Ep 4. Episode Four

In episode four of the Australian television series Cloudstreet, tensions rise within the two families inhabiting a large, rundown house in Perth during the 1940s and 1950s. The Lambs and the Pickles are still struggling to adjust to living together after a near-death experience that threw them together. The episode opens with Quick Lamb, one of the main characters, announcing that he's skipped school to go fishing with his father. Meanwhile, Lester Pickles, the patriarch of the Pickles family, becomes increasingly concerned about his job prospects as a door-to-door salesman of cleaning supplies.

As the episode progresses, we see that the tensions between the Lambs and the Pickles are reaching a boiling point. When the families gather for a Sunday lunch, a drunken Sidney Pickles starts a fight with Sam Pickles, his brother. The fight quickly escalates, and Cecil Pickles, the youngest member of the family, is injured in the fracas. This event sets off a series of confrontations between the two families, and serves as a tipping point for the rest of the season.

Throughout the episode, the struggles of the Lambs and Pickles are contrasted with their past lives. We see flashbacks of both families before they moved to Perth. We see the Lambs living in rural Western Australia, with Quick and his siblings running around in the fields while their father Lester works as a shearer. We also see the Pickles living in a city apartment, with their daughter Rose running around and Sidney working as a sales assistant at a department store. These moments of nostalgia provide context for the characters' current struggles, and help us understand the motivations of the characters in the present.

One of the main themes of the episode is the role of religion and superstition in the lives of the characters. The Lambs are devout Catholics, while the Pickles are more inclined towards superstition and folk traditions. This tension comes to a head when Dolly Pickles, the matriarch of the Pickles family, becomes convinced that the house they live in is cursed. She consults a spiritualist, who advises her to perform a ritual to appease the spirits of the house. Meanwhile, Lester is questioning his own faith, and wondering whether his troubles are a result of a lack of belief.

As the episode comes to a close, we see the characters grappling with their own mortality. Sam Lamb, Quick's father, is diagnosed with cancer, and Quick must confront the fact that he may lose his father. Meanwhile, Dolly Pickles has a vision of her own death, which sets off a spiritual crisis.

Overall, episode four of Cloudstreet is a dramatic and emotional installment in the series. It sets up the conflicts that will define the rest of the season, while exploring themes of family, religion, and mortality. The strong writing and powerful performances from the cast make this episode a standout in an already excellent series.