The episode begins with Nathan (Josh Lacy) tripping on a bad drug or having celebrated his release a bit too hard. Either way, he thinks something’s chasing him and soon finds himself scaling a flag pole in an attempt to escape. Ted Conkaffey (Thomas Jane) and Lilly (Chloe Delle-Vedove) just happen to be passing by just as he reaches the top. At about the same time the incident begins to draw a crowd, including Amanda Pharrell (Nicole Chamoun), Nathan falls to his death.

In an attempt to avoid an awkward explanation, Ted immediately gets Lilly out of there. Unfortunately, he only finds himself in an even more awkward conversation when he returns home to find Kelly (Radha Mitchell) waiting to confront him about Amanda’s visit.

When Ted does finally attempt to explain Lilly and Kelly’s visit, it immediately becomes clear she’d rather avoid it altogether. She does just that by showing him the changes she’s made to her murder board. According to Amanda, Julian Naughton (Andrew Buchanan), the drugs, Ezra/Twist (Simon Lyndon), the poachers, and White Hat are all connected. Ted doesn’t disagree but can’t finger the connection which leads them to a visit to Dr. Val (Angela Punch McGregor).

Ted and Amanda’s meeting with Elaine (Monette Lee) and Trent (Joe Davidson) outside the morgue isn’t the most pleasant but thanks to Trent, it’s rather revealing. According to Trent, Nathan’s wild episode wasn’t anything new. Just last week after getting fired from Family Retreat, they had to lock him in the freezer. It also turns out that Julian fired Nathan for selling drugs at the retreat, but both Trent and Elaine are adamant that Nathan did no such thing.

Given the fact that the toxicology report is yet to come back, Ted’s meeting with Val is more about Amanda feeling threatened by Kelly and Lilly’s visit. Just as Val tells him that he’s like family to Amanda, she interrupts with her discovery about Nathan getting fired for drugs. While awaiting the report, they decide to spend their time tracking down the owner of White Hat. During this time, Ted invites Amanda to dinner.

Much to Ted and Amanda’s surprise, Flo Latham (Caroline O’Connor) openly admits that the building she was renting to Julian was a heap of crap. In addition, she doesn’t appear to care what he was using it for. She appears to be more concerned with the fact that running the Hoedown Showdown now falls on her shoulders.

Taylah/Tayla (Miah Madden) is in a joking mood when Raphael/Raph (Ethan Lwin) shows up at the Banana Plantation to tell her about Nathan’s death. He does this in an almost accusing manner, but that’s as far as the discussion goes due to the unexpected arrival of Ronnie (Ursula Yovich). This meeting is just as briefly interrupted by an unknown passing vehicle that Ronnie follows. It leads her to a small lab where she discovers that Twist/Ezra (Simon Lyndon) is looking to capitalize on the local drug game. Their ensuing argument suggests that Ronnie is already deep into the local drug game. Despite this, Ronnie is surprised later when she learns that Tayla knows all about Twist’s loan.

Amanda and Ted are just as surprised when they find Devi (Georgina Naidu) paying respects at Nathan’s memorial. When they approach her about firing Nathan, she responds with a brief rant about karmic justice but denies knowing anything about Julian’s dealings with Flo. A reflection on this karmic justice later leads to an argument about paying penance. After a bit of back and forth, Ted agrees to let Amanda help with the Claire Bingley (Jessi Robertson) investigation.

While Ted speaks fondly about Amanda during dinner with his family, Amanda attempts to start an argument with two patrons at the Shark Bar who have claimed her regular stool. Much to her surprise, Brooke (Sara West) comes to her aid. Elsewhere, Raph and Tayla discover Twist’s operation at the plantation.

Amanda is in the middle of researching Ted’s case when she receives an unexpectedly pleasant visit from Detective Sweeney (Zindzi Okenyo). After a quick compliment about the snake, they turn their attention to Amanda’s murder board. The night ends with Sweeney inviting Amanda back to her room. Although she turns the invitation down, she shows up at her hotel room in the morning with coffee. This meeting is cut short once Sweeney asks why she came back to Crimson Lake after being released.

