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The re-cap featuring more of Lorilei's idea of a 'beauty behind bars' photo shoot featuring an over-made-up inmate in laughable clothes, which was starting to give me flashbacks of the Leigh Templar period.
Meg was back from her trip to the Outback, with a bag of horrendously tacky souvenirs - one of those snow-scene things you shake, of Uluru/Ayers Rock, for Mervin (apparently he collects these kitsch items); a boomerang manufactured in Taiwan for the women, and a "frightful tea-towel" for some other unsuspecting alleged 'friend'. Great to see an occasional deputy governor like Meg bringing a dangerous weapon in for the women, especially when it smashed through the governor's office window minutes later, almost injuring the governor, a visitor, and a senior officer. Great stuff.
Rodney, Kath and Merle set off for their shopping trip, with the new gate guard (or "G.G.") giving the vehicle a thorough check at the gate (i.e. Scarcely glancing into one of the rear windows). Later at the car park, Rodney spied his drug dealing contact (yes, the drug counsellor from the Halfway House). As if he didn't look suspicious enough, Rodney donned the obligatory dark sunglasses, flicked his collar up, and wandered over to the other man. He stood uncomfortably close to him, looked into space, and muttered, "Got a smoke, pal?" I seriously wondered if Rodney had got drug dealing confused with picking up Rent boys. Later, he was busy squishing the illegal merchandise into jars of Pond's Hand Cream (a curious bit of product placement), when an old man - clearly an extra with no concept of acting - was standing into the window. "Rack off!" cried Rodney, but no mention of hairy legs this time.
While this was going on, Kath and Merle were roller skating. Despite some staged sways and wobbles by Kath on her skates, I couldn't help but laugh when - thud - she suddenly slipped on her backside, to a look of genuine surprise on Merle's face. After a few laps whizzing around the rink, Sexpot Merle was eating an ice cream when a sleazy non-speaking extra whispered something "dirty" in her ear, causing her to shout at him and shove her cornet in his face. It looked as though he was trying to scowl as he walked off, though it was more of a grin. I wondered if the budget for decent extras had been used up by this episode.
Back at Wentworth, the new shop was being stocked up with the new merchandise, which seemed to consist largely of tinned peaches in syrup. (How were the women expected to open the cans in their cells, I wondered.) There was also a whole rack of chewing gum ready for purchase. I know that whenever I've worked in prisons, the security guards have always been very strict on chewing gum. (It can be used to make moulds of keys or locks apparently.) There were other items that could have a market for Kath. Like a larger uniform for mute Officer Green, who seemed to be literally bursting out of the back of his during one corridor scene.
The other main subject this episode was Sarah, her foster parents and her real parents. This created some very interesting situations, and good performances, especially between Sarah and Rita. I particularly liked the scene in the garden when Mr West tried to grab Rita. "Don't touch her, Dad!" cried Sarah. Rita, picking up on her use of the word "Dad" said, "It's not much, but it's a start." Another scene between Sarah and Lorilei was less effective (with Lorilei saying she knew how Sarah felt about her mother's death) because it's hard to be convinced that Lorilei actually noticed her mother had died.
Finally, a surprising comeback, amid the undergrowth in the garden and later among the tinned peaches in the shop.. yes, the Les Dawson lookalike has returned, after a lengthy absence!
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