At the beginning of the episode, Thomas Benson (Ken Nwosu) speaks with his wife Jess (Alexandra Roach) before leaving for work. She reminds him that they’re going to meeting with her father before he steps out of the door. While driving to work, Thomas makes a call about his evaluation. He heads to the etcetera office where he meets with his old buddy Mark Baxter (Gwilym Lee). Mark’s place of work is far different than Benson’s. The men ride around on scooters. When they stop, Thomas tells Mark that he is working for Clayton. They speak about Mark’s wife Tonya (Elena Saurel) before Thomas changes the subject to business.

He suggests they can help them source other offices and such. After a bit of back and forth, Mark agrees to work with Thomas. Before the conversation ends, Thomas is invited to Tonya’s birthday party which will take place right around the time he is supposed to be with Jess’s father. Then, Thomas returns to work and his work neighbor tells him he needs to get a sense of humor. Thomas ignores her before speaking with Andy (Sean Sagar) and Becky (Ritu Arya). They try to convince him that Carter (Ben Miller) prefers paper records and that Thomas should not use his iPad.

Becky is confident that she is going to be staying with the company. Isobel (Susannah Fielding) exits Carter’s office just before Thomas goes in. She tells Thomas that Carter is old school and encourages him to ask Carter out for a drink. She believes that will help. During Thomas’s evaluation, he is asked who he should be let go. Thomas eventually says that Andy should go. He follows Isobel’s advice and invites Carter out for a drink and he accepts after Thomas agrees to pay. He also tells his boss about the possible deal with Mark Baxter. Thomas goes out with Carter after work. Surprisingly, Becky, Isobel, and Andy show up as well. Thomas pays for everything. Thomas buys several bottles of wine before Isobel leaves.

Thomas tries to do the same but Carter wants to speak with him in private. Carter tells him that Tony Clayton wants to be there for the meeting with Mark. Thomas receives several text messages from Jess and he uses that as an excuse to leave. However, his boss manages to convince him to stick around a bit longer. By the time Thomas leaves, he is very drunk. He does his best to rush to the birthday party as quickly as possible. He makes it, nearly causes a mess, and finally spot Mark. Thomas tells his buddy the truth about his job being in jeopardy. This convinces Mark to meet with everyone in the morning so they can discuss the deal.

Tonya eventually starts talking about Mark bullying others as a child. He used to put a red ant in a boy’s pants every day to mess with him. That boy turns out to be Thomas. Mark apologizes and tries to shake Thomas’s hand. He accepts the apology and shakes Mark’s hand before leaving. He rushes to Jess and her father. Surprisingly, he finds that Isobel is there. She makes a good impression on Jess’s father but makes Thomas look bad. She tells everyone about Thomas buying the champagne even though they can’t afford it. Isobel goes on about the company letting some of the sales team go before they start talking about Thomas’s daughter Miley.

When Isobel leaves, Thomas follows her downstairs and says that this wasn’t a coincidence. He accuses her of checking his messages and emails. In return, she claims she was doing him a favor. On the way home, Thomas tries to explain his actions to Jess. He says they might promote him if he can sign the deal with Mark. He believes he is doing better than ever too. Thomas leaves his daughter is still not happy. In the morning, Thomas reluctantly gets up and takes a taxi to work. His work neighbor gets on his nerves almost immediately. After that, he begins preparing for the meeting with Mark. Carter enters and tells him to change the pens out for pencils.

Thomas tries to tell his boss about Andy not sending out emails but he won’t listen. Tony Clayton enters. He agrees with Carter that Thomas won’t have to worry about being cut if he manages to get the deal signed. When they leave, Andy gets and begins roughing up the paperwork. Thomas grabs it out of his hands and the paper rips. Thomas replaces it with another. When Andy gets tired of bugging him, Becky enters. She goes on and on about Thomas’s daughter being deaf. She is very rude about it too. Thomas eventually gets angry and tells her that he can see why she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Andy begins listening to music very loud and this upsets Thomas.

Things get worse until Thomas gets a message from Mark saying he isn’t coming. He begins freaking out. Thomas grabs Andy’s headphones, throws them to the ground, and smashes them. Then, he tells them how he feels before he notices that Tony and Carter witnessed it all. Thomas apologizes and suggests setting up a strategy meeting. Carter pulls him aside and tells him to speak with a doctor about his problems. Thomas tries to tell his boss about the bullying but Carter refuses to believe it. When Thomas leaves the building, we see a post-it note on the door with bye bye written on it. He meets with Jess and tells her what has happened.

She tells him that their daughter has gotten into a fight. And, they’re blaming Thomas because he told her to fight back. Jess suggests that they should separate for a bit. She leaves and Thomas notices a red ant on his steering wheel. He lets it crawl around on his finger while thinking about his work colleagues. He smashes the ant and the episode ends.

 

Sticks And Stones Review

I really liked the first episode of Sticks and Stones but the second dropped the ball. It wasn’t horrible but it made Thomas a bit less sympathetic. It is getting harder to sympathize with him since he isn’t standing up for himself and he is trying way too hard. However, I think the episode did a great job of setting up the finale. We can see what is going to happen to some degree.

I am genuinely interested in seeing how far Thomas will go to get revenge. While the episode wasn’t as good, I still appreciate the series. It has been far better than the other shows I have been watching right now. I still care about the characters a bit and I am still interested in seeing how things end. With the other shows I am watching, I could care less. That should say something about the entertainment value of Sticks and Stones.

The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of Sticks and Stones before you leave!