As the second episode of The Holiday begins, Kate (Jill Halfpenny) walks with her friends as Jenny (Liv Mjones) receives a message on her phone. Jenny knew the men would be okay without them. She shows them a picture of the guys jumping into the pool to prove she was right. When Sean (Owen McDonnell) tries to get out, Russ (Andrew Macklin) pulls him back in and briefly holds him underwater. Sean isn’t happy about it. Rowan (Siobhan Hewlett) and the others grab drinks while Izzy (Cat Simmons) tells Kate it is good to see her. Moments later, Rowan brings them the drinks outside while Jenny shows them old pictures on her phone.

Kate changes the subject by asking Izzy and Rowan whether they knew Jenny and Sean slept together while they were going to the university. Izzy did, but she thought Kate knew and didn’t want to spoil her relationship with Sean. Although Rowan says it was just a one-time thing, Kate believes Jenny wanted it to be more. Rowan reminds Kate that everything turned out okay in the end before they try to toast. Back at the house, Daniel (Aidan McCann) and Odette (Molly McCann) play in the pool while Alistair hands Jake a beer. Russ can’t believe he is letting him drink again, but Alistair (Aidan McArdle) argues that teenage boys are different than 6-year-old girls. Sean apologizes to Russ for the pool incident before he admits the vacation is more stressful than he initially expected.

Russ offers to help as they begin talking about him getting laid off. He thought Rowan would tell Sean since they’ve been together a lot, but Sean claims he didn’t know. Sean suspects a man of his ability will be fine. Russ thinks Sean has it all and he isn’t talking about his bank balance. Meanwhile, Jenny tells her girlfriends that she feels like she has forgotten who she is. The others are different because they have an outside job while she has committed everything to Jake (Shaun O’Callaghan Wade). She admits she hooked up with Alistair at university because she didn’t want to go back to Sweden. He offered her a life so she grabbed onto it. Jenny would’ve let him years ago, but Jake came along. She hits her head on the table and complains that she spoiled this since they’re meant to be having fun.

They dance and spill their drinks. Alistair walks over to Sean to say the kids go up so quickly. Jake sits with Lucy (Lara McDonnell) and insists he was telling the truth about his mom being mad. Lucy tells him about her mom saying she should avoid him, but he claims it is a bit late for that. Sean joins them and says hello. Jake decides to leave although Sean says he doesn’t have to go because of him. Sean sits down with his daughter who says it has been great to see Izzy. Kate tries to figure out what is going on with Jenny, but she says she can’t tell her. Although she wants to, she can’t. When Izzy and Rowan join them, Izzy reveals she stole a bottle of champagne and Jenny told a bucket of ice. As they try to make it back, Jenny crashes to the ground although she insists that she is fine.

They manage to get Jenny in bed. Once Kate is alone with Jenny, she asks what she wanted to tell her. Jenny says she would never do anything to hurt her. Kate questions how she is going to hurt her, but Jenny is already asleep. Next, Kate goes outside where she tells Izzy her suspicion that Sean and Jenny are together. Izzy can’t believe that. Kate admits she saw the messages between them. She initially thought it was Rowan although she is sure Jenny was going to tell her the truth tonight. Kate goes on to say Alistair read Jenny’s diary and found out that she was totally in love with Sean. Izzy can’t believe she thinks this though. Kate gets up and says she is going to make Sean tell her the truth by saying she knows he is having an affair.

Izzy reminds her that she has been wrong before even though she was certain that Michael was screwing around on Rowan. Kate goes to her room and grabs Sean’s cellphone only to find that all the messages to and from Coral Girl have been deleted. Sean rolls over and says he loves her. Kate kisses him. In the middle of the night, Kate dreams about Jenny and Sean kissing. Alistair goes to Jenny in the morning to ask if there is something she needs to tell him. She reminds him that she has to put up with his students and late-night meetings. Alistair insists he wants this to work and has been doing his best with Jake.

Alistair gets upset and storms out before Jenny checks her phone. Kate calls Sean and hears his voicemail message as she steps out onto the balcony and sees Russ with Odette. She asks whether Sean is down there, but Odette only says they’re looking for mommy. Russ and Odette sneak up behind Rowan as she talks on the phone. She says everything is about to be thrown in the air, but he’ll be fine. Odette surprises her so the call ends abruptly. When Russ asks whether he’ll be fine, Rowan ignores him and doesn’t respond. They run back to the pull while Russ counts. Lucy lounges around listening to music while thinking about a boy. When she gets up, she seems distraught. Alistair looks through the pictures on his camera. Lucy begins wondering whether Alistair is taking pictures of her in the pool so she asks Izzy for her towel.

She gets out and rushes inside. As Lizzy sits back down, she looks over at Alistair who is still messing with his camera. While Jenny plays with Jake in the pool, Sean uses a rowing machine and ignores a call from Kate. Kate watches as Jenny climbs out of the pool to retrieve the ball before Izzy tells her about Alistair. Izzy says she didn’t want Sean to know. Kate approaches Alistair and catches him looking at pictures of a girl on his phone but claims they’re not Lucy. He shows her while saying he created a profile like that so Jake would follow him. It allows him to see what Jake is doing. Kate says she doesn’t do that to Lucy because they talk. She asks him not to take photos of Lucy, but he says he hasn’t taken secret photos of her. She insists it was a misunderstanding. She asks about Sean before Alistair says he is doing some type of workout.

