The episode begins with Pete Riley (James Norton) and Maddie Wilson’s (Niamh Algar) supervised visit with Theo Riley (Alban Guo) being cut short. Maddie flips out and is asked to leave the moment Theo mentions that she isn’t his mother.

Sometime later the Rileys meet with Anika Chowdhury (Sunetra Sarker) to learn that Lyn Edwards (Sarah Edwardson) is recommending Theo be left in the custody of the Lamberts, permanently. Maddie already assumes they’ve lost the cast, but Anika tells her that the most important thing is how she and Pete come across in court.

Judge M Wakefield (Maxine Finch) explains the court proceedings before handing the floor to Doctor Elliot Taylor (Daniel Weyman), who will summarize the psychological well-being of both children. Dr. Taylor practically tells the court that separating either Theo or David from their household would cause huge stress. Pete and Maddie are sworn in and questioned first. This does not go well for the Rileys, as the Lambert’s lawyer not only makes Maddie seem separated because she works so much but brings up her depression. Pete does an amendable job defending her and Lucy Lambert (Jessica Brown Findlay) even appears sympathetic at times.

Things go much differently when Miles and Lucy are sworn in. Miles attacks both Pete and Maddie for being careless and neglectful parents. Lucy, on the other hand, talks about giving up her career as an artist to dedicate her life to being a mother to David. Things take another drastic turn when Edith Lambert (Maureen Beattie) shows up in the middle of Miles’s testimony.

Outside the courtroom, Lucy briefly eavesdrops on Miles and Edith’s conversation before he storms off. Lucy is practically left speechless after briefly speaking with Edith. Things do not go any better when Lucy confronts Miles that evening after court. He not only refers to her as a useless wife but he calls her a suffocating mother. Maddie doesn’t get much sleep that night either.

The following morning in court, Judge Wakefield introduces an anonymous video that shows Miles feeding Theo Gummies. The time stamps line up with the time that Theo was taken to the Emergency Room. Because of this new discovery, Wakefield orders Theo to be placed back in the custody of Pete and Maddie. As for David, he will remain in the Lambert household, but Miles is forced to vacate the home until an investigation can be conducted. Maddie does not take this well. Later that night, Maddie is briefly shown shutting down all the camera feeds in the Lambert house.

The next day, Pete takes Theo to the pier for some chips. When Pete places the order Theo goes missing. It only takes him a few seconds to notice but Theo is long gone. One lady claims to have seen Theo walking with a tall man with a beard. She assumed they were father and son. Shortly after this, Pete is in his truck trying to call Miles. Miles shares a location with him. When Pete arrives at the location, it is clear that this is the opening scene from the premiere episode. Pete locates and retrieves the yellow raincoat but never finds Theo. He does eventually find Miles and very shortly after that Theo shows up out of the blue. When Pete returns home and shares the news with Maddie she calls the cops. They send a car around to the Lambert house, but Miles is nowhere in sight.

Much later that night, Maddie pays a visit to the Lambert house and tries to convince her to leave miles. Lucy doesn’t have much of a response other than asking Maddie to leave. Before Maddie does leave, she tells Lucy that she isn’t alone.

Lucy wakes the following morning to what sounds like smashing glass. She is unable to find David but finds Miles in the kitchen, who apparently wants to take her and David on a picnic. When he tells her to go put something warm on, she sneaks into the bathroom and calls Maddie. Maddie doesn’t get the message right away because she is listening to music while driving to pick up Pete and Theo at the pier. Maddie notices and listens to the message while she parks and waits for Pete and Theo to make their way to the vehicle. The message is practically Lucy’s confession for switching the boys, in hopes of giving Theo a better, safer life away from the controlling Miles. In spite of all this, Lucy not only manages to find time to tell Maddie that Miles has arrived to take her and David on a picnic, but she finds time to share her location.

Maddie is in tears by the end of the message and pulls out before Theo and Pete make it back to the vehicle. As Maddie races toward Miles and Lucy’s location, Miles grabs David and pulls him to the edge of a cliff while trying to get Lucy to admit it was her who sent the video. This does the trick because Lucy finally admits to sending the video. Miles also tells Lucy that he lost a family before and if she knew what that felt like, she would have never sent the video. By the time Maddie locates Miles and Lucy, he is ready to throw David off the cliff. Maddie’s screaming briefly distracts him and gives Lucy just enough time to pick up a stone and bash him in the head. The impact allows David to struggle free and run toward Maddie while Lucy and Miles struggle by the cliff’s edge. It only takes Lucy a second to get away from Miles, the impact in the process causing him to slip over the edge of the cliff.

Shortly after this, Pete, Maddie, and Lucy are shown talking to the authorities at Lucy’s house. She tells them a story about Miles showing up mad and then storming off toward the coast after not getting what he wanted. Lucy claims she called Pete and Maddie for help before calling the police.

Three months later, Pete, Maddie, Theo, David, and Lucy enjoy a day at the beach. This is practically how the series ends.

 

Playing Nice Review

I can’t say this was a bad way to end the series. It was certainly much different than what I expected. It was probably far less anticlimactic than what I had hoped for but at least it ended on a pleasant note because I am usually not one for the happy ending. Once again, wish the series did a better job of executing and setting up some of the scenes. That would be about my only complaint. The acting was pretty much superb all around and for that, I would have to give the finale a 6 out of 10.

Get more Playing Nice recaps here. See what others are saying about the series by clicking the link. Check out our advertising packages here. Support our platform by clicking the link.