Episode 3 begins with focusing on Stan Oxley’s (Callum Jess) and Matt Spencer’s (Forrest Bothwell) grief over current events. Although both are clearly having a hard time, they are processing it much differently. It’s also clear that Dani Oxley (Kara Tointon) and Jimmy Spencer (Will Mellor) are taking vastly differing approaches to help them cope. Dani will later push both Chloe Novack (Ebby O’Toole-Acheampong) and Jimmy for answers but it’s clear that she’s worn out her welcome with both of them on the topic.

Things begin to look up for Jimmy when his brief morning meeting with Headmaster Robert Caulfield (John Nayagam) lands him back in the classroom. Despite Jimmy’s eagerness to help the kids, Caulfield makes sure it’s not lost on Jimmy that his return is more about necessity than anything else.

When Dani does manage to track down Sienna Ryan (Joni Morris) the discovery of her being pregnant only raises more questions. Dani will ask her about keeping the baby and who the father is, but the sudden return of Tim Oxley (Emmett J. Scanlan) will take precedence and scare Sienna off. They both approach the situation with much calmer this time and it turns out to be equally revealing. Tim will admit to knowing about the affair and only being at the Mallory to confirm it. The deleted messages were supposedly meeting locations so Tim could buy sleeping pills from Zac Webster (Cal O’Driscoll). He also says that Zac began asking him for favors but didn’t consider it blackmail. For her part, Dani will admit that she felt lonely and enjoyed Jimmy’s attention. Sometime later Tim will admit that he was jealous of the attention Dani dedicated to her students and that’s why he pushed her away.

Matt gets into a fight with another student while Dani questions Nina Webster (Niamh McCann) about Zac’s relationship with Sienna. According to Nina, Zac wasn’t interested in girls and it was Matt who was smitten with Sienna. As shocked as Dani is by this discovery, Tim is even more shocked when he finds the positive pregnancy test in the trash.

Although Tim is clearly relieved that Dani isn’t pregnant, the discussion still leads to an argument when she blames him for not having another kid. His response is that he always wanted a big family but was troubled by how intense she was with Stan.

Things are not going any better for Jimmy when he catches Matt with a packed bag and the intention to move in with his mother. Surprisingly enough, this confrontation will to Matt admitting how he’s become uncomfortable in his room because Zac kissed him there. It was this kiss and the ensuing awkwardness that was the source of their problems. After a discussion, Matt appears much more at ease when Jimmy promises to do whatever is needed to make things right, including sleeping on the floor in his room.

In her effort to help Tim, Dani ends up putting Sienna in an impossible situation by threatening to go to the cops. This ultimately leads to Sienna claiming that it was her who killed Zac because he wouldn’t stop approaching her. Caulfield nearly does the same thing when he arranges for Tim and Jimmy to meet at the bar to talk things out. It doesn’t help matters that Matt has just lied to Jimmy about Zac’s knife, but the mixture of nerves and alcohol causes the situation to quickly spiral out of control. Jimmy does a good job of not overreacting before Dani shows up to make Tim leave.

Although Dani prevents an altercation between Tim and Jimmy, she only causes further problems between her and Tim. When Tim leaves her at the bar, Dani attempts to get back in touch with Sienna, but it appears that she’s ignoring her messages. Dani will even visit the group home where Sienna stays but will be turned away because of the late hour.

Dani doesn’t realize that Sienna isn’t there and appears to be on her way to meet someone. The episode will end with Sienna lying in the dark woods as if she’s just been slaughtered by whoever it was she was scheduled to meet.

 

The Teacher Review

Slow and steady as always but not a bad episode. The series does appear to be growing on me because I am enjoying each episode more and more. Unfortunately, I’m also noticing more and more problems as well. The whole Sienna pregnancy felt strange and Tim’s comment about Dani’s intensity with Stan was just weird for it. Maybe it’s an English thing, I don’t know. If Sienna is in fact dead, I would say that was a good move for the series.

I’m not sure how many episodes this one is slated for but I for one cannot wait to see how it all ties together. I’m almost positive it will be a disappointment but nonetheless, here’s to hoping. I’d give this episode a 5.7 out of 10.

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