As the first episode of The Holiday begins, we see Kate (Jill Halfpenny) and others move around in a smoky fire. They’re screaming and trying to find their way through the smoke. Kate gets up and starts running before the intro begins. Then, we join Kate and her family as they drive toward their destination. Lucy (Lara McDonnell) argues with her brother in the backseat until Kate and Sean (Owen McDonnell) make them calm down. Sean can’t believe his wife got this car, but she reminds him he told her to be more spontaneous. The family discusses who is going to be there before they learn they’ll arrive in 20 some minutes. While her daughter complains, Kate turns on the radio and declares that the holiday has officially started. Once they arrive, Kate mentions something about Rowan (Siobhan Hewlett) sending an email about where to park. She tries to use Sean’s phone to check, but he says it is dead and won’t let her have it.

Kate insists he was just looking at it though. The kids learn that the place belongs to one of Kate’s clients. Russ (Andrew Macklin) walks outside on his phone and waves at them. As the kids begin getting out of the car, Kate checks on Sean to make sure he is okay. He says he is just tired. They get out before they’re greeted by Rowan who says Jenny has gone shopping. Russ refuses to help with their luggage because he is on the phone. As they go inside, Rowan shows Lucy to her room and they leave her there. Once they go to Kate’s room, Kate claims Sean has been different the last couple of days. Since he comes inside, they stop talking about him. Rowan leaves. Sean says he’d like to have a place like this although Kate isn’t sure about that. When they hear his phone’s chime, Kate questions him about it being dead.

Sean says he wishes it was before walking off to see what it is about. Lucy enters and walks out on the balcony. Daniel (Aidan McCann) yells at her to watch him as he jumps into the swimming pool below her. She notices Jake (Shaun O’Callaghan Wade) sitting nearby. Kate pops champagne with Jenny (Liv Mjones) and Rowan. They discuss Izzy (Cat Simmons) who will be coming to join them early tomorrow. Kate asks how much they own them, but they insist they’ll sort it all out after the holidays. Sean comes in and gets a hug from Jenny as Kate reveals he is training for the Bristol half marathon. They’ve brought their running gear so you never know. Jenny asks whose idea it was to bring the kids. Rowan reveals they have an Xbox, but Jenny wants Jake to stay away from it to keep the noise down. Alistair (Aidan McCardle) enters with two bags and welcomes everyone to paradise. They begin discussing whether they should cook tonight or go out.

Later, Lucy approaches her mother to find out what the Wi-Fi code is, but Kate doesn’t know and recommends asking Rowan. Kate knows her daughter is stressed out with exams and everything. She wants her to forget all that and have fun during their holiday. Once Lucy says she is going to get the Wi-Fi code and leaves, Kate looks outside and sees Sean with Rowan. Moments later as Kate showers, she asks him what Rowan was showing him on her phone. He claims it was a house she was thinking about buying and insists he told Kate about it a while back. She has asked Sean to do the landscaping. When Kate turns around, she is surprised to see Sean naked and eager to take shower with her. They make out until Daniel yells for his mother. They try to get covered up before he bursts in to ask about the iPad. Once he is gone, Sean apologizes for the last few days and his behavior.

Kate questions whether they can afford to go out tonight. Sean says no, but they joke about putting it on the card. Kate gets out of the shower before looking outside where everyone is hanging around the pool. She hears a message on her husband’s phone and finds out it is from someone called “coral girl” telling him to delete all the messages. She looks at the messages between the two with Sean telling coral girl he can’t stop thinking about her. He admits he hasn’t told Kate yet, but coral girl says they can sort it out on holiday. As she looks outside again, she sees Sean hanging out with Jenny and Rowan. Next, we hear a scream.