She finds him working out and asks why he isn’t wearing his ring. Sean explains it was hurting when he was rowing so he removed it. She questions who he is doing all this for. He says he is just tired while trying to find his ring. She screams that she doesn’t give a crap about the ring before they hear someone yelling nearby. They go outside where they find Jenny holding her face because Jake hit her with the ball. Alistair tells Jake they should go inside and cool off before they start accusing people of things they haven’t done. Once Jenny heads inside, Sean tells Kate she got hit and it was an accident. She grabs his arm and asks where he is going. He says to get a shower if that is okay. Kate goes ballistic in her car. Odette finds her so she drives away. Daniel finds Jake throwing a knife at a tree. He offers him a turn, but Daniel doesn’t want to do it.

Daniel takes it and follows him. Seconds later, Jake flings the knife at Daniel’s foot and barely misses. They keep walking until they reach the cliff’s edge that Jake threatened to jump from before. He pretends he is going to throw Daniel off. Then, he lights a cigarette. Daniel tells him they were told no smoking so Daniel throws it to the ground and Daniel begins stepping on it to put it out. He begins looking around and calling Jake’s name, but he is nowhere to be found. He begins running back and freaking out. Meanwhile, Izzy and Kate prepare food while Kate admits she got it wrong about Rowan and Michael. As a result, she wants to find proof before she confronts Sean in front of everyone because she doesn’t like the alternative of pretending it isn’t happening.

When Daniel gets back, he throws his shirt in the bin and looks at the cuts on his hands and arms. Jenny joins the others outside where she tells Kate that Jake is so competitive. Daniel walks out behind her. Once Kate sees the cuts, Daniel says he went into the woods and fell. Sean says he was here when Daniel got hurt. Jenny asks Daniel whether Jake gave him the present. He says yes as he flips the knife open. Daniel gets upset when Kate takes it away from him even though Sean thinks he should be allowed to keep it. Kate thanks Sean for the backup, but he suggests she was wrong.

Kate goes inside to collect herself. Jenny follows her to explain about the knife and apologize. She says this is what she was going to tell her last night before revealing the last few months have been dreadful. Jake threatened one of his teachers at school and they wanted to go to the police. They went to the doctor and got some medication for him. Kate insists she should’ve talked to her. While Kate comforts her, Daniel sits around and plays with a lighter outside. Sean takes food to Daniel who complains that the knife was his. Once Sean asks about the wounds on his hands, Daniel claims he just fell over. Sean gives him the food and leaves. He returns to the others as Alistair says just be happy it is Jake shouting and not him. Russ doesn’t think Jenny would let him shout at anyone though.

Rowan says they’re just trying to do what they think is right in the best interest of the child. Russ asks them to define best interests so Lucy says unconditional love. Lucy finds something on the tablet that upsets her as she begins yelling at Daniel. She confronts him and learns it is part of Daniel’s school project. Kate catches up with them as Daniel calls his sister a bad word. Kate splits them up and takes the tablet. She sits next to Lucy and watches the video. As the video continues, it shows Lucy crying alone in one of the rooms. Kate knows she has been busy at work for the last few months, but she wants her daughter to know she can tell her anything. While hugging, Kate hears Daniel talking about his father on the video. They agree to talk about it later. Once Lucy leaves, Kate returns to the video and sees Sean and Jenny holding hands.

Later, Kate goes for a run while her daughter plays the piano. Izzy comes down and sits down next to her so they can play together. Lucy asks Izzy why she is coming back and whether she has fallen in love. Izzy believes Jake is smitten and recommends being careful with that one. Izzy seems worried by Lucy’s reaction to that. Daniel interrupts to tell his sister that he deleted the video from the iPad. When he tells Izzy that his dad said she was a brilliant swimmer, she takes him outside to teach him how to swim. Kate approaches Sean to ask where he was earlier with Jenny. She says he is being all secretive and not telling her the truth so Sean grabs her hand and says he’ll show her the truth. He takes her inside to the refrigerator and shows her the cake inside while explaining they went to pick it up for her birthday.

He hopes she is happy. Meanwhile, Rowan tells Russ that they need to talk while discussing going to the beach. She doesn’t tell him what it is about. Outside, Lucy stares at Jack until he looks back at her and she heads inside. He follows her. Once they go inside, Jake begins freaking out while insisting he is never going home. Kate steps outside where Daniel is swimming like Izzy taught him to. She sees Sean’s phone sitting on the ground as he sleeps nearby. Kate manages to grab his phone and check the messages from Coral Girl, but there aren’t any new ones. She sends a message asking Coral Girl to meet her at Hunter’s hideout in 15 minutes. Daniel comes over to get his goggles. Kate suggests they’re upstairs and says she’ll go get them.

When she gets the goggles, she also finds a condom. Then, she rushes to the meeting spot to wait on Coral Girl. She is surprised when Izzy walks by as she hides nearby. She pulls out Daniel’s knife as the episode ends.

 

The Holiday Review

Although The Holiday is nowhere near perfect, I am a bit surprised the series has such low reviews. A 4.5 out of 10 is pretty low considering Mood, From, Suspicion, and several other equally weak shows have much higher scores. While the series is a bit slow and boring without much action, I’ve still found it to be mostly watchable.

The acting is decent from the main characters while the scenery is gorgeous. Even the kids do okay in their respective roles, but it is hard to sympathize with many of the characters. On one hand, this isn’t my favorite show. On the other, I really don’t despise The Holiday like I’ve hated a lot of other recent television shows.

My opinion may change when I finally finish the series so that is something to look forward to. Regardless, I am not sure The Holiday is as awful as the reviews make it sound. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Holiday can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.