The episode opens with Jacs Gould (Alice Englert) returning to the Sydney gallery, only to discover that the board wants to pull her solo exhibition. Jacs appears to be surprised when she learns that Suzanna (Ling Cooper Tang) is standing behind her decision to use the photo. Suzanna even encourages Jacs to continue her pursuit of ‘masculinity from the female lens’ as the topic for her solo exhibit, although Jacs herself appears doubting.

Later that evening, Jacs finds herself drinking heavily at a bar where she is besieged by flashbacks of her, Raffa (Sean Keenan), and Kel Summer (Mia Artemis) doing much of the same. At one point she attempts to reach out to Angus (Thomas Weatherall), who does not respond. As the evening progresses, Jacs ends up embarrassing herself at the bar, getting kicked out, and after failing to reach, ‘Do Not Message,’ visits Angus. He certainly isn’t thrilled with the unexpected drop-in but lets her inside just to keep her from waking his parents.

At one point, Jacs asks Angus why Kel never shared her problems with her. His response is they all had their own problems they were trying to deal with. She only becomes more belligerent and demands to be driven home after he refuses to add another further to Kel’s problems. His claim that Jacs always wanted what Kel had doesn’t help matters.

By the time Angus gets Kel home, she’s reached the sickness stage of her drunken stupor which draws the attention of Kathy (Essie Davis) and Barry (Daniel Frederiksen). Despite the middle-of-the-night interruption, Kathy doesn’t appear to be up and relieves Angus, although he offers to stay. Kathy eventually gets Jacs to bed but is surprised when she asks for money so she can show Kel Bali. Jacs dreams of her and Kel’s time at the rave but appears to be scared awake at one point.

Despite the massive hangover, Jacs drags herself out of bed, onto the bus, and to the offices of the local paper, where she confronts Bronson Garret (Thom Green). She does not do so quietly and humiliates him just as much as herself as she accuses him of making revenge porn and sharing it with Mick Davies (George Mason). Bronson maintains the claim that he did not sleep with Kel and even shows Jacs a text that could substantiate his claim.

After the heated confrontation, Jacs returns to the public bus where she has several more flashbacks, including one particularly disturbing one where Kel and Raffa are playing a game of ‘F*ck, marry, and kill,’ with her and his parents as the subjects. As the memories continue, it’s not only revealed that the girls met Raffa during a trip to Bali, but Jacs’ petulant attitude in several scenes suggests that Angus’ earlier claim was right.

Jacs is in for a surprise when she gets off the bus in town and spots Val (Victoria Haralabidou) on her hands and knees in one of the retail shops. It’s unclear at the time whether Val is drunk or sleep deprived but she is clearly confused. She accepts Jacs’ offer to take her home and do her grocery shopping. Jacs is later shown doing the dishes as well later that evening and while sitting with Val as she sleeps on the couch, Jacs receives a text from, ‘Do Not Message,’ agreeing to meet her.

The episode ends by focusing on Kathy and Jacs, although they are at two entirely different locations. Kathy arrives home to discover that Jacs is missing, which leads her to the darkroom where she watches a snippet of a video of what appears to be an interaction between Raffa and possibly Jacs. Elsewhere, Jacs is shown waiting for ‘Do Not Message’ at what must have been a pre-arranged destination. Although a vehicle shows up, it stops several yards away and ends up racing off. Jacs attempts to chase it down on foot and ends up in the ground in the process.

 

Exposure Review

Unfortunately, this was no doubt the worst episode yet. I won’t go as far to say I didn’t enjoy it but it felt like complete waste. The ending felt rushed and honestly only confused me. As I’ve said regularly with this series, I feel that the creators could do a much better job of explaining things. In addition, many of the scenes are needlessly dark. Jacs’ encounter with Val in what appeared to be a flower/wedding shop would be the perfect example of how confusing the series is at times.

This could be an underhanded attempt to keep viewers interested. I won’t even attempt to touch the ‘Do Not Message,’ situation because I could go on for days there. Despite what likely sounds like a harsh review, I’d give the episode a 5 out of 10.

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