Summary
“No Talking” sees Ally attempt to process her grief amid the noise, chaos, and distractions of life.
This recap of Breeders Season 1, Episode 6, “No Talking”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Breeders Episode 6, “No Talking”, is about grief, healing, and moving on; about trying to pause while life continues to play on fast-forward. Paul (Martin Freeman), Ally (Daisy Haggard), and Darren (Patrick Baladi) have driven into the countryside with the kids and Michael’s ashes to stay in Darren’s absurdly swanky rural house while Ally works out which idyllic local spot would be the best place to scatter her late father’s remains. But life seems determined to get in the way of her peaceful introspection. Luke (George Wakeman) and Ava (Jayda Eyles) won’t shut up, Paul won’t stop fussing, Darren won’t stop taking business calls, and a potential advertiser for Ally’s business is broadcasting on the radio since she was unavailable following Michael’s death.
This, as we learn in flashbacks, isn’t the only way Ally has tried to process her grief. She also visited a suspiciously young and, as it turned out, not entirely qualified therapist to discuss her issues, and occasionally Breeders Episode 6 flits back to those conversations. But most of “No Talking” consists of the gang rambling to various spots, such as an ancient henge and a quiet chapel, as Ally tries to focus against the chaos behind her.
It’s in the chapel where she properly loses it, berating everyone, but especially Darren, and his phone and his wellies and useless balls. As a consequence, they have to get the train back to London, where they’re accosted by an overeager conductor who wants them to move their urn since it’s in the way. Paul defends Ally as best he can, but she ultimately gets so sick of the argument that she tosses Michael’s ashes out of the window. Paul reckons him being scattered between two arbitrary points is probably quite fitting.
Is this a healthy way to deal with loss? Probably not. But it seems to work for Ally. Darren meets them at the train station, having driven twenty miles per hour above the speed limit for the entire journey in order to do so, just so he can apologize to Ally. She apologizes too, and they hug it out. “Is mummy allowed to cuddle Darren?” asks Luke. “Of course. She’s allowed to do anything she wants. But no, not really.” Paul is the miserable middle-aged husband in all of us.
But Ally is happy to have him, even if she’d like him to be sat completely still and in total silence. Relationships are beautiful things.
