As the 5th episode begins, we see a flashback of a young Nik being baptized before he tries to swim away from the congregation. He runs into his adult self and the intro begins. Then, we see someone covered by a sheet on an airplane. That individual is pushed to Wakefield and we see a sign that lets us know it is the Melbourne Cup. Nik asks the person if they’re ready before pulling the sheet away and we see James (Dan Wyllie) sitting in the wheelchair crying. We jump back in time and Leyla (Caroline Brazier) complains that James broke their deal. She wants him to return to the hospital and worries how exposed they are, but he tells her not to worry about it. At the hospital, Leyla complains that Rohan (Pacharo Mzembe) shouldn’t have let him go but he reminds her James was there voluntarily.

The argument continues as they enter Rohan’s office. Nik (Rudi Dharmalingam) promises he won’t be doing it again and they’ll make sure of it. Leyla and James pass by Tessa (Bessie Holland) before she slams her door on them. Trevor (Harry Greenwood) makes a scene when he sees the man he calls Mr. Wheeler and Dealer. James doesn’t respond and instead tells his wife he needs to lay down. Back in his room, James claims everything is lost but Leyla reminds him he has her and Ted. She says she doesn’t understand because he won’t let her. James enters an alternate state and we see him in the woods without clothes. He gets up and begins walking straight before laying back on his bed in reality. Then, we go back in time and see James meet Clive and Timothy. He greets Gustaf and Alexandra. When Oscar enters, James says he believes they have a great opportunity ahead of them. Next, James pitches his idea and tries to convince everyone it is time to be brave.

Oscar refuses to take the bait but James believes he can find someone else who will. James is left alone after Oscar tells him this isn’t him at his best. Ted (William Lodder) checks on his father but there is nothing he can do to help. Nik stops Ted on his way out and asks if he wants to talk. Ted explains his father wants his medications from home because the ones at the hospital are generic and don’t help. Nik pleads with the boy to leave his father’s meds at home because they have everything they need. Ted says okay before Nik approaches James to tell him he cannot put his son in that situation. Nik tries to find out what is going on in James’s head and whether he is contemplating suicide. James admits he doesn’t want to exist. Nik says he gets it because he has some personal experience with that James went through.

James isn’t optimistic but Nik is confident it will get better with time. We watch a flashback of James spiraling out of control. Nik tells him it is a waiting game and he needs a distraction. Nik desperately tries to find an activity for James to enjoy while Tessa sits nearby. James sees himself in the woods again before his body becomes one with Mother Nature. Next, the patients prepare for the horse face while James remains out of it. James gets up and leaves as the race begins. Tessa finds a mess outside of her room. She opens the door and discovers James trying to smother himself with a plastic bag. She rips it off of his face before screaming for help. We see Tessa’s stuff being removed from her mother’s home. Next, we begin seeing things from Tessa’s perspective. Tessa’s mother Belle (Heather Mitchell) brings items for her daughter on cup day. She asks Kareena (Geraldine Hakewill) if it would be a good idea for her to start seeing her daughter again.

Dr. Wells says Tessa has problems with loss so they would have to make sure that Belle would continue seeing her for the long haul. Kareena takes the items to Tessa who complains about her mother getting rid of her stuff. Kareena says her mother had reached her limit before giving her the items Belle brought. Tessa insists she only eats dark chocolate before throwing the package to the ground. Kareena says she has to make room for the stuff she really cares about before leaving. Tessa opens the bag and finds a bunch of buttons inside. Next, she learns that James is back but she doesn’t seem to care. Kareena works with her and tries to find something she is okay getting rid of. Tessa says the buttons belonged to her grandma since she owned a tailor shop with her grandpa. Dr. Wells insists she needs to control the problem so they can find her another place to live when she gets to leave.

When left alone, Tessa eats the chocolates and finds an email that interests her. She approaches Nik and tells him she needs tools and materials to make a fascinator for a client. Nik believes they can get the items on her list but reminds her she’ll have to work in the common room so she can be supervised. She goes to work right away. Trevor confronts her later and asks if he can have some of the supplies. She tells Mr. Invisible he’ll die if he touches them so they leave her alone. Nik and James sit next to her as she continues working. Seconds later, Nik approaches Tessa and says James could help her but she doesn’t want anything to do with him. She is upset he left. Nik says he screwed up before asking Tessa if she ever has. Once Tessa finishes, she sends a picture of the fascinator to the client. The next day, Tessa watches as Mr. Invisible wins the fashion award. Tessa tells Nik and Collette (Felicity Ward) her mother will be there at 10 to pick up the fascinator.

They’re impressed when she shows them the finished product. When her mother arrives, Tessa rushes back to add one last button. Tessa complains that the email was sent to spam and calls it dodgy but her mother says Gmail isn’t dodgy. She wants to know how her mother knew it was Gmail. Tessa gets upset when she finds out her mother was and is her only client. Belle calls her daughter selfish and gets called a crap mother in return. Belle says he doesn’t care about anyone but herself. When her mother leaves, Tessa watches the race and leaves early. Then, she finds James trying to off himself. She stops him and gets help in time to save him. Later, she confronts him while he is in bed and places a puzzle piece on his head. Linda (Mandy McElhinney) comes up with a plan to raise morale. Nik learns that Kareena has a keynote speech so she won’t be partaking in the new raffle.

We begin seeing things from Linda’s perspective. Collette approaches her outside and says she gave them actual betting slips. She is surprised by all of the coincidences before heading back inside. Seffa (Miritana Hughes) gets into an argument with Trevor before Pete (Sam Simmons) gets involved and tells Seffa there is no god. Linda gives Omar (Richie Miller) a ticket even though Nik says the Melbourne Cup isn’t high on his priority list. She finds out that Collette didn’t get everything but she doesn’t want her to leave because she has a second interview. She gives orders to Collette and it seems to leave a bad taste in Collette’s mouth. Collette goes to Nik and tells him she doesn’t know where she stands with Linda. He believes she is a bad person if she wants Collette to feel that way. Collette gets a hug before offering to take Nik out for dinner somewhere fancy. Linda goes to her interview and is promptly told it is not a good idea to promote gambling in the hospital.

