As the episode begins, Emily (Sophie Rundle) drives down the road and speaks with her man Dan (Martin Compston) on her cellphone. A few seconds after the call ends, Emily notices someone behind her, gets distracted, and hits a pedestrian. When she gets out, she finds Kaya (Mirren Mack) arguing with James (James Harkness) with a broken bottle in her hand. Emily does her best to calm them down and she offers Kaya a ride. Kaya takes off her necklace and throws it to the ground before getting a ride with Emily. During the ride, Kaya takes Emily’s card and forces her to stop the car. She gets out and tries to leave before Emily gives her money for a taxi. She gives her more before leaving and we see Kaya flipping the card around in her hand.

Next, Kaya returns home and meets with James again. He returns the necklace and tells her that she needs to get the wound on her knee checked out. Kaya is told to check in with them once a week and that she knows how to get in touch. Then, Kaya is left alone and she goes to the rooftop to throw away the items James brought her. In the morning, Dan speaks to Emily about the minor car accident before heading to work. She feels bad about hitting Kaya but Dan says she shouldn’t have run out in front of her. Dan takes his sister’s kids to the campus. He introduces Gregor to Jack and Sammy. Souter (David Hayman) joins them seconds later. We’re given a drone view of Campus Eastside and learn that the facility will try to keep at-risk youth away from drugs and crime.

During this time, Emily practices at the school of music. When the music stops, she speaks with Zoe (Christine Bottomley) about Kaya and her injury. Zoe believes that Kaya is going to try to scam her out of money or something but Emily isn’t sure yet. She offers to take Kaya to the hospital but Kaya would rather talk about Emily’s boyfriend or the man she was fighting with. When the car begins moving, Kaya looks at Emily’s belongings in the back. Then, they arrive and Emily tells her that she cannot go in but she encourages her to look for her sister-in-law Hilary (Fiona Bell). Once Kaya makes it inside, her knee is checked by Hilary who says it is worse because she didn’t get it examined last night. Kaya looks down and notices blood dropping between Hilary’s legs.

After that, another doctor tells Kaya that she should get the person responsible to pay for her treatment. She is told to wait and she notices Dan entering with Emily. They find out that Hilary has lost the baby she has been carrying for them and Kaya overhears everything. Emily and Dan return home and try to come to terms with what has just happened to them. The following day, Hilary tells her kids about the loss. Emily tries to relieve her stress by going out for a swim. Then, Dan and Emily visit their fertility counselor to tell her that Hilary isn’t willing to try it again and that they have one frozen embryo left so they’re going to try going abroad. A call pulls Dan away before Emily tells the counselor that she believes Hilary was relieved to have lost the baby.

She also says it is an extraordinary thing to carry a baby for someone else. That night, Dan goes through profiles of women willing to carry his baby for him and Kaya fixes her broken necklace before putting it back on. She returns to the rooftop to think about things before her neighbor Doddy (Paul Brannigan) interrupts her. She tells him that she is going to be an entrepreneur and he explains he is into cooking. He has been training himself to be a chef. Doddy invites her over for dinner but she turns down his offer and says she is away. The following day, she stalks Emily before grabbing her purse from behind. She laughs and asks if Emily thought she was trying to rob her. Kaya confesses that she saw what happened at the hospital before offering to carry the baby for her. She believes she was meant to meet Emily and that is why she ran into her.

Emily says it has been a week so she doesn’t want her to come to the school again. Emily returns home and learns that one of the potential carriers is on her way back home. Emily rubs the dog while Dan suggests going away to Brazil or somewhere else far away. Throughout the night, Emily contemplates everything before meeting with Kaya the following day. They sit down together and begin chatting about Kaya and her goals. Emily informs her that you can’t pay for surrogacy in this country but can pay for expenses. Kaya says that she isn’t after money but wants someone to be grateful to her. Emily tries to pitch that idea to Dan later that night but he doesn’t like it much. He agrees to meet her but that doesn’t go well either.

Dan believes Kaya is only trying to get money from them. He goes on and on until she gets angry and runs off. That upsets Emily as well. He tells her that childhoods like Kaya had can mess a person up and that she might be damaged. That is the same reason Dan isn’t willing to adopt. Kaya runs into Doody on the way back home and he invites her over for diner once again. She accepts his offer this time. James is asked about Kaya but he doesn’t know anything since she didn’t show up and they’re worried that she might be trying to mess things up. Next, Dan kicks a soccer ball against a garage door until Hilary arrives and they begin chatting about Emily and other things. After that, Dan returns home and discovers that Emily has changed her fingernail polish to match Kaya’s.

