jack calls Alice to say he can’t accept this. She calls it a housewarming gift. Alice agrees to come around and see it one night this week. Jack takes care of Celia who is colicky. Once Jack gets home, Alice shows up out of the blue. She admits she should’ve texted. Jack lets her in so he’ll feel better about running her off. He wishes he understood it better, but it is nice to see Alice so happy. Alice wants to take it really slow if they’re going to try again. Celia begins crying so Alice tries to help. Once it works, Jack says he’ll pay Alice good money not to leave tonight. She helps him with Celia later as well. Jack sneaks up on her and causes Celia to cry louder.

In the morning, Jack tries to get Alice to open up. Jack agrees to meet Alice at the event later before he leaves to take Celia home. Lynn asks Jack if he has a jasmine candle at his place. He says no. She questions who’s been holding her. Jack has to tell her about Alice. Then, Jack catches up with Alice and they watch the kites. Alice tells him that her dad used to come into her room when she was a kid. One time, he didn’t close the door completely and she saw her mother standing in the corridor. The next day, her mom told her that she told him from her. Alice thought things would be different by now. She ends up telling Jack that she loves him.

Jack insists he would never abandon her. If Alice could be with anyone in the world, it would be Jack. She believes it would end in ruins though. Jack asks if it should be his choice to, but Alice says no. She’d rather die than disappoint him again. Jack insists she could never disappoint him. Alice knows she has and will again. She gets emotional before saying it’ll be someone else’s problem now. Jack never thought she needed saving. He thought they’d be able to get through their problems if they loved each other enough. Alice isn’t sure they’ll be able to see each other again. She says he has her permission to think about her and imagine she is probably thinking of him.

 

Alice & Jack Review

The second episode of Alice and Jack was in line with the first. In terms of entertainment value, the series is lacking. From an emotional standpoint, it really misses the mark as well. Despite being 45-minute episodes, this is really slowly moving most of the time. At other points, large chunks of Jack and Alice’s lives are condensed to a few seconds.

After two episodes, it feels like they’ve barely known each other even though they’re supposed to be deeply in love. The character behaviors aren’t particularly realistic because they’re constantly overreacting or doing something stupid to push the story forward. It just doesn’t come across as being authentic because it’s so hard to believe someone would overreact like that.

This is starting to feel like a missed opportunity. If it had toned down on the wackiness and the stupidity of the characters, the emotional aspects of the series could’ve shined brightly. This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Alice & Jack are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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