Summary
“No Exit” depicts a nightmarish attempt at creating a perfect moment that’ll resonate with parents everywhere.
This recap of Breeders Season 1, Episode 7, “No Exit”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
One of the first things to disappear when you have kids is the ability to just leave the house whenever you like. Every jaunt to the shops or the park or wherever becomes a minor military operation, and that’s what Breeders Episode 7 burns for fuel as Paul (Martin Freeman) tries to get Ally (Daisy Haggard) to the location of his perfect proposal under the guise of taking the class bear out for a picture.
This, as we learn in “No Exit”, is the second time Paul has proposed — the first attempt, immediately after Luke’s birth and with a symbolic birch ring, was unsuccessful. Flashbacks reveal this information piecemeal as Paul becomes increasingly irate at the lackadaisical approach the rest of the family are taking, blissfully unaware of his plans. Luke (George Wakeman) has developed a defecation complex which means he has to use the toilet alone, slowly, and with musical accompaniment, and Ava (Jayda Eyles) has lost her favorite toy giraffe. Ally, naturally, thinks now’s the best time to put a wash on.
In amongst the flashbacks, Paul continues to make secretive calls to a crucial factor in his plan who’re becoming increasingly fed up with his delays, and he only gets more irrational when everyone finally gets ready and a storm begins. Talking to the weather in fury is a classic parent move, and it’s a laugh to see a defeated Paul engage in the age-old practice.
This is all, obviously, in part an overreaction from Paul about Ally receiving condolences and flowers over Michael’s death from her ex-husband, Liam. This is something he has never been okay with and today’s his perfect opportunity to rectify this lingering anxiety, not that Jim (Alun Armstrong) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon) are much help. They arrive dripping wet instead of running interference as Paul had imagined, and after Paul eventually storms out to the park alone in sheer frustration, it’s Jim who spills the beans to Ally about what he was intending. She joins him, slightly amused, but doesn’t find this ring — Michael’s, which Paul has had “ensmallened” — as funny as the birch one. She slips it on her finger. Time to go home, now?