Kate rushes outside where she finds Sean trying to take care of Daniel. He insists they were just messing about. An angry Kate tells Sean to just leave him before pulling her son inside. As she cleans the blood from his face, she tries to figure out whether Jake did it. Daniel isn’t sure why she is so angry. She apologizes while insisting she is just worried. Jake comes inside to check on him and see if he wants to play around with his new phone. Kate reminds them they said no phones, but Jenny thinks it’ll be okay. Once they’re alone, Jenny asks Kate whether she has been crying. Kate says no while blaming it on a sudden panic. Jenny gets them too and has ever since Jake was born. She offers Kate a drink to help calm her. Kate describes it as being back in Jenny’s room at university. Jenny would give anything to be back there and be 20 again. She claims she would’ve had so much more fun, but Kate thinks they did have fun back then.

Once again, Kate looks out the window and sees her husband talking to Rowan. She continues watching as Rowan reaches over to touch Sean on the shoulder. Later, Sean walks in while Kate is applying makeup to apologize about Daniel. He gets a message on his phone prompting Kate to ask who is texting him. He claims it has something to do with football. Odette (Molly McCann) interrupts to say they’ll lose the table if they don’t come down now. As they walk toward the restaurant, Kate can’t stop thinking about Sean having an affair with Rowan. Once they reach the table, Sean sits next to Rowan and tries to motion for Kate to sit next to him, but she sits across from him instead. They argue whether Daniel should be allowed to have a fizzy drink. Rowan is asked whether she sees Michael anymore these days, but she doesn’t since the divorce. When questioned why he brought that up, Alistair says they haven’t been together in ages and it reminded him of them.

Rowan tells him to keep up since Michael hasn’t been around since Daniel’s Christening. Sean asks Alistair about his best-seller which has been 10 years in the making. Daniel asks who Michael is so Lucy explains he was Rowan’s first husband. Alistair reveals Kate thought he was having an affair and that led to them splitting up. Jenny thanks Rowan for organizing all this although Rowan insists it was Kate’s idea. Odette spins around causing a waiter to drop the plate. Russ gets upset and quickly grabs Odette before putting her back into her seat. Jake finds Lucy alone so he walks over and complains about hearing so many stories about university. He offers her some weed. He asks her what she is going to do. When the food arrives, Jenny calls for Jake to come back and ends their conversation. While they eat, a cat walks under the table and begins eating the scraps they drop.

Kate pays close attention to her husband and Rowan as they laugh and touch each other. Alistair and Jenny talk about Mr. Jefferson who avoided trouble because she blamed her husband for her speeding. Rowan is asked whether she’d lie for Russ who believes she’d hang him out to dry. Jenny says she’d do it. As for Kate, they all say she’d tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Kate suggests she’d tell on Sean if he was stupid enough to lie to her and get caught. Then, she jokes that their vehicle barely does 50 so she is sure Sean will be safe. That night, Sean asks if they should pick up where they left off when Daniel interrupted. He falls asleep soon. As Kate returns to the room, she sees his phone hanging out of his pocket and beeping. Kate checks on Lucy who is busy texting someone asking if they heard anything.

Kate sits on the bed and tells her daughter she missed her. Lucy checks on her mother while saying dad has been grumpy and she has been weird at dinner. Kate insists everything is okay and they’re fine. Lucy grabs her phone and tells her mother where Izzy is at right now by using her Instagram account to find out. Lucy admits she is cool for a woman the age of her mother. Kate goes outside where Russ tells her he likes her and he does something important because she is a cop. Russ complains that they keep telling him to be more like Sean. He isn’t sure what Rowan means, but he is not like Sean. He asks whether Rowan told her he got the same. Kate didn’t know. Russ says he never thanked her for Rowan getting divorced. He goes on to say how difficult suspicion can be. Russ doesn’t have any proof, but he just knows and suspects Rowan has told Kate.

Kate asks what she would’ve told her. Russ reveals Rowan is having an affair. Kate looks surprised to hear that. In the morning, she goes for a run by herself. Once she gets back, she learns that Sean went to pick up Izzy. Rowan asks her about hanging out with Russ last night. Kate admits they were together and Russ told her that he was laid off. Rowan finds that odd since he made her swear that she wouldn’t tell anyone. She finds it funny that Russ complained she regularly compares him to Sean. Kate asks whether Rowan still blames her for her split with Michael. Rowan insists that isn’t the reason they split up and she doesn’t blame her. She complains that Alistair threw a grenade and sat back which is what he always does. Jake joins Lucy outside as she plays on her phone. She doesn’t seem interested in talking to him so he gets up and leaves. Odette watches Izzy and Sean hug once their vehicle pulls up outside.

