As the opening episode of The Gathering begins, a girl is drowned during a party. Police responded to the incident at a beach party on Hilbre Island in Dee estuary after a teenager was found unresponsive downriver from the Island. West Mersey Police have set up a crime scene in the area and are asking for people to come forward if they saw the girl at the illegal rave. One month earlier, Kelly yells for Tate (Max Johnson) to hurry up. Paul (Warren Brown) checks on his daughter and tells her that her club fees are up to date. He says they can’t have a world-class gymnast behind on her subs. Kelly (Eva Morgan) believes she would’ve heard by now if she had made the squad.

Paul thinks things will be different for Kelly this year. Tate (Max Johnson) leaves with Kelly and Paul moments later. At school, Kelly speaks to her teacher about the upcoming exams. Another teacher interrupts to say Kelly has a dental visit at two and her dad forgot to remind her. Once she makes it outside, she learns her friends helped her skip school. Jessica (Sadie Soverall) and Natalie (Vinette Robinson) walk together. They’re surprised to see Kelly hanging out nearby. Jessica speaks to her. Neither has heard anything from the club. Adam is introduced to Jess. Moments later, Jess has to leave because her mom calls for her. Paul goes to the school where he learns Tate is a genius in the IT class. He’s asked if Tate is going in for the 11 Plus.

Paul receives a brochure for Thornton Grange which is a posh school. He’s told to check it out because these schools off some fully-funded academic bursaries now. Bazi and the others watch as Adam gets ready for a dangerous jump. Bazi makes it, but Adam refuses to try. The kids are run off moments later. Kelly gets stuck and has to make the jump before fleeing with Bazi. Then, she rushes to make it to the gymnastic training. Debbie (Jodie McNee) oversees the training. Kelly does a double layout even though Debbie doesn’t think she’s ready for that. Natalie looks for men on a dating app until she notices Saul (Kevin Harvey). Debbie brings Kelly into her office so she can ask her how things are. She knows the last 18 months haven’t been easy. Debbie gives her a list of extra training dates and says her first pre-competition camp at Lilleshall is next week.

Kelly can’t believe she’s in. Debbie makes it clear that Kelly can’t be doing any of that free-running crap. When Kelly steps out, she doesn’t tell Jessica the truth about what happened. Outside, Jessica asks Kelly whether she and Adam are just mates. Kelly says Adam’s with someone and their relationship is pretty solid. Jessica reveals he has been messaging her all afternoon. She leaves with her mother moments later. Natalie tells Jess she hasn’t seen that girl’s father down there once. Jess tells her mom to give her a lift. Natalie speeds by and refuses because she won’t be a taxi service for parents who can’t get their crap together. Bazi messages Kelly about running together again. Kelly catches up with Paul who learns she got in. Later, Natalie tells Jessica that she’s going out.

She’s going to speak to the coach if they haven’t heard anything by tomorrow. Until then, she wants Jessica to continue with her audition pieces for RCM. Adam goes to a party where a woman asks if he wants to have sex. He asks for bud. Kelly stays at home. Paul asks if she knows Tate is a coding genius. They talk about sending Tate to the posh school. Paul worries that Tate won’t fit in at a place like that. Jessica looks at Adam’s social media pictures and leaves a comment. Adam calls her and asks if she wants to hook up. Saul and Natalie seem to be enjoying their date. Natalie tells him about her PR business and how it got started. Saul asks about Jessica’s father. Natalie doesn’t think they’re there yet. Saul tells her about his medical degree and other things. Natalie has to stop the conversation to take a message.

She tells Saul she has to go. Outside, Natalie tries to call Jessica who doesn’t answer. She ends up causing a delivery man to wreck his bike. She blames him only to find out she didn’t have her lights on. Adam and Jessica get naked on video chat. Natalie comes home but doesn’t catch her daughter doing anything. She breaks the news that Kelly made the team. Natalie complains that Kelly didn’t say anything to Jess about it. In the morning, Paul gets dressed to take Tate to the school. Jess tells her mom that she doesn’t feel well. Natalie reveals she booked her a trial at Manchester. She believes her daughter deserves better than Liverpool. Jess doesn’t want to go to Manchester, but Natalie isn’t going to listen to her. Kelly meets Bazi who jumps into the water. Kelly joins him moments later.

Before Jessica’s trial, Saul calls Natalie. She doesn’t answer it. Jessica is asked about her double layouts. She hasn’t done them in a while, but her mom convinces her to try one anyway. Jessica botches the move and tries again. She botches it again. Adam and the others catch up with Kelly and Bazi. Adam tells Kelly she’s a big girl and she can do what she wants. He claims they’re all bros in their world, but Bazi is not part of their world. Adam insists he’s just looking out for her. Paul takes Tate to the school. Jules (Richard Coyle) notices Paul and asks Ms. Jensen to call the police and get a list of everyone who is registered today. As Paul and Tate flee from the school, Tate recognizes Jules. At home, Tate tells his dad that Jules isn’t going to find them. Paul worries he’s blown it for Tate again.

Tate insists he didn’t want to go to that stupid school anyway. Paul doesn’t want to tell Kelly since she should have her moment. Meanwhile, Kelly hangs out with Bazi. Later, Bazi drops Kelly off at home. Paul says he’s been calling her. The girls congratulate Kelly when she arrives at practice. Debbie tells her to come to her office. She gives her 30 minutes of extra conditioning for being late. Then, she gets her uniform. When Jessica arrives, Kelly apologizes for not telling her. Jessica tells her well done before leaving. At the end of the session, Debbie tells Kelly she’s suspended. When asked why, Debbie shows Kelly the video of her doing free-running. Kelly wonders who sent it. Debbie tells her she can come and watch the training camp to see how real gymnasts conduct themselves. Kelly insists no one in the gym can execute at her level of difficulty.

Debbie tells her not to be so sure about that. DS Fuller visits Paul at home with a warrant to search the property. Paul isn’t happy when they search through the stuff belonging to Kelly and Tate’s mother. The police find a t-shirt and Paul is taken away in handcuffs. Tate blames Kelly. At the police station, Paul is questioned about attacking Jules Bullan. Paul is warned the t-shirt was sent to the lab for testing. He insists he wasn’t there. Jules tells his son, Charlie, that they arrested the girl’s dad. He thought he’d be pleased after what she did to him. One month later, someone appears to be drowning Kelly. People a news report about a teenager being found unresponsive. Natalie, Jessica, and others watch it as well. Paul calls the West Mersey Police to say his daughter, Kelly Deacon, didn’t come home last night and she was at the party.

 

The Gathering Review

The opening episode of The Gathering spent most of the time building the story and developing the characters. As a result, it’s hard to say too much about the quality of the series just based on the first episode. A lot can happen over the next five episodes so it may be worth watching a few more episodes.

However, the opening episode wasn’t extremely compelling for a number of reasons. For starters, it’s going to be difficult to find someone to care about considering everyone seems to be a bad person right now. The shaky camera and the music are pretty obnoxious. The story has many angles going simultaneously, such as Natalie being an overbearing mother and Paul possibly being the opposite.

None of these are unique, but they’ve been crammed together to try to create a sense of suspense as to who is attacking Kelly. The Parkour thing is neat, but it’s hard to say whether viewers will appreciate seeing teenagers having free reign over the city while their parents are oblivious. There’s plenty of time to improve, but the opening episode was just okay.

It scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Gathering can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss The Gathering and other shows at the Reel Mockery Forum.