Episode 2
Episode 2 of Last Days of the Space Age titled “She’s the Boss Now” starts with the pageant contestants from various parts of the world coming to Perth for the upcoming competition. The USSR representative, Svetlana Kulkova gets bullied by other English-speaking contestants but she holds her head high and counters with grace.
Mick takes his colleague to the airport where he bribes the security to get exclusive footage of the contestants arriving in the USA. He ignores the equal rights female protestors to capture the glamourous Miss Universe contestants. After landing, Svetlana is interviewing with the media but she gets doused in red paint. Mick notices her discomfort and stops his cameraman from recording her.
At the Bissett house, Judy has her hands full as she helps Eileen with a haircut, and makes breakfast for Tilly, Mia and Tony. Tony is less than helpful but Judy tries to help iron his shirt while getting ready for work. Judy tells Bob that she is going to be interviewed by the cops for the brick attack.
Seeing how stressed his daughter is, Bob mocks Tony for not being of any help to her. In private, Judy asks Tony to keep work away from their personal lives and Tony agrees. Meanwhile, Jono notices how his mother is not being herself as it is the birthday of his brother – Van who has been missing in a refugee camp in Malaysia.
Outside the factory, Gazza riles Tony up by saying that they need Judy to help them by sneaking confidential information that they could use to their leverage.
Meanwhile, the policemen interview Judy about the brick incident. The cops ask her to dismiss the incident and not to make much out of the attack. She is hurt by the suggestion and leaves. Fran tells Judy that this is all part of her job that she has signed up for.
Eileen takes Bilya to the high school to have him enrolled there. Bilya manages to impress the principal, shocking his grandmother. Mick visits Svetlana’s hotel room and asks her manager – Yvgeny to help him get an interview with her. Yvgeny convinces her to take the interview with Mick.
At school, Bilya meets Tilly in the library and the two catch up. He offers to help Tilly send letters to her favourite astronauts. After school, Mia and Jono are walking on the beach when Jono brings up the kiss. Mia asks Jono to keep the kiss a secret from Tilly who is talking to Bilya. Bilya gets racially profiled by the cops.
At the school, Gazza and Tony get together for a parent-teacher night along with all the other parents. Gazza tells Tony that since he does not wish to seek Judy’s help, he is not useful to them in their protest. Gazza kicks him out of the union. Tilly runs to Eileen who shows up at the police station where the cop was taking Bilya in.
Eileen accuses the cop of racially profiling a teenager without cause and takes Bilya home. On the other hand, Judy is having a hard time maintaining her past friendship with her colleagues now that she has to side with Wayne. She gets held back at work and gets late for Tilly and Mia’s parent-teacher night.
Tilly’s teacher tries to undermine her talent to be an astronaut but Tony tries to stand up for her. At the bar, Mick offers the only tape recording of Svetlana being doused in red paint in exchange for an interview with her. Meanwhile, some of the other contestants show up at Svetlana’s room to cheer her up after the attack.
In the car, Tony and Judy discuss Tilly’s ambitions and Judy mentions how the factory was downsizing. Judy states that she will not be able to save his job. She asks him to be realistic and take the severance pay which could buy him time to look for a different job. Tony gets pissed at Judy for not being able to help him.
Judy tells Tony that she was going above and beyond with her paycheck to keep a roof over their heads and to provide for her family. Tony gets defensive and blames Judy for taking away his job.
At the same time, Bilya joins Tilly as they stargaze. Bilya is shocked to learn that the girl he likes – Poppy is the daughter of the cop who arrested him. Tilly and Bilya bond over their mutual fascination with outer space. Jono’s mother gets an alarming call from a refugee camp in Malaysia which mentions Van. She is excited but Jono’s father asks her to stop holding out hope as the call is probably fake.
Last Days of the Space Age Episode 2 ends with Tilly reading one of her letters to Bilya while Jono watches his parents set fireworks in memory of their lost son. Mia waxes her surfboard while Tony walks home thinking about his conversation with Judy.
The Episode Review
Oh, how infuriating it is to see Tony act like an entitled prick while Judy does her best to make ends meet. If he were realistic, he could have taken up a job with Mick. This could make him a lot of money considering the massive pull entertainment news has amongst the masses. He could have saved his family which would also help him be the man of the house while Judy could quit her job and stayed at home.
It is sad to see what is happening with Jono’s family as well as the treatment Bilya and Eileen are getting due to their racial background. I worry that Tilly and Bilya will fall in love making it a complicated family tree with their respective grandparents – Bob and Eileen hooking up.
One can assume that Svetlana will develop feelings for Mick who is only being kind to her. However, knowing that he is homosexual, he may be trying to pursue her to get ahead in his entertainment career while keeping his sexuality a secret given the show is set in the 70s.
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