Alo lives a nomadic carefree existence, which doesn’t sit well with his strict farming mother. Seems his life of weed smoking, partying and elaborate wanking over Cathy Barry eating a banana has been getting in the way of his studies at Roundview. So, his parents have decided the only way to instil some discipline into their layabout son is to take him out of college and get him working on the farm. Yeah, I know. Just go with it. But Alo is faced with the reality of his life choices when his dad suffers a heart spasm in front of him. And he realises that he really does need to buck his ideas up. The party’s over and he needs to grow up. Like last week, this episode is a game of two halves. There’s the first half, which manages to cram in an elongated sequence with Alo spanking away in front of his laptop with porn star Cathy Barry, proving beyond any reasonable doubt that the West Country accent will never be thought of as erotic. Then there’s the thoughtful second half, where we have great little moments like Alo wanting to vent it all out to Rich, only to hold back when he sees his friend’s happiness. If only the plotting wasn’t so clunky. For a start, it’s a bit odd that, to teach Alo some discipline, they have to take him out of Roundview College. Also, it seems this series is starting to retread its own ground. Alo’s mother is domineering and strict, just like Liv’s mother, and she’s an over the top bully, like Leon Levan. So, after an impressive run of episodes, this series looks like it’s running out of steam. On its own, this is a perfectly fine episode. But in the wider context of the series, it’s a bit of a letdown. Will Merrick is totally watchable as Alo and it’s great to see him have a whole episode to himself. But if only there were more scenes with him and Rich. They make a great duo, and it’s a shame to see them in such brief chunks. Read our review of episode 5 here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
