As the second episode of Ten Pound Poms begins, a man carries the hit-and-run victim. He cries and tries to get help for his boy. Robbie asks Kate Thorne (Michelle Keegan) what she is doing after catching her in the port office. Kate admits she set the whole thing up and stole his keys because she needed information. Robbie calls for assistance to deal with an intruder. Kate pleads with him to let her go because she could be deported if this escalates. Robbie (Nic English) warns her that she has about 90 seconds before the security guy arrives. Kate claims she was looking for information about a family member but didn’t find any.

Robbie doesn’t believe her so he yells for her to get the file. Kate shows him Michael’s file and reveals that it is her son. Robbie says she’ll never find him and he doesn’t like being used. He agrees to let her escape using the back exit. Robbie tells Jay it was a mistake. Once Kate gets back, she remembers the day Michael left. After the boy left, Kate was told that they take them to Australia. Terry Roberts (Warren Brown) can’t stop thinking about the boy who was hit. Annie (Faye Marsay) tells Terry that he was late when she wakes up in the morning. Terry tells her how he was trying to become one of the lads.

He tells her about Dean who is a bit of a nutcase. Although Terry tells her about driving through the outback, he doesn’t mention the boy Dean hit. Terry wants to make a success of their move. Terry catches up with JJ Walker (Stephen Curry) because he wants to ask him a favor. He wants to borrow JJ’s van. JJ offers to give him the keys if he tells him why he really needs the van. Terry tells him that he isn’t supposed to be drinking, but he got slaughtered last night. JJ agrees to give him the keys. Terry tries to find the location where they hit the boy the prior night. He goes to a nearby church. When people see him, they begin speaking in Wiradjuri. They begin throwing stuff at him and telling him to leave.

Maria complains to JJ about her hut having termites. She accuses him of giving the bad beds to Italians while the English get the best beds. JJ asks Bill Anderson (Leon Ford) if he is heading to work. Bill is sarcastic in his response before leaving. JJ visits Annie to say he had a phone call from a lady in town named Marlene. He wants Annie to meet her at the store at noon. Annie is also told to wear lipstick Bill deals with Trevor who says this is his first job. Trevor says the boss is a friend of his father and they think he has a head for numbers. Trevor is introduced to Remi Kline (Stephen Hunter) moments later. Bill tells Trevor that he has been in Australia for a year and a half although things weren’t crappy at home.

After Trevor says he doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, Bill says his children don’t either because he told them he wasn’t real at four. Bill didn’t like the fact that Santa Claus was getting the credit for his hard work. Bill shows Trevor what they do with the cash. At work, Terry says good morning to Ron Mahoney (Rob Collins). Later, Dean Spender (David Field) catches up with Terry to make sure he hasn’t said anything. Dean wants to make sure he pretended everything was normal this morning. Terry claims it was. Dean reminds him that nothing happened. Marlene Chase (Cheree Cassidy) tells Annie to go to clothing and try on any dress. When she is in the changing room, she should drop the dress to the ground and peer under the cubicle gap.

When she does it, she sees the other worker staring at her. He apologizes and quickly claims he just dropped something. Once she tells Marlene, Annie is told she is going to have to fire the assistant. The man, Colin (Richard Sydenham), is introduced to Annie who tries to fire him. Colin pleads with her to give him one more chance. Annie doesn’t say anything until they reveal that she passed the test. Later, Annie and Terry get something to eat and complain about it. Annie checks on him because he doesn’t seem like himself. Terry claims to be fine. They sit with Bill who tells them he is running a warehouse in Boondara. As for Sheila (Emma Hamilton), she says she did work. They begin talking about the school their kids attend.

Kate questions whether it is religious. Sheila mentions that there is a big Catholic school a few miles away in Drayden. Outside, Terry approaches Kate to ask her if the crash victim was okay. She says she’ll ask around. Kate travels to the Drayden Catholic School and remembers Henry giving her a ring. She told him that she had a child before she met him. A flashback shows her shooting medication into Henry. Later, she calls her mom only for Sandra to say she has been unwell. When the call ends, Kate’s mother tells Sandra that she’ll call back. Trevor asks Bill what England is like. They are grabbed and attacked by two men wearing masks. The money is stolen. Bill is treated at the hospital. Sheila and JJ check on him there a bit later.

When they’re alone, Bill thinks Sheila is going to use the attack as another excuse to return to England. He explains that JJ came to see him and he isn’t going to sign the paperwork yet. Sheila argues that she and the twins aren’t happy there, but Bill refuses to sign the paperwork. On the way back, JJ and Sheila stop the van and have sex. Dean invites Terry to come around tonight to meet his family. Arty Farthington (Berynn Schwerdt) says hello to Veronica Miller (Libby Fleming). Pattie Roberts (Hattie Hook) hangs out with other girls who are ready to drink and pierce their ears. Terry asks Kate if she knows anything about the boy. Kate says no one has been admitted with any serious injuries.

