Big Mood – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Deeper

Big Mood Episode 3 begins with Maggie and Eddie watching A Beautiful Mind in bed together. Eddie suggests that Maggie go back on Lithium to treat her depression, but she is insistent on trying to cope without it. Eddie says it would get her mum off her back if she did go back on it, but Maggie insists she won’t change. 

Maggie goes to her psychiatrist to discuss her issues, but it turns out she isn’t there as she’s had a massive car accident and could be paralysed. In her place is Dr. Burrows, who insists she doesn’t come off the lithium, and informs her about the “Stability Triangle.” Maggie insists it’s impossible for her to write when she’s medicated, but Burrows reacts very angrily to her insistence on not being medicated and threatens to admit her. They agree on Maggie being off lithium for one more week, if she can prove that she has been ‘triangulated.’

Elsewhere, Eddie and Jay are at the bar and arguing over the future of the bar, with Eddie insisting she’s going to buy him out. After he leaves, Eddie’s old boyfriend Jonah turns up and apologises for the way he treated her in the past and wants another chance. 

Maggie meets with her agent, Vanessa, who tells her that nobody liked her play. To add to this, The Furlong has given her until the end of the week to complete the first draft of the play that has been due for months. Maggie claims her mental health problems are getting in the way. Maggie spots a leaflet on Vanessa’s desk for a mentor job for young writers and hatches a plan. 

Maggie meets up with a young writer called Jade, and gets her to write the first draft of a play for her that has to be 90 minutes. She says she can’t pay her, and the piece won’t be in her name, but it’ll be good experience. In reality, she wants this young writer to do the draft that she has been hired to submit to the Furlong and is using Jade, unbeknownst to her. 

Later on, Maggie decides to host an impromptu dinner party. Vanessa pops by, and Maggie manages to convince her to stay for a drink. Jade is hanging around uninvited and meets Vanessa, with Maggie trying to keep her from revealing her secret plan. 

Jonah sends Eddie a message saying “please answer my calls,” and when she doesn’t respond, he turns up outside the house and tells her he can help her save the bar. He says he’s changed and wants forgiveness, and they end up kissing. 

Back inside the house at the dinner party, Bryan and Maggie reveal they’ve been chatting on Tinder… for an hour. Later on, Bryan invites her to travel to Asia with her next week, with Maggie accepting. He then corrects her and tells her it’s actually Cambodia. Bryan is asked to leave by Maggie’s protective friends, and he leaves. 

Maggie is in bed crying and gets up to see Eddie return. Maggie tells her she’s still struggling and makes an emergency appointment to get back on her meds. 

Maggie meets with Burrows and tells her this is the most depressed she’s been in years. She says she wanted to think her way out of bipolar disorder but she can’t, and admits she doesn’t want to die. Burrows gives her a prescription, and she leaves. 

The episode ends with Maggie and Eddie walking down the street. Maggie confronts Eddie after she guesses that she slept with Jonah. They arrive at Maggie’s mum’s house, and she knocks on the door. She hugs her and reveals she’s back on her meds, which pleases her mum. Outside the house, Jonah messages Eddie to invite her around again for sex. 

The Episode Review

Big Mood episode 3 is another strong episode that mixes comedy and drama in equal measure and has a lot of interesting things to say about depression. It’ll resonate with a lot of people who suffer from mental health problems.

This episode sees Maggie trying to cope without her meds, and it all ends in literal tears, and you feel for the character with what she’s going through. There is a fast pace to the storytelling, which really works, and this one sticks the landing perfectly.