As the finale of Daddy Issues begins, Malcolm (David Morrissey), Cherry (Taj Atwal), and the others surprise Gemma (Aimee Lou Wood) with a baby shower. Derek (David Fynn) has sourced baby food since it’s a baby shower. Rita and the others give Gemma odd gifts. Cherry tells her she invited Xander although he likely isn’t coming. Derek tells Malcolm he’s booked them an escape room. He explains that they grab you off the street and bundle you into a van. Rita asks Gemma who she picked as her birth partner. Gemma needs to pick up her dad’s birthday cake. Rita urges Gemma to pick her as her birthing partner. Gemma agrees to let her do it if Cherry isn’t available. Gemma’s water breaks even though she’s not due for another two weeks.

Rita flees. Malcolm is kidnapped off the street. Once he gets into the van, Derek says he thinks he’s made a terrible mistake. Gemma tries to get help from Rita who is freaking out in another room. Xander (Arian Nik) just happens to walk by at the perfect time. He comes inside and learns Gemma is in labor. Xander drives her to the hospital. Derek freaks out while Malcolm says he’s enjoying it. Emma tries to get in touch with Malcolm who doesn’t have his phone. Malcolm and Derek are welcomed to the Taken-themed escape room. They ramble about whether it makes any sense because the daughter was taken in the movie. Malcolm learns they have three hours. Gemma is given her own room at the hospital. Derek and Malcolm struggle to solve the escape room. Derek suggests he can take care of Gemma when Malcolm isn’t around.

Malcolm reminds him that he’s still married to someone else. Gemma promises to never have sex again. Xander apologizes to her for ghosting her after Ben. Malcolm makes his way through the escape room while Derek sleeps. Gemma calls Catherine (Sharon Rooney) to tell her she’s in the hospital. Catherine questions whether she’s a bad person. She’s wondering if she was selfish to push Gary off the fire escape. Catherine has to hang up when the guards interrupt. Malcolm tries to get Derek to help. Derek admits he thought things would go differently. Malcolm isn’t sure Gemma would go for it. He says Gemma is the best thing in his life. Derek is ready to solve the puzzle and escape. Before long, they believe it’s impossible. They yell for someone to get them out. Gemma is told this is going to get a lot worse. She takes medication to make it easier.

Cherry gets high with her. She tells Gemma to take all the drugs she can even if she doesn’t need them. Cherry tells Xander not to leave her side. Malcolm learns Gemma is having her baby. Derek tells the men in charge to drive him to the hospital. Gemma tells Xander he can leave if he wants but he doesn’t. Gemma is told the baby’s heart rate hasn’t settled so they’ll have to discuss other options. Derek talks about the horrors of childbirth on the way to the hospital. Once they arrive, Derek tells Malcolm not to mess it up. Malcolm learns that Gemma needs a C-section. Malcolm and Xander have to decide who will go in with her. Malcolm goes with her. He is there when Gemma gets to see her baby. They’re unable to stop the bleeding. Malcolm sits with the baby while the doctors work on saving Gemma.

Before long, Malcolm is told that Gemma is fine. When Gemma wakes up, she talks about naming the baby Sadie. Davina (Susan Lynch) is allowed to come in to see her daughter. She scares Malcolm and takes the baby from him.

 

Daddy Issues Review

The finale of Daddy Issues was all about the delivery of the baby with the writers setting up for a possible second series. While the episode wasn’t terrible, it didn’t achieve a great deal. It did very little to strengthen the relationship between Gemma and Malcolm. Instead, Davina’s return may have driven a wedge between them.

There’s also no believability here and no seriousness. Gemma is preparing for such a big task, but the series rarely discusses the financial issues of raising a child. More emphasis could be placed on those financial difficulties instead of spending half of the episode on a silly escape room. The series could be doing so much good while remaining humorous, but it instead reinforces bad ideas from start to finish.

In reality, Gemma probably wouldn’t know who the father of her baby was considering how many times she tried to get laid in the first episode. There’s also the possibility that Gemma would need child support from Ben since she barely works and Malcolm obviously isn’t written competently enough to support anyone. It’s also odd that the show never seriously discussed abortion which is a big topic at the moment.

It’s really just sugarcoating these issues with a comedy bow on the top giving the impression that it actually promotes the ideas. The finale clearly doesn’t justify another series. If it happens to secure one, we can only hope some of the ideas are discussed seriously and in an unbiased way.

The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Daddy Issues can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here. See what others are saying here.