The episode opens with a voiceover of Mary/Adelaide (Isla Fisher) responding to one of her reader’s questions – “Do I deserve happiness?” She uses her own tragedy to answer the question, which at the same time gives a nice recap of season 1’s biggest milestones. With that over, the action picks up with Mary walking down the aisle in a wedding gown to the waiting Gary (Josh Gard). When the string Quartet (Eda Talu/Nazli Eda Sendurgut/Sagar Nagaraj/Suraj Nagaraj/Kruz Senivudi) ends the wedding march and the Celebrant (Ben Ager) starts the vows, things go awry. A baby wolf busts from Mary’s stomach covering all those close in blood and mauling Gary. At the height of the hysteria, with Emma (Ariel Donoghue) in tears and screeching, Mary wakes in bed.
Watching from the basement steps, Mary suggests keeping the home as Gary scrubs a blood-covered floor. He asks how that would possibly work when they are hemorrhaging money on the construction of the new basement. Mary’s gurgling stomach puts an end to the dispute but starts another when Gary suggests an ultrasound. His encouragement to at least start on a nursery doesn’t go over any better.
At work on his laptop, Gary watches videos of wolf births until his 10 o’clock appointment shows up. Caroline (Robin McLeavy) arrives prepared with all her receipts and activity statements in order. As he goes through them a photo of Emma leads to a discussion about the 6-month pregnant Mary. The scene abruptly ends when she congratulates him and asks if he knows what they are having.
Mary oversees the construction of the new basement from afar. When the plasterer (Bjorn Stewart) mentions this being his first basement job and offers a sneak peek, she says Americans love basements and adds that Gary wants the unveiling to be a surprise. Turning around, she notices Emma clutching at a blue blanket and apologizes for not throwing it away. Emma says she can do it and proceeds outside where Mary joins her and asks how she’s feeling about tomorrow. When Emma remains silent, Mary suggests they take a break and end up at the beach.
Enjoying the waves from shore, Mary uses the proper technique for escaping a rip tide to relate to life. (Not swimming against it. Just letting it play out). Mary assures her that high school and friends will be a good thing. Emma’s response is to point out how much she likes the Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go With The Flow” track. They enjoy a quick swim before returning home.
The next morning, Emma models her new school uniform in her bedroom mirror before she’s dropped off by Gary and Mary. While Emma asks for Mary to pick her up at 3 o’clock on the dot, an impatient parent in the drop-off line lays on her horn. Mary flips her off as Gary pulls away.
Gary’s unveiling of the basement only manages to stress Mary further and while fleeing from the house, she has an awkward encounter with Olivia (Honour Latukefu), Ray (Anthony Taufa), and Sarah (Emma Lung) who just happens to be dropping off some spare baby things and a business card for Dr. Peter Stenning (Geoff Morrell). Olivia pushes forward into the house while Gary tries to explain away Mary’s strange behavior. Gary becomes frustrated himself when Olivia comes back out of the house with some of the chew toys from the basement and refers to the house as “monster house.” He claims he has a Zoom call to tend to and safely retreats inside.
Mary seeks comfort at the old house but arrives to find that the Real Estate Agent (Tessa Lind) has a viewing. Mary scares off the couple by pretending to be speaking with a friend on her cell phone and claiming that the basement was used nefariously. Once locked in the basement, she stews over Dr. Stenning’s business card until a beeping on her phone reminds her to fetch Emma. The school appears abandoned except for one other student whom Emma says bye to before joining Mary.
At a meeting with Dr. Stenning, Mary attempts to use a hectic social calendar to explain her need to avoid a full moon birth. Stenning says he won’t induce labor unless she’s late or some complications dictate the need. Gary asks about a C-section, which Mary appears to be on board with until she learns that the recovery will involve stitches. When asked she uses a fear of “busting open” as her excuse for wanting to avoid stitches. Interpreting her hesitancy as anxiety, Stenning suggests starting with an ultrasound followed by birthing classes. Mary quickly grows impatient and frustrated with the classes when one session leads to a parking lot argument with Gary. She claims that none of the classes apply to their situation. He reminds her that they could be having a human baby. When she points out that they could also be having a wolf, he says that’s why the ultrasound is so important. She doesn’t get a chance to respond thanks to Anna Pattinson’s (Sarah Armanious) unexpected invitation to an organic café around the corner. Mary tries to refuse while Gary immediately volunteers her.
At the café, conversations go on all around Mary as she stares glumly into space. This is until she awkwardly asks if they ever worry about their babies eating them from the inside out. Anna attempts to help by asking if Mary has had any strange cravings. Mary responds by claiming she needs to use the bathroom. After leaving the table, her attention is drawn to the café’s selection of raw chicken legs. She can’t resist and digs in from the comfort of her vehicle while being cautious about who sees her.
Returning from her outing, Mary tries to convince Gary that she’ll never be like the other mothers. She claims she doesn’t want to be either while he assumes the worse and asks what they said to her. She says it’s not what they say but what they do. The conversation doesn’t go any further thanks to a call from Emma’s new school that seems to trouble Gary.
After arriving at the school, they are quickly called into the principal’s (Caroline Brazier) office along with Sophia (Willow Speers) and her mother. Everyone is appalled as the principal explains the reason for the visit. Sophia backs the story while adding bits here and there. Mary notices Emma’s silence and mentions that no one has asked Emma’s side. After some reluctance, Mary convinces Emma to share that she was trying to stand up for Abigail (Audrey Nitschke). Sophie continues to deny the claims while her mother reminds the principal how much the family donates every year. This only makes Mary madder and she suggests bringing in Abigail to get her side of the story.
Apparently, that ends the dispute and on their way to the car, Gary can’t stop grinning and exclaiming about how cool the encounter was. At the car, they settle on takeout for dinner and Gary agrees to give Abigail a ride home.
Mary agrees to the ultrasound but panics when the sonographer (Deepka Ratra) rushes out of the exam room with claims that she needs to get some assistance. Jumping up from the table, she pulls a towel and homemade chloroform from her purse. She explains the escape plan as a stunned Gary tries to calm her while also asking about the chloroform. Dr. Lee (Andrew Johnston) and the sonographer return before things spin further out of control. He explains the authentication problems with their recently updated systems. Everything appears completely normal and the happy couple decides to wait on the sex of their new human baby.
Wolf Like Me Review
For a season premiere, it didn’t seem like a whole lot happened. Not that this was necessarily a negative. I appreciate the shorter run time and the staying on topic. Nearly everything that transpired seemed to be important with the building story and character development. Seeing Emma and Mary in new environments and how each handled them was cool. For me, the acting, the sappy romance, and some of the raunchy humor seem to be delivered perfectly. Despite the lack of mystery, action, and shorter run time, the series premiere didn’t appear to have much else going against it. I would give the episode 6.5 out of 10.
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