8.5/10. This one had three stories, so let's take them in turn. The first is Siobhan's pregnancy. I have to admit that I was surprised at the revelation, if only because the episode where she and Brendan hooked up made it seem like it was a one-time thing. but my wife pointed out that they'd been pretty chummy in the background for a while now. I liked the way the show addressed Siobhan's choices. She's one of the better characters on the show, and it was nice to see her talking ti over with the people close to her and coming to the realization that this was something she wanted to do. It didn't feel inevitable, and you felt like she was legitimately weighing her options. Plus, Brendan's reaction, and her matter-of-fact response to it, were perfect.
The Assumpta-Leo story was the weakest of the three, if only because this whole thing has felt like just another way for the show to keep Peter and Assumpta apart for a few more episodes, without a lot of the grounding or setup necessary to make it feel legitimate. I'm pretty tired of love triangles to begin with, so that didn't help, but more than anything, it just made the two of them seem so incompatible that you would never imagine them getting together in the first place. Maybe there was teh rush of reunion and that's what led them there, but we don't really see that enough to internalize it. All we see is Assumpta mostly being very harsh with Leo (not that she can't be sharp-tongued with even her closest friends) and Leo being kind of sheepish and understandably put off by the whole thing. I'm glad the the story is over, and the scene where they come to terms with the fact that their marriage was a mistake turned out to be a good one, but as a whole, the entire arc was something of a misfire.
But the pièce de résistance was the storyline about visitor Nancy learning that the woman she thought was her sister and had come to BallyK to track down was, in fact, her mother. The story itself was a bit too soap opera-y for my tastes, though the sweetness of Padraig thinking he had a daughter and trying to take Nancy under his wing was a nice one. But the episode added another, very human dimension to Father Mac and to Kathleen of all people! The scene in the confession where Kathleen, not in so many words, admits that it was her who broke up Father Mac and Eileen, and that she occasionally regrets it was one of the most intimate and revealing moments that managed to both cut through and elucidate Kathleen's monolithic view of morality.
At the same time, there was a certain wistfulness about Father Mac throughout the episode. Having him meet his daughter, and yet once again be kept away by someone he has a connection do because of his station in life had a certain tragic feel to it. It's interesting to show that even the prickly, doctrinaire Father Mac was once a man swayed by passion like Father Clifford, to the point that he had a paramour of his own. I also really appreciated the show's forbearance in having Father Mac give Nancy a "memento" instead of confessing that he's likely her father. I was expecting big drama and instead got quiet non-resolution, which is a pretty bold choice, but one that felt true to who Father Mac is.
Overall, there were ups and downs, but this was an episode that explored the idea of being a parent and relationships in myriad interesting ways.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-05-12T18:20:25Z
8.5/10. This one had three stories, so let's take them in turn. The first is Siobhan's pregnancy. I have to admit that I was surprised at the revelation, if only because the episode where she and Brendan hooked up made it seem like it was a one-time thing. but my wife pointed out that they'd been pretty chummy in the background for a while now. I liked the way the show addressed Siobhan's choices. She's one of the better characters on the show, and it was nice to see her talking ti over with the people close to her and coming to the realization that this was something she wanted to do. It didn't feel inevitable, and you felt like she was legitimately weighing her options. Plus, Brendan's reaction, and her matter-of-fact response to it, were perfect.
The Assumpta-Leo story was the weakest of the three, if only because this whole thing has felt like just another way for the show to keep Peter and Assumpta apart for a few more episodes, without a lot of the grounding or setup necessary to make it feel legitimate. I'm pretty tired of love triangles to begin with, so that didn't help, but more than anything, it just made the two of them seem so incompatible that you would never imagine them getting together in the first place. Maybe there was teh rush of reunion and that's what led them there, but we don't really see that enough to internalize it. All we see is Assumpta mostly being very harsh with Leo (not that she can't be sharp-tongued with even her closest friends) and Leo being kind of sheepish and understandably put off by the whole thing. I'm glad the the story is over, and the scene where they come to terms with the fact that their marriage was a mistake turned out to be a good one, but as a whole, the entire arc was something of a misfire.
But the pièce de résistance was the storyline about visitor Nancy learning that the woman she thought was her sister and had come to BallyK to track down was, in fact, her mother. The story itself was a bit too soap opera-y for my tastes, though the sweetness of Padraig thinking he had a daughter and trying to take Nancy under his wing was a nice one. But the episode added another, very human dimension to Father Mac and to Kathleen of all people! The scene in the confession where Kathleen, not in so many words, admits that it was her who broke up Father Mac and Eileen, and that she occasionally regrets it was one of the most intimate and revealing moments that managed to both cut through and elucidate Kathleen's monolithic view of morality.
At the same time, there was a certain wistfulness about Father Mac throughout the episode. Having him meet his daughter, and yet once again be kept away by someone he has a connection do because of his station in life had a certain tragic feel to it. It's interesting to show that even the prickly, doctrinaire Father Mac was once a man swayed by passion like Father Clifford, to the point that he had a paramour of his own. I also really appreciated the show's forbearance in having Father Mac give Nancy a "memento" instead of confessing that he's likely her father. I was expecting big drama and instead got quiet non-resolution, which is a pretty bold choice, but one that felt true to who Father Mac is.
Overall, there were ups and downs, but this was an episode that explored the idea of being a parent and relationships in myriad interesting ways.