Totally Completely Fine (Season 1), Episode 2: The second episode of Stan Original takes Vivan on another quest of self-doubt. Since it’s very early in her saving people phase, she is trying hard not to fail again and disappoint herself and everyone around her. However, things are not as white and black for her as anyone else, and in spite of trying to break out of her mold, trying to understand the needs of others in difficult for her.
The episode, titled ‘The Best Offence is the Fence,’ follows up on the premiere with Vivan taking Dane’s help to understand the art of suicide prevention. On the other hand, John is struggling to let his family get involved with his new Boyfriend, Alejandro.
Totally Completely Fine (Season 1), Episode 2 Recap:
Episode 2: The Best Offence is the Fence
The episode opens with Vivan having flashbacks of her parent’s accident when she is greeted by the paperman. They have a brief chat where the man tries to sell her a subscription to a newspaper by portraying it as a great grief healer. Vivan, who is sitting outside the house to keep an eye out for possible jumpers, gets back to the house and again asks Amy to call someone and not stick around irritating her. She wants her to leave as her obsessive nature of sticking to people is getting to Vivan.
This is when Dane arrives, and the two of them get out of the house for some suicide prevention lessons. One of the first things he tells the two of them is that they are not trained professionals who know how to handle a possible situation that might get out of hand. He tells them that their job is to provide comfort and partial assistance until professional help arrives.
While Vivan tries initially, she starts losing interest in Dane’s process, which feels too ‘full-on.’ When she finally jokes about a possible scenario of a jumper, Dane gets angry and says that she is not well-equipped to take this dire situation seriously. Disappointed with her behavior, Dane asks her to call him when someone shows up and not do all the things that he wasted his time teaching her. Vivan gets disdained in herself and then decides to put on some barbed wire on the fence to the ledge, to avoid anyone getting there.
This is when his brother Hendrix arrives with their grandfather’s ashes. He tells her that he is having a hard time with death, his life, and the juice fast that he has imposed on herself. He asks her to keep the ashes with her. Amy then introduces herself to him and tells him how she has been developing Walt’s tea room with a plan of her own. This makes Hendrix think that it’s a perfect opportunity to let John know about Vivan’s noble intentions to keep the house and not sell it. He thinks that hearing this would make him proud of her and see her in a better light. He also suggests that the three of them should have the ashes ceremony for Walt at the property. Vivan tells him that it’s not a good idea to do it because John is pissed at her because of the coke incident at the funeral, but Hendrix counters her by saying that it is John who wants to do the ashes ceremony there.
Vivan is surprised but bids him bye because she has more pressing issues – including Amy’s overwhelming presence. She has had it with Amy and her antiques, so when Vivian sees her wearing her dead grandpa’s sweater, she gets mad and asks her if she can call someone and go to them. Just when they are having this heated discussion, Amy’s parents drive into the property.
Hendrix, who has always been the balancing factor between Vivian and John, calls John and tells him how Vivian has decided to have the ‘ashes ceremony’ for Grandad. While he tells Vivian that John has planned the ceremony and wants to do it at Walt’s house. Basically, Hendrix is trying to bridge the gap between his siblings, where they forgive one another for what happened at the funeral.
Meanwhile, at John’s apartment, the massage chair, along with a few old clothes that belonged to Walt, arrives. These are the things that John inherited, and Alejandro, his boyfriend, tells him how he wants to use the old clothes to make a blanket for John’s siblings because it symbolizes unison in his culture. John is pretty apprehensive about this idea because it might include him having to allow Alejandro into his life with his family.
Back at the house, Amy’s parents are trying to figure out why she ran out from the wedding in spite of having a perfect match in George. While they are having their talk, Amy’s mother tells Vivian how Amy is a jumper who is scared of any commitment. Amy, who is still not sure if she should go back, claims that she is like a sidekick to Vivan, handling the disturbed people from committing suicide. Vivian, who has had enough of her, says that she doesn’t need her since Dane is now helping her out. This doesn’t leave Amy with any other choice but to leave with her parents.