Then, they discuss Linda’s performance so far and she is told they prefer promoting from within. She soon learns that there are two strong candidates although she thought one of them had withdrawn. By the time the interview is over, Linda appears to be in a foul mood. She returns to Collette who tells her she just missed Stephan but Linda is only interested in knowing about Nik’s application. She gets blunt with Collette while telling her she’ll be off the ward if anyone needs her. Linda watches the race with the others. Her horse loses to the one Collette got a tip about just before the race. Nik finds her outside crying and tells her about James. He puts his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. When Stephan (Stephen Hunter) arrives at Linda’s place that night, she pretends she is ready to get into bed with him. However, she teases him as punishment for giving the tip to Collette. That night, Nik struggles to sleep while thinking about his childhood. He tries to find a way to fall asleep but can’t stop thinking about his mother.

He goes outside and goes for a run but that doesn’t seem to help either. The next day, he gets a visit from Renuka (Monica Kumar) so he can see the flowers for her wedding. He hears and sees his mother talking about the importance of spirituality at the wedding. He asks his mother to tone it down before going to work and telling Kareena about it. She knows he is still playing peacemaker and suggests those skills will come in handy if he becomes NUM. He says it is impressive that she got the keynote before offering to run through it with her. She reminds him she told him to get another psych but he likes the fact she knows his history. She says she is a part of his history so it isn’t appropriate.

Kareena pleads with him to go see someone else before Linda approaches James and tries to give him a ticket. Then, she approaches Nik but he says the Melbourne Cup isn’t high on his priority list. He asks what she wants from him. Linda says she wants them to be a team but Nik says he’d like to do his job. He argues she is papering over the cracks. She believes he doesn’t like it because it wasn’t his idea. Then, we get a dancing and music session with jockeys and the whole nine years. One that ends, Linda puts a ticket in Nik’s hand and the race begins. He checks the ticket which says Madam Butterfly. We see a flashback of a young Nik and his family holding a memorial outside. His mother holds the picture of a young boy. Back to reality, Nik goes looking for James and finds his bedroom empty. He remembers his mother being passed out on pills in her bed. He hears Tessa scream and quickly find out that James has tried to kill himself.

As James tells Nik to let him die, Nik asks him to picture his son’s face when he is tempted to do this again. He goes on to ask James to picture Ted at the moment he learns what he has done. Nik warns him Ted will never get over it if he kills himself. Once James is led away, Nik tries to collect himself and recalls his father hiding potentially dangerous items from his mother. Next, Collette catches up with Nik and tries to convince him everything will be okay. She reveals her horse won so she is going to take him out to dinner and she doesn’t want any arguments. After work, she meets up with him wearing a black dress and they head to the expensive restaurant. She wishes him good luck but admits she doesn’t believe in that because everything happens for a reason. Nik admits he isn’t sure what he believes but Collette says she believes in him. He tries to tell her something before his phone vibrates and interrupts him. It is Kareena and she is lost. She says she can’t get her map app to work because she is stuck on 3G.

Collette brings downing her wine while Nik tries to give Kareena directions. When Nik returns to Collette she admits the place isn’t cheap and asks if they can leave. She storms out before returns home to his mother who has made dinner. He tells his mother she doesn’t have to look after him but she suggests otherwise. Then, we see a flashback of his mother in church with a snake around. He is awoken by a phone call before stepping outside. His sister says she can’t do this because their mother tried to convert the dressmaker. Reni isn’t interested in having their mother at the wedding but Nik warns there is no way to come back from that. Nik encourages his sister to talk to their mother. When she doesn’t, he decides to approach her. She knows her daughter doesn’t want her at the wedding. Nik says she wants her but not Jesus. She argues she can’t be separated from her faith. He encourages her to tone it down. She isn’t sure she can do that. She reminds him that Jesus saved her and she wouldn’t be here without him.

She says losing Dilshan was beyond anything I could bear. Nik knows because he found her. She insists she can’t undo that. When he says he can’t understand why she hit him, she says it was the noise before apologizing. He says they’ll sort things out with Reni and she can’t keep blaming herself for Dilshan because it wasn’t her fault. As they hug, we see a flashback of the two boys together. We see him sleeping after that. Next, Nik takes Omar to Wilson’s Leap and jokes he doesn’t think Wilson stood a chance. He looks at Omar and believes he saw him smile. Nik believes he’ll get a smile out of him one day and it won’t be long from now. In another flashback, Nik’s mother Jeshna screams and runs with Dilshan in her arms.

 

Wakefield Review

Wakefield has a few cons that are downright difficult to ignore. I can barely stomach the dancing scenes and can’t really understand why they’re needed. Although I’ve come to appreciate Nik, it still doesn’t feel like his mental health is paramount. That aspect of the story could’ve been emphasized a bit more and it would’ve made it more impactful.

Nevertheless, the fifth episode was by far the best and the most emotional. It is hard to refrain from sympathizing with some of the characters including James after his unsuccessful suicide attempt. I’ve developed a different rapport with Nik since I sympathize with his daily struggles at work. All of the characters are three-dimensional and that really makes it more effective.

A lot of shows fail in this regard but Wakefield does an excellent job in this category. I’ll admit that I’ve been skipping through the music scenes though and I feel bad for viewers who didn’t get the same luxury. The episode was the best one yet so it scores an 8 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of Wakefield on Reel Mockery here.