At the start of the episode, we see Miri Matteson (Daisy Haggard) cut her hair. She doesn’t do a very good job. The bangs end up lopsided. She meets with Nathan (Liam Williams) about a job. Nathan notices that Miri has a big gap in her resume. She tries to explain it away by saying she had been on vacation. We jump back in time and see that Miri was actually in prison. When she is released, her mother Caroline (Geraldine James) and father Oscar (Richard Durden) are there to pick her up. They return home a short time later and Miri heads up to her room.

Old posters are hung on the wall. Miri looks around before her mother joins her. Caroline leaves quickly so Miri goes through her old belongings. She finds a CD player and a picture of a boy she used to like. Downstairs, the parents attempt to discuss ways to deal with their daughter. Caroline receives a text message from an unknown man. She agrees to meet up with him the next day before hiding the knives from her daughter. Miri heads out into the backyard and meets Billy (Adeel Akhtar). He agrees to fix her swing before his boss yells at him to get away from her.

Back inside, Miri’s parents tell her about Nathan and his fish and chips shop. Miri tells her parents that she wants to meet the boy in the picture. After all, they told her that Dom (Jamie Michie) had been asking after her. In the morning, Oscar tries to get in touch with customer support on the phone. Miri notices that the knives have gone missing so Oscar makes an excuse for it. Miri gets a phone call from a potential employer and is told that she is sick. Caroline tries to meet up with the mystery man but he doesn’t show up. They agree to reschedule their get together.

Miri visits Dom and finds out that he is married and living in a nice home. She basically makes a complete fool of herself. She returns home and complains to her parents for lying to her about it. She storms off before Caroline ends Oscar’s phone call just as a human answers. Meanwhile, a strange man roams the nearby countryside. Miri has a counseling session. It is clear that the counselor isn’t interested too much. She wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. Caroline meets up with the mystery man and we find out that they’re having an affair. She tells him that this has to be the last time. Miri sits near the water and the strange man approaches.

He welcomes her back. He tells that they’ve only just met. Back at home, Oscar tells his daughter about a job opportunity with Nathan. She takes down the old posters that night. Outside, Billy fixes the swing. In the morning, Oscar tries to clean graffiti off the wall outside. Miri tries to prepare herself for the upcoming interview while her parents try to hide the message from her. Miri makes it outside and sees the graffiti. Things do not go well for her at the meeting. Then, Nathan finds out who she is. He says that everyone deserves a second chance. He decides to give her a break.

 

Back To Life Review

I am a little torn here. I enjoy the story and I feel that Back to Life could get really emotional in future episodes. However, I am not too fond of the humor. I laughed here and there but I felt that much of the humor was a little too over the top. The show was trying too hard to be funny and it fell flat more often than not. I enjoyed it and believe it has potential though. I will keep watching and see how things turn out. So far, I like it. The episode scores a 7 out of 10.