As the fifth episode of Ten Pound Poms begins, Kate Thorne (Michelle Keegan) tells Henry Broad (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) there is something she needs to tell him if they’re going to get married. She reveals that she had a child before she met him. One day soon, she thinks she’ll get him back. In the present, Kate works at the hospital and pages Sister Mulligan. Moments later, Ward Sister Mulligan (Tara Morice) catches Kate looking through files in her office. Mulligan tells Bob Travers (Johnny Nasser) to call the wards man while Kate pleads with them not to do that. There is a brief scuffle because Kate doesn’t want to let go of the address before they’re separated.

Bob sees the address on the ground. He takes Kate her belongings and also gives her the address. Annie Roberts (Faye Marsay) goes to the doctor with her daughter Pattie (Hattie Hook) for a pregnancy checkup. Once he finishes, the doctor says he doesn’t see any symptoms of venereal disease. The doctor (Chris Orchard) says Pattie is in her third trimester. He thinks they should prepare for what happens after the birth. It can be taken away the day it is born so no one will know she had it. Terry Roberts (Warren Brown) works near Ron Mahoney (Rob Collins although they don’t speak to one another. Kylie (Rose Chachko) helps serve food at the hostel. During dinner, Terry speaks to his family about Pattie’s checkup.

Kylie begins screaming when she sees cockroaches. Sheila Anderson (Emma Hamilton) and JJ Walker (Stephen Curry) make out in private. Bill Anderson (Leon Ford) comes home early and catches them. Once JJ leaves, Bill begins assaulting his wife. Then, he goes outside to confront JJ. Maria approaches JJ to complain about the bugs. All the women surround JJ and demand he do something about the bugs. Annie gets mad at Terry for not backing her up again. Kate approaches Annie to ask if she has done something to upset her. Annie yells that she is her mom. Kate explains that she told Pattie to tell her friend to tell her mother. She thinks it is sometimes hard to tell the people you love the truth.

Bill tells Sheila that he has decided to give her permission. She can leave if she wants. Bill thinks she failed him too because she knew what she was marrying. At least, he’ll know that she is leaving him too and he did not win. Annie tells Terry she doesn’t know why he even bothered getting on the boat with them. Stevie (Declan Coyle) visits to see if Pattie is home. Annie says she is in and she is staying in. At work, Annie tells Marlene (Cheree Cassidy) that she and Terry aren’t speaking. Annie claims she is fine, but Marlene says that is the mantra for sad housewives everywhere. Anne gets upset and says some of them just have to be fine and that’s the way it is. Kate goes to the address to look for her son.

At work, Terry digs and can’t stop thinking about the war. Billy comes over and says he is going to dock Terry and Ron’s pay. After work, Arty Farthington (Berynn Schwerdt) tells Terry he has something to show him. As they leave, they talk about women including Veronica. Arty reveals he has been winking at her. He says he has finally put his money where his mouth is. Arty takes him to a piece of property with a rundown building on it. Terry says it is a boat shed that is in very bad shape. Arty calls it an opportunity and he wants Terry to help him spruce it up. Terry says he’d need a helping hand. Annie apologizes to Marlene and blames it on having a rough couple of days. They talk about the difficulty of living in one of those huts.

At work, she gets to be Annie Roberts instead of their mom and Terry’s wife. Kate goes into the home. No one responds to her calls so she begins looking around. She enters the boy’s bedroom and sits on his bed. Stevie comes over and takes Pattie outside to hang out. Terry approaches Ron to offer him a job although he knows that won’t change anything. Ron says it doesn’t make them friends even if he says yes. Once they meet Arty at the boat shed, he says he’ll pay them a pound a day. Arty reveals that fish and chips is the front of his backroom contraband. Ron says he’ll want to walk through the door to drink too and he doesn’t want to be at the back of the line. Arty seems fine with that. As the work begins, Terry starts thinking about the past.

He steps outside to get some air and remembers shooting a young soldier. Arty comes outside to check on him before Ron joins them. Arty asks if it is what he saw or what he did. Terry says it is what he did. Kate wakes up on the boy’s bed when the family returns home. As she tries to flee the house, she sees a picture of the family. JJ tells Sheila that he’ll kill him. Sheila believes he would’ve done the same if he saw what Bill saw. She says it doesn’t matter because Bill said she could leave. JJ doesn’t want her to leave without him though. When Mrs. Walker (Tina Bursill) enters, Sheila leaves. Nick (Alex Andreas) goes to the store to speak to Annie. He offers to buy her a drink. Peter Roberts hangs out with Willie and tries to find cane toads.

As they look around, an old man begins shooting at them. JJ speaks to Mrs. Walker about the infestation, but she reminds him that the budget was raised last month. Mrs. Walker thinks he is a pushover and that he could be soft on the woman who was just in there. She always hopes she’ll come down there and find the man she hoped he’d be. She never does. Sheila tells Bill that they’re going back to England. Bill warns her that the girls are going to stay with him. Peter walks through the weeds while calling for Willie. Later, Annie meets Nick. After getting a drink, they begin making out in the stairway. They go to a private room for sex. Annie was just fantasizing as Nick waits for her. She leaves.

Stevie and Pattie talk sports before the conversation changes to what she fancies. Annie interrupts them to ask Pattie what she is doing. She forces her daughter to go inside before questioning where Peter is. When Terry arrives, he learns that they haven’t been able to find Peter. They search through the night for him. After Annie blames herself, Terry asks where she was. She says she was still in town. Terry tells her that he was with Arty. They get into an argument about whether he was drinking. Terry says it doesn’t matter since finding Peter is the only thing that matters. He worries that they’ve brought their problems with them. Then, he blames himself for bringing his problems with him. Sheila tells Bill that the kids don’t need her like they used to.

When Bill says she is their mother, Sheila admits she doesn’t feel like it because she doesn’t feel anything anymore. The search for Peter continues. Terry and Annie eventually find him and he seems okay. Robbie Carter (Nic English) visits Kate who tells him how she felt her son needed to be saved. She doesn’t feel like that after seeing the house. She doesn’t know who she is if she isn’t his mother. Stevie stops Pattie and begins kissing her. Bill and the girls tell Sheila they have something to show her. Bill takes Sheila to their new house so she wonders what this is all about. He tells the kids how Sheila wants to go to England and leave them there. Bill thinks it is best for Sheila to give her no choices at all.

He burns the passports. Henry Broad gets off the boat in Australia.

 

Ten Pound Poms Review

The fifth episode of Ten Pound Poms was another so-so episode with a lot of predictable story twists. Some episodes are tolerable and even watchable, but the stories haven’t been able to form a real emotional connection with the viewer. As a whole, the series is too farfetched with so many outlandish things happening in such a short span of time. With some stories hanging in the balance and unlikely to be resolved in the finale, Ten Pound Poms may have been written for multiple seasons.

If there is a renewal, it won’t be because the quality of the show was leagues above everything else. With such an interesting premise, it is a shame that the writers went with tired old storylines instead of focusing on the struggles of the migrants. Instead, the series has covered things that have been done countless times in other series.

In the latter half of the series, it is getting increasingly difficult to genuinely care because no emotional connection was established in the first few episodes. In fact, the first two episodes were very difficult to get through so viewers may give up before they make it this far. The finale may surprise me and make the season worthwhile though. The episode scores a 5 out of 10.

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