Last week we were wondering where Kenton had got to, when lo and behold he pops up right at the start of this weeks’ episodes. Eddie and Oliver are drinking cider and discussing Eddie’s plan to win the Freda Fry Memorial Cup at the Flower and Produce show in the honour of his late father, Joe. Eddie’s been working his way round the village dissuading (or ‘taking out’) people from entering and thinks he has a pretty clear run enabling him to scoop enough firsts to win the ultimate prize. Oliver calls it ‘nobbling’ and isn’t happy, probably because he’s a decent sort of chap, so you can imagine what he thinks when Eddie suggests he has a word with Kenton about withdrawing from the hanging basket competition.
Oliver pops into The Bull to pop the question but completely fluffs it, saying how sad he is which leads Kenton and Jolene to think he’s talking about lockdown. After this he hasn’t the heart to ask them to withdraw, which he eventually confesses to Eddie, but Eddie doesn’t accept failure so lightly and tells Oliver they’ll go round in the morning and he’ll show him how it’s done. Eddie lays it on thick as he chokes back the tears, but Kenton’s not having any of it - the competition means a lot to The Bull too - but says he’ll have a word with Jolene - which he also fluffs. It takes Fallon to bring him to his senses when she points out that he’s is in effect talking about standing aside for Joe Grundy when Joe is someone who had conned him out of more free pints than he can remember. Which brings us to this weeks’ title, like father like son. Spurred on by this he tells Jolene that they’re going to wipe the floor with Eddie Grundy and his hanging baskets!
It’s a big week for Jennifer as Alice’s spell in rehab is coming to an end. Jennifer goes round to see Peggy as a first step in reconciling their relationship after Jennifer blamed her for making Alice’s situation worse. Peggy wants to give her a prayer card she’s had in her bag for 50 years as she thinks now is the perfect time to pass it on. It was given to her by a chaplain at the sanatorium that looked after her first husband, Jennifer’s father. It’s the Fishermans’ Prayer - dear God be good to me, the sea is so wide and my boat is so small.
Jennifer and Chris go to see Alice at her rehab clinic, and by their reaction she’s looking very well. Alice has been keeping a diary and but it’s full of spaces as she’s blanked so much of what happened out. Alices’ counsellor, Luke, is keen to go through the impact letters that Jennifers brought with her. Jennifer starts. I’ll spare you the details but halfway through Alice needs a break. Chris goes next but his letter is very short, or it is now after he crossed most of it out. They both feel drained but positive that there may be good news ahead as Alice seems so well. But Alice may have other ideas as she’s not sure she wants to go home at all.
Over at the tea room it’s all hands on deck as they’ve under-catered for a 75th birthday party - not Fallon’s fault but the organiser’s. They need more help (Harrison’s proved to be useless in the kitchen) so Fallon calls in a favour from Jennifer who jumps at the chance of a distraction and predictably takes over and gets the team running like clockwork. Fallon sees that it did her good to do something different, and makes up a story about a diary clash to persuade her to take over judging from her at the Flower and Produce show. Jenny’s not sure at first but in the end sees it as symbolic of new beginnings now that Alice has the opportunity to make a fresh start.
Alice comes back to Ambridge and has a heart to heart with Emma who tries to convince her that going back to Chris would be best, and is she really going to rely on help from everyone else but the man she loves? Yes, she does, but it’s breaking her heart. When Alice turns up at The Nest she finds that Chris has put up a ‘welcome home’ banner and she holds Martha for the first time in ages while Chris cooks dinner - a Thai curry. After dinner Chris shows Alice Martha’s memory box including a drawing he did of Martha asleep. It reminds Alice of all the time she wasted and all the times she made Chris miserable, but Chris is determined to be a family again and asks Alice to come home. Alice is not moving back in yet, preferring to stay at Willow Cottage. In fact she might not move back at all as she thinks she has to continue fighting her addiction on her own, to the point of giving up on her marriage.
Another marriage showing the strain is Ian and Adams’.There’s cross words at Honeysuckle cottage as an exhausted Adam is struggling to keep awake when he should be looking after Xander. Ian calls during his shift at Grey Gables but Xander answers (he’s 2 remember) because Adam’s fast asleep. When Ian returns in a hurry he finds their son on his own in the kitchen surrounded by knives, spilled milk, jam and cereal.
Adam thinks he just needs more rest but Ian thinks it’s also the job as his boss doesn’t have a background in farming and seems to be a bit of a handful - for example going against Adam’s advice in favour of things he’s seen on the internet. He’s also texting in the evening and asking Adam to do extra hours including giving up a Saturday. The pair rack their brains looking for a solution and Ian suggests they move.
I think I’ve got the answer as it’s clearly another case of like father like son. Next time leave out a stool so Xander can reach the hob and make a start on dinner as he’s clearly showing signs of inheriting Ians’ talents in the kitchen.
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