The episode begins with Sasha Price (Amy Mathews) briefly remembering the day her mother, Bernice Price (Kris McQuade) shot their neighbor’s dog for killing their chickens. SC Brett Colby (Sam Neil) has an unexpected run with a stray himself while SC Meredith Nelson-Moore (Frances O’Connor) argues over the phone with her husband, Chris Moore (Gerald Lepkowski). Joey Kovac’s (Josh McKenzie) morning isn’t going much better as his mechanic, Ryan (Lee Jankowski), tells him that although the damage to the truck isn’t extensive, it will cost nearly $18,000 to repair. Things only get worse when he learns Ryan wants to have the truck towed to his garage. Joey convinces him to repair the truck onsite for an extra $2,000.

Things are no better for Winston Hang (Anthony Brandon Wong) thanks to his kids, Wendy (Grace Chow) and Jay Hang (Carlin Monteiro), prematurely boxing up his belongings. Ray Connell (Glenn Hazeldine) has a pleasantly brief interaction with the neighborhood children Bobby (Bevan Winmar) and Savannah West (Nevaeh Winmar) before he learns from Thelma Connell (Tasma Walton) about their egging the house. He suggests extending an invitation to dinner to settle the matter but Thelma doesn’t show much interest. Marjorie Watson (Lynne Porteous) is even less gracious than Thelma and doesn’t even return Ray’s pleasantries.

Connie D’Angelo (Elle Mandalis) is still in a mood over Claudia D’Angelo (Stefanie Caccamo) and Rosa D’Angelo’s (Koko Kelemete) makeover. A brief scene with Ian Campbell (Greg McNeil) suggests he might be interested in making an offer on Hang’s Mill.

Court begins with Amethyst/Amy Walker’s (Caroline Brazier) briefly introducing herself as Bernice’s neighbor and organic farm owner before Jude Persand (Fayssai Bazzi) quizzes her about the day she heard the gunshot on the Airly Downs property. Jude uses the testimony to indicate that Amy saw both Sasha and Bernice’s vehicles on the property near the supposed time of death. Meredith cleverly counters this by bringing attention to the fact that Amy was distressed when she arrived because Bernice had previously shot and killed her other dog for getting into their chicken coop. This is why Amy was so concerned about investigating the shot in the first place. Chris also makes an appearance during Amy’s testimony and Meredith isn’t the only one to take note.

Meredith is not at all unhappy with Chris’s unexpected visit and even unhappier that he left the kids alone. While they make plans to meet for dinner later that evening, the jurors debate the issue about the dog. There appears to be a mixed bag of opinions. Ian also briefly approaches Winston about making an offer on the Mill while Joey visits Alice Jinx (Lila McGuire) down the street at work to inquire about their savings.

Court resumes with Colby questioning Amy, which turns out to be a major win for the defense. He not only establishes that Bernice and Amy were constantly at odds, but he puts Amy on the property at the suspected time of death. In addition, he uses a photo exercise to prove that Amy couldn’t properly pick out Sasha or Bernice’s vehicle against several others.

Jude A ballistics expert, Dr. Sam Turner (Emma Jackson), is later called to the stand to establish that Packard Ammunition residue was recovered from Bernice’s vest. Despite this, Bernice’s shotgun contained no traces of Packard Ammunition, whereas Patrick Harrows’ (Erroll Shand) recovered .22 was full of it. This testimony also leads to a brief reenactment of Patrick and Sasha’s time at the waterfall on the day Bernice died. During that time, Patrick learns about Bernice shooting Amy’s dog and they make plans to celebrate his birthday.

Colby scores another major win for the defense when he gets Dr. Turner to admit that they could not positively link the residue on Bernie’s vest to the residue in Patrick’s .22. In addition, Packard Ammunition is a universally and widely used brand. Further questioning reveals that the two shots reported on the property that day came from a .303.

