A Seat At The Table – Wren Radic (Annabel Wolfe) drives the team to Byron Beach where they check into a Villa. She claims to have seen two Hemsworths during her previous stay. Poppy Tetanui (Lilliana Bowrey) suggests recording their experience. Leading Bodhi Mercer (Savannah La Rain) to the Ocean Room, Wren explains how wonderful it is to wake up with the sun.

Poppy challenges Summer Torres (Sky Katz) to keep the peace with Wren while they’re at Byron Beach. Summer accepts her challenge. Later, she intentionally does a cannonball in the pool to splash Bodhi and Wren.

Loopy (Jane Allsop) explains the details of Ari Gibson’s (Kai Lewins) Blu Gravity contract with Ari and Abbie Gibson (Adrienne Pickering). Thommo Gibson (Dustin Claure) listens while chopping vegetables. Loopy claims the sponsorship has great cash incentives for placing in competitions. Thommo asks if the pay is based on Ari’s performance. Ari tells him that it is the same for the other signed surfers. Honey Gibson (Asmara Feik) points out that Ari will be required to post tri-monthly to his grid and bi-weekly to his stories. Thommo accuses Blu Gravity of rewarding Ari little for being a walking billboard. Loopy assures them that Blu Gravity is flexible. Ari signs the contract. Outside, Loopy films Ari placing the Blu Gravity logo on his surfboard.

Molly Novak (Danielle Horvat) struggles to find a foundation color to match Poppy’s skin tone. Bodhi hands her a foundation. Picking out an outfit for Wren, Summer shows Poppy that she can play nice. Dice (Charlie Clausen) announces that he is ready for the girls at the beach. Bodhi tries to convince Molly to utilize one of her hair designs but she refuses. As Bodhi starts to protest, Molly’s assistant (Jess Tredinnick) alerts Molly of a call from HQ. Later, Wren is frustrated when Summer becomes the focus of the photo shoot.

At a Blu Gravity surf shop, Ari and Marlon Sousa (Joao Gabriel Marinho) encounter Baxter Radic (Josh Macqueen). Ari informs him of his new sponsorship. Baxter suggests Blu Gravity needed more “vanilla surfers” to balance out the roster. Watching Baxter take selfies, Ari asks for some social media suggestions. Baxter tells him to post about fitness routines and meal preps. He urges Ari to be himself. Marlon later convinces Ari to put two skateboards on the Blu Gravity expense account. Marlon records their skateboarding venture and posts it to social media which upsets Ari because it has footage of him crashing. Marlon reminds Ari of all the positive things in his life before saying enjoy while he can. Ari apologizes.

At the beach, Summer, Wren, and Poppy prepare for their photo shoot. Molly says Bodhi needs bikini shots before going in the water. Summer’s offer to do the bikini shots is rejected. Bodhi becomes frustrated during the bikini shoot while her teammates are doing surf shots in the water. Dice tells her to do a pose on her all fours. Bodhi assures him that she can deliver better poses in the water. He says Suptropix only signed her to achieve diversity.

Later, Bodhi tells the other girls about Dice’s diversity comment. Summer describes him as a racist creep. Wren suggests adding surf shots as a stipulation in her next contract. Summer urges her to report Dice to Molly. Poppy offers her support. Wren warns that it could give them a reputation of being difficult to work with. Bodhi asks Summer to not get involved before assuring her that she is accustomed to it as a Black surfer.

Ari is studying his social media profile when Thommo asks if he would like to go surfing. After Thommo leaves, Ari video chats with Summer. He informs her of his Blu Gravity sponsorship. He sees a call from Wren but ignores it. Wren passes Summer’s room to her talking to Ari. Upset, she vandalizes Dice’s room by writing “Creep” on the wall.

The next morning, Ari doesn’t bother waking Thommo before heading to the beach. Thommo shows up a short time later. Ari claims to have forgotten to wake him. After surfing, Thommo warns Ari that the pros will take the fun out of surfing. He attributes it to Margot Torres (Kate Beahan) being single. Ari assures him that going pro is not possible without a sponsor. Thommo describes sponsors as vultures that trap young surfers with the promise of money. Ari reminds him of the “no peanut” policy before scolding him for his behavior in front of Loopy. Thommo questions why he never mentioned his anxiety to Loopy. Ari promises to speak to his psychiatrist before stomping off.

Back on Byron Beach, going against Molly, Bodhi gets her hair braided. Irate, Molly orders the team back to the villa where she informs them of Dice’s vandalized room. Summer is immediately blamed and Molly calls Margot to no avail. Denying the allegation, Summer says Dice deserved it for what he said to Bodhi. Wren says Bodhi was offended by something Dice said but she claims it wasn’t a big deal. Satisfied, Molly orders Summer to pack her bags.

Summer is stunned when Ari supports Wren. He scolds her for trashing Dice’s room. She claims Wren set her up before ending their friendship because he doesn’t believe her. He assures her his life will be easier before leaving. The episode ends.

 

Surviving Summer Review

The episode wasn’t going horribly wrong until they brought in all the diversity and racism. Molly claiming that she couldn’t find a foundation to match Bodhi’s skin when Poppy is nearly the same shade was overlookable, but Dice’s diversity comment was too much. I understand how it ties in and it did create the “frame-up” drama, but I can’t help but feel there was a better way. On the other hand, it is nice to at least see some other type of drama than Wren vs. Summer. The situation with Ari and Thommo offers a bit more depth. For that, I’d give the episode a 5 out of 10.

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