Due to Amanda’s meeting with Sweeney, Ted beats her to the office. This leads to her overhearing him talking with Lilly about tattoos. Amanda briefly jokes about a ‘bring your kid to work day’ before Ted formally introduces the two. Ted quickly turns her attention to Colin’s (Brett Tucker) latest article about how the justice system is failing the McQuillans again by forcing them to rezone and sell their land. A text from Val brings this to an end.

Much to Ted’s surprise, Amanda volunteers to look after Lilly while he meets with Val to go over Nathan’s toxicology results. Sweeny doesn’t attempt to hide her displeasure about this when she joins them. Despite this, Val quickly comes to Ted’s aid and even identifies him as an expert who was with the drug squad. Sweeney mockingly asks for his expert advice and is surprised by his insightful response.

While Amanda drops Lilly off with Kelly, Tayla receives a threatening visit from Khalid (Arka Das) and several of his cronies, who encourage her not so nicely to stop dealing in town. Although they are leaving just as Ted and Amanda arrive, she recognizes them from the bar. Tayla blames their visit and wreckage on Twist and avoids their questions. She does show some emotion when they mention hearing about Raph selling drugs to Nathan.

Later that day, Wayne (Cramer Cain) tells Amanda that Nathan was likely high on Cocoa Tree. It grows locally and he and his mates used to smoke it when they were younger. He claims he doesn’t know who deals it these days.

Flo doesn’t roll out the red carpet for Kelly and Lilly and even starts a fight with Kelly that leads to her arrest. Ted only learns about this much later when Colin drops Lilly off at his house. Ted’s next visit is to the police station where he picks up Kelly and she calmly explains her confrontation with Flo.

Amanda is in the process of breaking into Colin’s hotel room when she receives a call from Ted. Before insisting that she join them for dinner later, he tells her about discovering that Councilor Florence Latham is head of the local planning committee and has been fighting with the McQuillans to prevent them from rezoning their farm and turning it into a million-dollar operation. At the same time, Val and Sweeney make a shocking discovery using the blood analysis from Raph’s shirt. Although the discovery isn’t revealed at the time, Sweeney swears Val to secrecy.

At the hotel Amanda not only discovers that Colin is looking into Ted’s old case, but as she is leaving, she sees Kelly stop by and ask him to dinner as well. Colin initially refuses but ultimately ends up accepting the offer. He later uses the opportunity to do a bit of snooping but doesn’t appear to uncover anything sinister. He does ruffle some feathers during the dinner by asking why Ted would come to Crimson Lake instead of staying in Sydney and investigating the charges against him. When Ted doesn’t take the bait, he turns his attention to Amanda and asks her how she felt doing an additional eight years inside than she should have. Amanda does take the bait but at nearly the same time Val interrupts to draw Ted and Amanda away.

The episode ends with Val telling Amanda and Ted that Julian is not Raph’s father. Although it’s not revealed at the time, it is fairly clear that Twist is his father.

 

Troppo Review

Not a horrible episode and a great ending to build suspense going into the next episode. That said, it wasn’t like Julian not being Raph’s father was a huge revelation. Tayla dealing leaf was more of a shock to me. I did enjoy getting to see Ted in his element with Kelly and Lilly. I also enjoy the relationship Lilly and Amanda are developing while at the same time am ever intrigued with Colin’s story. Not an all-around back episode. I feel the series is coming together rather nicely, although the episodes are still needlessly too long and that’s damaging on some levels.

For instance, the entire soccer ball scene could have been cut. That would have not only saved time but the expense of 3 or 4 extras. I understand they probably have budgets to meet and the like, but just my opinion. The opener could have even but could down to save time, but I did enjoy seeing Nathan tripping balls. All in all, I’d give this episode a 5.6 and can’t wait to see how the series develops from here.

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