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Nice to see the life in Wentworth is as realistic as we left it last time. Not only do we have the scenario of three male inmates in a women's prison, or the even more unlikely situation of them mixing with the women socially, but we find them walking around the prison block freely, with no supervision whatsoever, and with access to inmates' cells. So we're able to witness Frank Burke (isn't he a rapist?) freely groping Pixie's bum, Geoff chatting to Marlene and Bobbie in their cell, and then Frank viciously attacking Yemil and Pixie, all without an officer in hearing distance, let alone watching them.
This seems odd, when later Frank tried to leave the room, and Joyce reminded him that men weren't allowed to leave the rec room without an officer, despite the fact that they seemed to have been wandering all over the prison as they pleased the rest of the time.
Also amusing was the way Frank (the lecherous weasel-like balding one, with the sticking-out ears, receding hair, and creepy personality) had Lou Kelly fluttering her lashes and flirting all over him. Perhaps she meant it when she told Len Murphy he was "a man with class". Strange, after the unpleasantness of that incident, you'd think it would have put her off being porked by ugly men for a while.
The authorities must have thought Yemil (Jane Doe) was some kind of foreign aristocracy figure, or a high-up political figure of some kind. The article in the Despatch (aka Camilla Wells), with the photo and glaring headline (all in capital letters) "WHO IS THIS WOMAN?", took up half of the front page, which would surely only be used for their most newsworthy story.
I loved the Yemil/Lou scratching routine, which made me laugh out loud. Amazing how a pat on the cheek could leave a set of deep nail gashes. However, interesting to note that the two actresses could handle that type of scene very well if given the opportunity - as seen when Lou came into Yemil's cell, and Yemil spat at her. That was well done, and quite tense. What a contrast.
Reb seemed to have been putting her all into winning over the women. Myra commented: "Remember how Marlene said she gave her one?" Hmm.. I'm surprised that one slipped my mind..
To be honest, this episode I felt "thank god for Reb and Lou". The newer characters seemed to be either uninteresting (eg. Sam Greenway, Yemil) or too improbable to be taken seriously (the male inmates). Len was probably the best of the new intake, but was noticeable by his absence this episode. So it was left to Lou and Reb to carry the show. Which they did very well, thankfully. I loved the clever way Reb appeared to get Pixie off the hook, when in fact she got her into more trouble. Very nicely written sub-plot.
As for that tape recorder bit.. ok, it may have been successful, but hasn't the old "record the confession" gag been done to death by now? I'm sure this is the third time it's been used so far. Can't help thinking the writers were a bit stumped at how to dislodge Reb from the top dog spot, and settled on this old chestnut as an easy way out, hoping the viewers would have forgotten.
And on the subject of the tape recorder, if you wanted to silence a tape recorder, how would you do it? I guess you'd put a pillow over it to drown out the sound, or distort it sufficiently to make it incomprehensible. In that case, I was very impressed that after Myra recorded the conversation with the machine under a pillow, it came out with almost CD clarity in the rec room. Pretty advanced equipment I'd say.
I thought it was interesting how Bobbie and Marlene reacted to Matt, in a very giggly and childish way. Ok, it was intensely irritating, but that didn't mean it was unrealistic. I just found it interesting that Bobbie, who had had to grow up so quickly in her life, who'd worked as a prostitute and so on, would be giggling like a schoolgirl. But I thought it was a nice touch, and I hope it was intentional.
Sounded like there was a bit of a drama queen working on the background music in this episode, who was a little too fond of the over dramatic music. When Joan told Geoff he was on report, and told him to go back to the rec room, we had the scary "life or death" music, and I was waiting for him to be suddenly blown up by terrorists or something equally dramatic. Which of course didn't happen, he just returned to the rec room.
Sam was back too. I can honestly say, I couldn't remember if she’d been in the last episode or the one before. The only reason she's at all memorable for me, is because she's so forgettable, if that makes sense. And here she was, wittering on about that mural (yaaaaawn) with another bloody pencil in her hand as she spoke! Nobody would draw or write constantly (as they walked, talked, ate, slept, etc) unless they had psychological problems, surely?
I've often wondered about the officers and their hearing. Many times we’ve seen whoever's keeping nit yell out "Screw!" about half a second before one would walk in the door, with the officer never having heard or noticed anything amiss, although something would clearly be up if someone was standing watch. In this episode, we saw Lurch in the corridor outside the laundry, and with Joan approaching, a couple of yards away, she yelled out "Freak's coming!" at the top of her voice, just as Joan walked in without hearing anything.
Poor old Pixie, with Lou, Alice and Four-foot-Fran going to sort her out for "lagging". What's the betting that Fran will moan like buggery throughout the scene, if we see it? That would be enough to bring me to submission.
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