0 4 mins 12 yrs
Well I wasn’t expecting that!

A little depressing this episode, darker and more violent in tone, with a focus on Harriet (Pippa Haywood), and a bit too much focus on a “how to” of drugs!

Harriet’s perpetually sulking son Gavin (Adam Gillen) gets beaten up in his cell and he believes the only way to stop being bullied is to ask his dear old mum to bring in drugs “inside her.” With a little blackmail in the mix she reluctantly agrees, anything to starve the feeling of guilt she has about her son’s feelings towards her. After failed attempts to buy drugs off his school friend, and Lou’s estate, she eventually turns to the charming student neighbour for help. But then Gavin goes and messes it up by choking on said drugs (after scenes of packing and carrying the drugs I could have seriously done without). Luckily Lou was there to save the day on all counts this episode…more on her in a bit.

Meanwhile Frannie and the kids vacate the house. With the kids unhappy and refusing to see her husband Paul in prison, she’s left with no choice but to patch up her strained relationship with her father for help.

Here’s the surprise I wasn’t expecting, Steve (Jonas Armstrong) isn’t who Gemma thought he was after all. No surprise there, it was obvious he was guilty of the murder, but I was surprised at the turn in the story that he and his work partner are running an immigrant workforce, and beating up people in the work yard. Having witnessed this, the man Gemma loved seems a distant memory as she realises how stupid she has been. This is a turning point in Gemma’s character; so far she’s been a victim. Hopefully the revelation will improve the character with more strength as she turns informant on her husband and tells the police where the gun is.

Although this was meant to be Harriet’s episode I think Lou’s character (Natalie Gavin) stood out more from her vulnerability to ask for help when a report has been made to social services about her son. To her helping out Harriet, first in hiding the drugs, and then hitting the woman who was attacking Harriet and getting her husband to watch out for Gavin. I’m not condoning the things she did, but it was hard not to cheer for her standing up for someone else.

Overall I’m quite enjoying Prisoner’s Wives; it seems to have hit its stride now and improving each week, I think we’ve successfully moved away from the shaky start, to have an enjoyable drama and on the whole interesting characters.

 

This is a copy of my review for Simply TV