Stir Crazy – McLeod’s Daughters Episode Summary 1.8

Synopsis: An erotic French film almost led some of the women of Drovers Run to insanity. Meg Fountain took the hardest blow when she failed to control her yearning, and inadvertently revealed her long-time affair with Terry Dodge. Upset with her discovery, Jodi runs away unnoticed since all are busy with the rescue of Claire McLeod’s prized mare, Blaze. A herd of wild horses lead by a black, gorgeous, wild stallion stole the golden horse. Not wanting to hurt the stunning stallion, Claire crazily faces the brumby to reclaim her mare without having to kill its captor.

Episode Summary: After a long day, Claire McLeod (Lisa Chappell) brushes her prized mare’s beautiful coat to pass time. Despite the soothing brushing that is meant to relax the horse, Blaze becomes irritable as it senses the approaching herd of wild horses from miles and miles away. In her own way, Becky Howard (Jessica Napier) pampers herself too with a bubble bath in the trough by the windmill, while Tess (Bridie Carter) or should I say Kumura spends her free time in the study in front of a computer immersed in an erotic conversation in a chat room. By nightfall, Claire returns to the house to find her sister seemingly talking to herself. Curious, she decides to watch and learn more about her sister’s new hobby, but Tess sends her away. Later that night, Jodi Fountain is at the shearer’s quarters with Becky having a bit of fun as they listen and dance to loud music. Meg worries that her daughter spends a lot of time with Becky, but Terry finds her absence as an opportunity to be alone with Meg. Afraid that they would be caught, Meg asks Terry to go home and take a cold shower, that after he worked himself up fantasizing about rubbing insect repellant all over her body having suggested that they spend the night at the paddocks.  Continue reading...

The next morning, the two sisters go about checking the fences. Tess frustrated with not meeting guys suggests of inviting Nick and Alex to a barbecue. Their conversation was interrupted when Claire spots a broken fence, which by the way Jodi should have caught given that it was her part of the boundary to check. As expected, Claire dismisses Tess’ crazy plan of having a barbecue with the Ryan brothers making an excuse that they, like them, are too tired and busy. Tess is not convinced and believes that the men of Killarney are not as busy as they are given that they have all the hi-tech equipment to help with their tasks and even reckons them using remote control to inseminate their cows. Claire could not help but laugh. Although, there seems to be some truth to Claire’s alibi as the fuses of overworked Nick and Alex explode when they fail in their attempt to fix the windmill. Tired and busy or not, Tess is determined to have her barbecue with the Ryan’s and finding an old tennis net just gave her a theme. Moreover, Claire’s unexpected change of heart added more fuel to her resolve.

Jodi resumes her ranting after Becky checks up on her work, complaining of having blistered hands from fixing the fences and the chook shed. Her dream of going off to Adelaide or Sydney to become a personal stylist is replaced with the sad reality of spending hours shoveling manure at Drovers Run. Truth is if there is anyone who has more right to rant, it should be Alex. Having Harry Ryan as a father and a slave driver boss means that there is always work to do, and he proves just that when he forbids his son Alex from taking off on a date before he finishes yet another task.

An erotic French film seemed to have stirred the women of Drovers Run to a night of sexual frustration forcing Tess to pour her unrealized desire into mowing the tennis court, while farm girl Claire sneaks to the study room to secretly join an adult heart to heart chat room. The steamy night extends to the cottage where Meg struggles to control her yearning to be with a man by unearthing her hidden stash of cigarettes, but fails miserably at the sight of Terry Dodge at her doorstep. His timing could not have been better since Jodi, disgusted with her mother’s intense film watching, had sought refuge at the shearer’s quarters where she could continue ranting to Becky about her dream of leaving Drovers Run. Although the film did not have the same effect on inexperienced Jodi as her mother, it still had her wondering about being with a man, and who better to ask about it but the former town slut Becky. However, all that talk made Becky uncomfortable and she politely sends Jodi back home where a big surprise unsuspectingly awaits her.

After finishing mowing the lawn, Tess returns to the house to find Claire in the study. Unaware of her sister’s presence, Claire McLeod continues her engrossed sensual conversation over the Internet only to be abruptly disconnected from the network. Frustrated she gives out a scream at which point Tess makes her presence known. Her frustration is quickly replaced with panic as she hurriedly turns off the computer monitor and provides a lame excuse to hide her embarrassing past time. Tess with full knowledge of the truth accepts her alibi, but not without hinting that she did see what she was doing. Claire overcome with embarrassment sulks in the chair and buries her face in her hands. Though her humiliation is nothing compared to Meg’s whose long-time secret affair was shamefully revealed when Jodi walked in on her and Terry. The steamy night ends with no cigar and worse with a fight between mother and daughter.