Then, he finds out that she has been texting Kaya and that upsets him. Dan leaves and visits Kaya so he can give her money to stay away. She confronts him outside and throws his money on the ground. Doddy comes outside, asks for a job, and Dan gets angry with him. Dan goes inside with Kaya and they begin talking about things. She tells him that she wants folks to care about her and she isn’t interested in going to college. She admits that she drinks sometimes but she doesn’t smoke. She says her mother couldn’t look after her because she suffered a violent death when she was 11 and she doesn’t have a criminal record. She wants 50,000 pounds.

When Dan leaves, Doddy takes a video of him and says he has seen him on TV and he seems like a stand-up guy. He encourages Dan to be more humble because he never knows when it is going to be of use. Dan returns home to Emily and tries to get her to see where he is coming from. He says it is weird that Emily trusted Kaya so quickly after she ran out in front of her car. Emily says that she wants a family and doesn’t want to live for something else. She wants to give it a try since they have one last embryo. She is convinced that Kaya can change their lives and they can change hers. Dan contemplates his future all night before hitting the gym in the morning. Then, he goes to Souter and tells him about Kaya.

Meanwhile, Kaya gets an exam to make sure she is able to have a baby. Souter tells Dan that he should stay away from this because they don’t need it. Emily takes Kaya to her home and she pats the dog before looking around. She speaks with Dan and Emily about their arrangement before Emily offers to let her stay with them for the night. Kaya promises that she won’t change her mind and try to keep the baby before agreeing to stay the night. Later that night, Kaya tells Emily that she is going to try to make something out of nothing and Emily doesn’t doubt it. Emily tells her that she can stay with them but Kaya isn’t sure about that. Emily gives her money since she has been going to so many appointments and a box full of pregnancy tests.

Doddy watches their house from outside. In the morning, they meet with a counselor and discuss the arrangement. She speaks with each one of them individually before they leave. The counselor speaks to others about the phrases they were using while Emily takes Kaya shopping. Doddy asks Kaya about the arrangement when she returns to her apartment. Doddy says that he could phone the papers on Dan any day and she laughs about it. Next, Dan hangs out at a soccer game and speaks with Hilary who says Emily is like a different person. Dan claims that the teenager problem went away by itself and Hilary says it was likely surrogacy fraud since a lot of women promise to get pregnant, take everything they can, and lose the baby midway through.

Dan becomes concerned and contacts Souter about it. Meanwhile, James tries to get in touch with Kaya but she doesn’t answer her door. When he leaves, Souter confronts him and asks if he knows Kaya McDermott. Then, John introduces himself to James. Emily cleans up at home before Kaya returns home and finds James outside. She tells James that she got a new number and he tells her about the guy who came asking about her. She says she got a job but doesn’t know anything about the other guy. We see that Kaya’s apartment is filled with pregnancy tests. Souter tells Dan that there is nothing on social media about Kaya before Dan gets a strange message on his phone. He returns home to Emily and finds out that they said no.

The clinic has refused to let Kaya be the surrogate unless she is willing to wait a year. Dan calls Souter and tells him that they don’t have to worry about it anymore. Dan returns home with flowers. He finds out that Emily isn’t willing to abandon Kaya. She says that he is finished but Emily wants to continue trying to have a baby and she will do it with or without him. James visits Kaya’s house the following day but she isn’t there. Doddy is and he tells James that Kaya only returned to put on a show for him. He shows James a picture of the place where Kaya has been staying but James doesn’t believe it. James is told about Dan and that he is up to no good so he visits their place. He finds the kids and Hilary inside before learning that Dan has gone to Brazil. He asks them about Kaya.

He wants to know why Dan has been giving her money. On his way out, he notices Emily’s back vehicle and recalls it from the night of the accident. Hilary calls Dan and tells him about the visit. She tells him that what he is doing is dangerous and immoral before her son interrupts the call. We see that they’re in a hospital in another country before Souter calls and says that Kaya’s story doesn’t add up. They’ve decided to go through with the surrogacy in another country and the embryo is implanted in Kaya at the end of the episode. Doddy is shown floating in water and the episode ends.

 

The Nest Review

It is a bit too early for me to judge the entire show but the opening episode of The Nest wasn’t anything spectacular. At times, I felt like it could be turning a corner and it just might get very interesting but it never did. I am not sure it is going to hold the viewer’s attention for a full 53 minutes. If I hadn’t been writing about it, I would’ve likely drifted off at points. It would’ve been better at 45 minutes an episode or so. Secondly, the casting selection was odd to say the least. I found it weird that Hilary was supposed to be Dan’s sister but Fiona Bell appeared much older than Sophie Rundle and Martin Compston.

It just didn’t mesh well with the story. The show didn’t do a good job of explaining the characters either. I am still not 100% sure who many of the characters are or what their respective roles are. It jumped right into it and didn’t give us time to develop a rapport with any of the characters. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I wish it was shorter since that would make experimenting with the show less painful if you’re not satisfied after 5 episodes.

The opener scores a 6.5 out of 10.