Just when Vivian thinks she is at peace, she hears an old woman stuck in the amateur fence that she had put up for possible jumpers. She thinks that the old woman is trying to commit suicide, so she asks for her name. The woman introduces herself as Beatrice, and Vivian takes her into the house, where we get to know that the frantic woman has been there in the house before.
She tells Vivian that she has been coming to the house to have tea with Walt every Wednesday since he talked her down the first time she was sad and wanted to end her life. She also says that she has come here today to check if Vivian is competent to take over Walt’s legacy. This angers Vivian, who is not happy that Beatrice was at the fence because she wants to test her. So she asks Beatrice to leave, who accepts but says that she wishes to get high before leaving because it is good for her knees. Vivian is surprised to notice that his grandpa has weed and decides to join Beatrice in smoking up.
Back at John’s house, Alejandro is trying to find enough clothes to make the blanket, and even though John is supportive of this ordeal, we can clearly see that he is panicking. To distract himself, he asks Alejandro to have sex on her grandpa’s clothes, but before they can proceed, the doorbell rings.
It is Hendrix at the door with her daughters. He has come to John to talk about his misery of doing the juice fast and how everything in his life is going topsy-turvy, especially things with his wife. John, who is not interested, still sits there to take care of the babies, making us aware of the fact that John is like a listener for his brother, but he is also frustrated by doing it constantly. This is when Alejandro comes in and starts to have a good conversation with Hendrix, only to be cut short by John, who hands some blood sugar supplements to his brother and asks him to leave.
Back at the house, Vivan and Beatrice get to know each other after getting high. They talk about Walt and the barbed wire. Additionally, Beatrice also brings up the time when Vivian tried to kill herself the previous year. Basically, she wants to know what Vivian is scared about, but the young girl doesn’t want to reveal it to her. This is where Vivian tells her why she put up the barbed wire after not being able to complete her edu with Dane. Beatrice tells her that all she needs to do is be human in front of a human who is suffering. She doesn’t have to know all the intellectual jargon to talk people down.
Beatrice once again brings up the point of Vivian having a tough time letting go of her parent’s accident. Vivian accepts that she did try to off herself once last year and that Walt was the only one who knew about it. She also tells her how she saw a psychologist who prescribed her pills, but those pills just made her feel less but did not allow her to get out of her head. Just then, as they are high as hell, they think that Walt’s ern is talking to them – as if talking about something (the voice is actually Amy’s, who is calling out for help from outside the house).
Totally Completely Fine (Season 1), Episode 2 Ending, Explained;
What does Vivian do with Walt’s ashes?
While they are high, Beatrice and Vivian go out to the ledge and talk some more about how Walt was such an important part of their life. Vivan also apologizes for being shitty at his funeral and promises to be better than the barbed wire for the people who need her help. The two of them bid their final goodbyes and throw the ashes out on the ledge and into the ocean.
Back at John’s home, he has a panic attack, and Alejandro helps him out. This is when Alejandro asks him why he has been trying to deliberately not let him mingle with his siblings. John then confesses that he is scared that his family might disappoint him more in front of them, and that is why he has been avoiding letting him meet them properly.
Back at the house, Beatrice leaves when people from her hospital come looking for her. Additionally, Amy is back at the house and tells Vivian that she jumped again – this time from her parent’s moving car. Amy says some more mambo-jumbo about the brolga leading her to the house again.
Vivian, who feels genuinely concerned this time, asks Amy what is bothering her and what she is scared of. Amy doesn’t directly point out anything, but Vivian feels like it’s best if she stays with her.
As they are about to go into the house, Dane and his mother come rushing, asking about the call Vivian made when Beatrice was there. Vivian says that she did not need him in the end and that she handled the situation on her own.
The episode ends with John trying to do his bit and calling Vivian to tell her that he wants to come for the ashes ceremony. While Vivian is relieved that his brother wishes to connect with her, the absence of the ashes really leaves her feeling low again. John also asks her to be nice and not disappoint him again in front of Alejandro.
What will Vivian do to not disappoint John once again? Will John be able to let Alejandro into his personal life with his close family? Let’s wait for the next episode and find out.