She goes inside and catches up with Kate and the others. They learn that Izzy is thinking about settling down at home since she might’ve met someone. She admits it is complicated. They all have a group hug before Odette reveals she is going to the beach. While everyone relaxes at the beach, Kate talks to the others about having more kids. Jenny can’t imagine having another kid. Kate says they thought about it or at least Sean did. The police offered her the fast-track program so they didn’t. Jenny suggests Kate did what she thought was right. At uni, Rowan was determined to have at least five, but some things aren’t meant to be. They start getting worried when they realize that Odette is nowhere to be found. When they finally find her, she says Jake told her to hide because they were going to play hide and seek. Jenny isn’t sure why he’d say that, but Rowan doesn’t think her daughter is a liar.

Sean comforts Rowan while Izzy and Kate walk away with Jenny. Kate begins freaking out and cuts her finger when she digs through her bag. Lucy chases down Jake who thought she wanted to be alone. When she says his mom is like a hawk, Jake jokes that nobody is good enough for her little boy. They hang out with alcohol and weed. Kate goes back inside before opening the door to Rowan’s room and seeing her laying on the bed. Rowan calls for Russ believing it was him. Back outside, Russ tells Kate that she was telling the truth about Jake. Alistair shows Kate pictures from university that they found while Jenny asks whether they saw where Jake went. Kate and Jenny agree to go look for him since they believe he is with Lucy. They check the spot where they were earlier, but they’re not there now. Jenny stops to say there is something she has been meaning to tell her for ages.

Jenny reveals she slept with Sean. She is telling her now because Alistair read about it in an old diary and he will likely blurt it out at some point. It happened at uni before they got together. Once Kate asks why she didn’t tell her, Jenny suggests it would’ve been pointless to do so. Jake tries to dance with Lucy, but she ignores his advances. He walks over to the cliff’s edge as she tries to convince him everything will be okay. Kate and Jenny arrive in time for Jake to turn backward and lean over the edge. He asks Kate what is going to do and whether she’ll arrest him before walking past everyone. Jenny slaps him in the face. Kate tells her daughter to stay away from him especially when he is like that.

Later, Sean barges in to ask whether Lucy told Kate what was going on down there. Kate says yes, but they’ve already talked it through and everything is fine. She asks Sean whether he loves her. He says yes. She begins telling Sean what Jenny told her about them having sex. Although that was 20 years ago, Jenny really liked him and Kate thinks she wanted it to go further. He apologizes, admits he should’ve told her at some point, and tells her he loves her. Kate goes downstairs where she finds Alistair taking pictures of the other women. Sean texts Coral Girl that he can’t do this anymore. He goes back to the room and sends a message. Outside, Kate watches as Jenny’s phone pings. Then, we see everyone trapped in a fire. Kate runs over to the edge of the cliffs and looks over before seeing someone laying down there.

 

The Holiday Review

Since the first episode of Channel 5’s The Holiday was released, it has been panned by viewers. Although it is still early days, its score on IMDB is less than 5 out of 10. Most complaints primarily focus on the show’s grueling slow pace. It should also be noted that the series is based on T.M. Logan’s book of the same name. At the very least, the story should be interesting if it manages to unfold quickly enough to avoid losing the viewer’s interest.

The scenery is beautiful and the series is well acted so far. Since I’ve never touched the book, I can’t say whether the series is faithful. I’ll agree that the first episode was a bit slow although it had a few intense and suspenseful moments. Still, I’d hate to just give up the show after the first episode since it has plenty of time to transform into a worthwhile drama.

It might have a few slow, boring episodes, but it could be worthwhile as a whole. A good way to describe the first episode is mediocre in pretty much every way. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Holiday will be available on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.