Then, she finds Robbie waiting for her outside her hut. He has come for the date she promised. Remi drops Billy off and tells him to take the day off tomorrow. Billy meets with one of the attackers in private and complains about being hit so hard. The man tells Billy what the cops will see before telling him to go be with his family. Before Dean opens the door, Terry warns Annie and Peter that he is larger than life. They go to the backyard where they meet Tina (Sophie Gregg) and the rest of the Spender family. Once Dean goes for beers, Terry tells Annie that he’ll just have one. In private, Terry tells Dean he thinks he is right about the kid not being hurt. Kate tells Robbie how she got pregnant.

People suggested she let the boy go somewhere while she sorted herself out. Kate argues that he should’ve never been taken away from her. Robbie knows how much a boy needs his mom since his mother died when he was only five years old. He says they go various places although it is kept pretty quiet. Kate admits she thought she might sense where he might be when she got there, but she believes she made a mistake. Ron Mahoney and his family talk about the crash and what they should do about it. Ron says he works with them, but they’re not his mates. Plus, they’re not complaining about the money he brings. Dean puts a record for his guests. Stevie finds Pattie and the other girls doing something. Pattie covers her ears while Stevie is told that it is a girls only event.

Once he leaves, Pattie asks how bad it is. Another girl tells her she definitely has holes in her ears. Annie tells the Spender family what she misses about home. They talk about Australians being welcoming. Annie mentions the incident in which an aboriginal woman was sent to the back of the queue at the store. Dean asks Kenny to tell Annie, Terry, and Peter about the abos. Kenny says they’re lower than rats. Dean says they’re dirty people and they’ll realize that once they’ve been there for a while. Annie argues that they’re just people and they’ve been there longer. Dean goes on about abos before hitting his dog. Ron’s aunt tells him that she didn’t mean to set him off earlier. She insists the mob here needs to know that he has their back.

Back at the compound, Annie tells Terry that she hasn’t felt so alive in years. She tells him about the job at the shop in town. Bill Anderson is questioned about the robbery. The police ask about Trevor and seem interested in him, but Remi claims it has nothing to do with him. Bill tries to put them on his trail without being obvious. Bill calls JJ claiming to be Danny Marquis looking for Ivan Carver. When JJ says he’ll look around, Bill says he’ll call back in five minutes. JJ finds Ivan and tells him about the caller. On the phone, Bill tells him about the cops before saying he has a plan. He just needs Ivan to trust him. Ivan takes him some stuff later and warns him that this is on him if it backfires.

JJ watches them from a distance. Billy asks Ron why he is late. He docks him a half-day for taking a two-hour lunch. Remi searches lockers at the warehouse and finds something in Trevor’s. They find the lockbox with some money inside. Trevor claims he didn’t put it in there, but Remi doesn’t believe him. Terry talks to Ron during a break. They briefly talk about the war before Ron takes a biscuit from him. Ron tells him about the hit-and-run involving a mate’s child. Ron reveals that the child passed away. Terry begins freaking out and says he hopes they catch the people involved. Robbie gives Kate information about her son and his orphanage. He may not still be there, but he thinks it is the best place to start.

Bill checks out a house that is for sale. JJ tells the hostel informer that Bill and Ivan are up to something so he wants him to find out what. While Annie works at the shop, Terry approaches the police station and begins walking inside. He goes inside and says he has come to report a crime. He thinks they might’ve killed someone.

 

Ten Pound Poms Review

Ten Pound Poms really had everything going for it, including a spectacular cast, beautiful scenery, and an interesting premise. Why did it all go so wrong? Unfortunately, the second episode was more frustrating than the first and it is hard not to feel like that downward trend is going to continue. The absurdity of the characters and stories has killed any realism that the series had.

In this episode, the characters made a lot of stupid jokes that really didn’t add anything to the story nor were they legitimately humorous. The series is all over the place with so many concurrent stories that make it difficult to keep up with everything or even care for that matter. The tropes were taken to a new level in this episode. At some point, writers are going to have to come up with original content instead of rehashing the same three or four topics or viewers are going to be retching from being repeatedly force-fed the same old slop.

Instead of doing something innovative, Ten Pound Poms just added animal abuse to the equation to try to stand apart. Despite having all the potential in the world, Ten Pound Poms brings nothing new to the table and regurgitates the same tired stories. The writers should’ve picked one central topic and stuck with it because the writing isn’t tight enough to effectively handle five or six big storylines.

Australians will surely not like the way this shows portrays them as evil cartoon villains who bash dogs and hate everyone else or the British characters who laugh about it later. The episode scores a 3.5 out of 10. Recaps of Ten Pound Poms are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here.