The sun was barely up when the sound of hoofs resonated all over Drovers Run. The herd of wild horses finally arrives to take possession of Blaze. With no time to lose all including the men of Killarney prepare to rescue Claire’s prized mare. Alex offers Tess a ride on the chopper, but her fear of heights prevents her from going with him, and so Claire rides with him instead. Tess is left to horseback with Becky to check the National Park boundary. Meg is partnered with Terry, which leads Jodi to decide to hold the fort. The truth is, Jodi is still disconcerted with the discovery of her mother’s affair, and with everyone busy with the rescue she finds the perfect opportunity to run away. She hitches a ride on the mail truck with the one-armed mailman who attests that a nasty struggle with a snake caused him to lose his arm. His cock and bull story was his lame attempt to convince Jodi that the bush is not dull. This after the young woman explains about her taking off to the city. Later, Jodi finds herself standing in the middle of nowhere waiting for another ride, since Bob the mailman forgot to make one of his deliveries.

Meanwhile, Claire and Alex spot Blaze who had broken away from the herd with the stallion that took her. They corner the beasts to one side of the fence. Alex prepares to shoot the wild stallion, but Claire after seeing the gorgeous steed has a different idea and a crazy one too. Tess and Becky arrive and they watch in horror as Claire slowly approaches the feral beast to reclaim her prized mare. Alex aims his gun at the stallion as it comes face to face with Claire, but Tess prevents him from shooting in fear of hitting her sister. With no place to run, Claire stands her ground and courageously faces the brumby as it comes charging at her. She falls on the ground and barely escapes being trampled on as the beast jumps over her. Nick who has been watching from a distance on his motorcycle hurriedly comes to Claire’s aid and successfully chases away the angry wild horse. While his brother is away scaring off the brumby, Alex pulls Claire up from the ground and in his own unusual way shows his real concern by scolding his stubborn mate. His face marked with fear for his friend’s almost deadly encounter, the two stare at each other’s eyes knowing, but still refusing to reveal their true feelings. To overcome her struggle to conceal her genuine emotions and afraid that Alex might do the same, Claire escapes by breaking the ice and inviting him to Tess’ barbecue. Tess’ arrival to congratulate her sister completely ended the heated moment that the two shared in brief, and Nick’s return quickly reminded Alex how his brother stole his thunder. Everybody makes their way back home. Claire takes Oscar and Blaze with her leading Tess to hitch a ride with Nick on his bike. Alex is left alone to sulk in his chopper after Nick’s goading at his lack luster rescue. Moments later, Nick gives him another reason to brood as he continues to gloat. Having been invited to the barbecue and tennis party at Drovers Run, Alex thinks that he finally has an advantage over his brother only to find out that he too is going.

Jodi stands at the long and dusty country road waiting for a ride that will take her out of the bush. Lucky for her, Becky found the note she left, and comes to the rescue with Tess’ old, beat-up Volkswagen. Sensible Becky agrees to take her to the city, but not without understanding the reason for her friend’s sudden urge to run away. Though Jodi does dream of leaving the country for the city, her running away is brought about by her unfortunate discovery of Meg’s affair with Terry. Truth be told, the actual affair was not what annoyed the young woman, but learning that it had been going on for years without her knowledge and the relationship having been kept a secret from her, is what truly upset her most. Leave it to Becky to make childish Jodi realize how lucky she is to have Meg as a mother despite all her faults. Like her, Becky also walked in on her mother only she was with another man. Thanks to Becky, Jodi evades doing something she might soon regret, and they drive back home.

Even though Meg missed the stirring rescue, the Ute breaking down on them proved to be fruitful, since it gave her some time to think on how to handle her disgruntled daughter. She finally arrives at Drovers Run, and already she has something ill to say about Becky after finding a note from her stating that she had used Tess’ car, obviously without the owner’s knowledge, but she did leave money to pay for gasoline. However, Meg has a more pressing concern that does not involve Becky. With no time to waste, she has a little chat with her daughter to straighten things out with them. Not a minute passed after their apologies, she learns from a message that Bob left on the answering machine that contrary to her daughter’s claim, Jodi did attempt to run away. Moreover, she learns that it was Becky who brought her daughter back home. Swallowing her pride for having thought ill of Becky, she struggles to show some gratitude for the young woman’s concern for her daughter. Becky receives her well and even manages to compliment her cooking.

The Fountain’s troubles are the least of Claire and Tess’ worries as they sit and wait by the tennis court for the Ryan brothers. Excited to hit some tennis balls, Claire quickly runs to the tennis court as soon as the brothers arrive, but Nick and Alex has a score to settle amongst each other that Alex with his strong muscular arms picks Claire up, puts her over his shoulder and carries her out of the court like a bale of hay. Tess having noticed that her sister had put on some of her perfume is thrilled at her sister’s uncharacteristic attempt at flirting. Soon after, it is she who shows interest on the scarred Ryan, Nick. Much to her chagrin, Claire rains on her parade when she informs her sister that she is supposed to marry Nick.

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