Thelma returns home from court to find Ray and Angie West (Liz Narkle) in a heated confrontation about Marjorie destroying her kid’s football that accidentally crossed over into their yard. Thelma only makes matters worse when he practically alludes to the kids being undisciplined brats. Winston is in no better mood when he returns home to discover that his kids have practically moved him out of the house. Although Connie is no longer focused on Rosa’s disastrous makeover, she has her intentions set on learning about the trial, which Claudia is not at all comfortable with sharing details. This leads to an argument during dinner.

Chris and Meredith’s dinner doesn’t go much better as he basically tells her that he’s taking the kids and moving to Auckland. Matters aren’t improved when Colby and Nina Distzio (Kail Ferrelli) choose a nearby table. Colby does attempt to phone Meredith later that evening while researching the case at his hotel but she ignores the call. He returns the favor several minutes later when she tries to call him.

Fleur Hepburn (Katherine Pearson) accuses Rana Billings (Jennah Bannear) of making a deal with Patrick’s legal team because she supposedly isn’t going after him hard enough. Rana assures her they are doing everything they can and trust the process. In jail, Sasha recalls the evening when Bernice told her to never let any man mistreat her.

Court resumes the following day with Jude questioning local gun store owner, Mal Adcock (Steve Le Marquand). According to Mal, he met Patrick a month before the Bernice incident at a local pub when he expressed an interest in joining them for the regularly scheduled pig hunt. Mal had to turn him away when he later learned that Patrick wasn’t eligible to get a license for a firearm. Although the reasoning for Patrick’s ineligibility is allowed to be shared, Mal does claim he saw Patrick several days later with the .22. Later during lunch, there is a spirited debate amongst the jurors about the ineligibility.

The story about the bullet through Bernice’s window is explained when Colby questions Mal. Apparently, they were pig hunting on the farm when one of the younger guys got a bit carried away and fired in the direction of the farm. Although the .303 round had to travel half a K, it did so and went through Bernice’s window. This later escalated into an armed confrontation with the cops being called. This testimony causes Sasha to remember the day she and several of her friends celebrated Patrick’s birthday. The memory also alludes to it being the day that Bernice bought a used gun.

The jurors briefly debate what they’ve learned over the week before recessing for the weekend. Several of them, including Joey appear to be in a hurry to get the weekend started. Pavinder Sangar (Sharon Johal) also extends an invitation to Thelma for Ray and the kids to attend a family picnic.

While Winston gets grilled by his nurse, Teddy Hardcastle (Domenic Anthony) for not drinking enough water, Joey attempts to get the money to repair the truck from his dad, Mr. Kovac (Benji D’Addario). He does this by alluding that he wants to buy Alice a nice engagement ring. Instead, Mr. Kovac mentions Joey’s mother’s engagement ring.

Claudia watches Rosa at her communal from a distance while Ray, Thelma, and the kids appear to be a hit at Sangar’s picnic. Later that day, Thelma considers a genealogy report while Ray gets around to upgrading the fence to prevent any more mishaps with the neighbors.

The episode ends with Sasha remembering her and Patrick getting intimate on his birthday while Bernice secretly watches with interest.

 

The Twelve Review

What a complete waste of an episode. It’s not like the stories didn’t evolve or the case didn’t proceed. On those fronts, quite a bit happened, but something about the episode just felt like filler to me. I don’t understand why the Packard Ammunition is getting so much attention. I know Bernice had traces on her vest but she wasn’t even shot. Bernice’s newly discovered confrontations with Mal and Amy do pose interesting plot twists. I did enjoy that part of the episode as well as Joey’s race to get the money to fix the truck. It looks like he is flat out of options and will probably turn to something illegal to secure the funds.

Thelma’s confrontation with the neighbors is interesting but I am not at all interested in her budding relationship with Sangar. Neither do I care about Winston and his awkward relationship with his homosexual nurse. Claudia’s drama with her makeover-gone-wrong and non-traditional beliefs is even less interesting. Meredith and Chris’s dispute was somewhat stirring but as far from original as you can get. Overall, I’d have to give the episode a lower 5 out of 10.

Get more The Twelve recaps here.  Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying here.