As the episode begins, Leo Day (Archie Renaux) celebrates his 25th birthday. Patrick (Sebastian Armesto) and Leo are surprised when Benjamin’s brother arrives outside. After the intro, Ben (Ben Barnes) is reunited with his brother, Kieran, and he doesn’t look happy. Ben makes sure to tell Julia (Julia Ormond) that Kieran is his half-brother. He goes on to say that they haven’t seen one another for 17 years or so. Kieran mistakenly believes that Della (Jemima Rooper) is Ben’s wife so he has to correct him. The kids believe Ben is lying again since he claimed he didn’t have any siblings. Kieran and Ben step inside to speak with private while Leo tells everyone else that the man is a liar.

After that, Patrick packs his items and prepares to return home to his family. Leo goes back inside and finds out that Della is leaving as well. Leo hopes on his bicycle and visits Ted (Alex Jennings). They chat about Leo’s bike and the fact that Patrick scratched it already. Ted doesn’t want to talk about Julia and her relationship but he agrees to have dinner with his son. Next, Leo speaks with Cali (Karla-Simone Spence) and tells her that Patrick is having an affair. Leo believes his parents would still be together if it wasn’t for Marsha (Nikki Amuka-Bird). They kiss before we jump back to Julia. She gets upset and throws the birthday cake in the garbage.

Then, she heads to her bedroom and reads alone. Ben enters the room and tries to explain everything to Julia. He explains that it started out as a lie and he ultimately started believing it. He also suggests he did it to survive. His brother claims he has changed and he wants to prove it. When asked what he wants, Ben says he wants Julia. Seconds later, he begins having a panic attack so Julia has to comfort him. Cali and Leo sleep together before discussing Leo’s evil plan. He tells Cali to keep her mother busy all day tomorrow and he’ll take care of the rest. Julia tells Ben that she wants to get to know his brother and Ben does too. Julia suggests asking Kieran to stay with them.

He arrives at their house with flowers before too long. They sit down for breakfast and Julia begins asking Kieran questions about his brother. She is shown a picture of them as youngsters too. Leo interrupts and asks if he can steal his mother for the day. Leo and Julia go to Becky Falls and Ted arrives. Ted and Julia realize that Leo planned it. They reluctantly go together and end up having fun along the way. Once they make it to the falls and sit down for a snack, things begin to change. After a bit of back and forth, Julia invites Ted to her wedding. They begin arguing about their wedding with Julia claiming she didn’t get the wedding she wanted.

Leo says he is not on a side but Julia suggests he picked a side when he helped hide his father’s affair. They split and head in separate directions. On the way home, Leo tells his mother that he didn’t want to tell her because it would hurt her. He also believes they were happy together and that made him feel safe. After that, Leo returns home and calls Della to ask about Julia and Ted’s relationship. Della has different memories of their family visits to Becky Falls and they usually end with Leo crying on the way home. We see a flashback of Julia with a bloody face and she is holding a baby. Leo gets upset and leaves home before jumping onto his bike. He goes to Cali and wants to have sex but she tells him to slow down.

He ends up insulting her before Marsha enters and catches them. Marsha makes sure Ted knows that Leo is there before he can leave. After that, Leo goes to the bar and drinks with Kieran. They drink throughout the night while talking about Ben and his relationship with Julia. Kieran admits he messed p and did a lot of bad things back then. It ends with Leo getting sick and leaning over a toilet. Kieran takes him home and agrees not to tell Julia about their night. Leo comes up with a plan to start a pizza company with Kieran and he shows his mom the business plan. Then, they work together to build a pizza oven outside. Later one night, Julia wonders if Leo should earn the start-up capital himself instead of her giving it to him.

She is worried that his enthusiasm will wane and the business will fall apart. They get into an argument and Leo claims everything is about Ben and has been since they met. Leo packs his bags and moves in with his father despite Julia pleading with him not to move in with his father. When Ted picks him up, he tells Julia that he hopes Benjamin is worth it. A few days later, Ben calls Della and Patrick to tell them Julia is struggling to deal with it. They visit and want Julia to tell Leo about Ted beating her up that one night. Patrick believes that will make Leo come back and that it is time to stop lying about him. He also admits the lies have messed with him as well since he tried to pretend he didn’t see his dad beat him mom and try to kill himself.

Julia says she thought they didn’t remember it. Della tries to leave but Patrick won’t let her. She admits she remembers and she just watched it without doing anything. Julia thought she was doing the right thing by not talking about it. She doesn’t want to ruin Leo’s opinion of his father but Patrick thinks they should speak with him. After that, Julia goes through old photographs and we see a flashback of a paramedic asking her about the injuries. She looks over and we see that Ted is in an ambulance. The kids watch as Julia tells the woman that she fell. Patrick and Della return and tells Julia that Leo wouldn’t listen to them. Ben asks if he knows how much he is upsetting and Patrick says yes. Leo thinks he is exerting undue influence over Julia’s finances.

Patrick admits he thinks the same as well. Ben and Patrick get angry and storm off before Della asks if all families are like this. She tells Julia she deserves to be happy before leaving with Patrick. Moments later, Ben finds Julia sorting through her books. He wants to make sure she isn’t upset with him for interfering and she says it was nice. It showed he cared. He asks if they’re okay to which she responds we better be. Everyone sits down for dinner that night to make sure they can be civil with one another. Leo is late so Benjamin says it is his loss. Patrick watches as Ben and Julia flirt with one another during dinner. Patrick is asked to get champagne. Julia follows him when he heads to get a bottle. She sees another flashback.

Patrick tells Julia that he isn’t a good man so she pleads with him to not make her choose. Kieran and Leo arrive and join everyone else. Ben is surprised that his brother hasn’t left. Kieran speaks with Julia and Ben in private about some good news he has. He reveals that Ted has agreed to back their venture. He has a job locally so he is going to stick around and they can get to know each other. Ben seems upset but pretends to be happy. Julia finds him packing a bag and he tells her he wants to elope. She reminds him that it is only two days away. She believes this is about Kieran coming back but Ben denies it. He thought things would change and people would be happy for them when they got married but that hasn’t happened.

She believes he is talking about running away. The following morning, she tells Ben that they’ll have to sleep in separate beds the night before the wedding. Otherwise, bad things will happen to them. Ben leaves a bit later and Julia hops on a train. She tries to track down the spot where the picture of Kieran and Ben was taken place. Della calls and asks where she’s been since Ben has been asking too. Julia tells her to lie and say they’re together. Julia asks about Ben at a pub. They know Kieran and his brother named Sean. She shows a picture of Ben to the bartender and explains she will be marrying him tomorrow. He questions if she is going to marry him after what he did. She is shown a newspaper article about Ben and him being locked away for killing a shopkeeper.

 

Gold Digger Review

Gold Digger has been interesting from the beginning and I am eager to see what is going to happen in the final episode. However, I’ll say that this episode was a bit wonky. So, the show wants us to believe that Ben and Kieran hadn’t seen one another for 17 years or so? If so, how did Kieran know where to find his brother? That was never questioned once so I thought that was a bit disappointing.

I am not sure what to think about Ted being abusive either. It is hard to believe he would only do it once since most domestic violence carries on for years. Still, I can’t wait to see what happens in the finale. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. You can find previous recaps of Gold Digger on Reel Mockery.