H2O: Just Add Water 1×07: Moon Spell

“Moon Spell” is another one of my least favorite episodes, though this is the first episode of H2O: Just Add Water where we get to see the girls react to the moon…which I think is a televised metaphor for menstruation. 👀

You can watch H2O for free on YouTube. I also embed the full-length episodes on each episode’s recap before the spoiler alert.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT! This is a recap of H2O, episode 7 of season one, “Moon Spell”. The show is no longer active; proceed at your own discretion.

Tense

Emma’s preparing for her dad’s surprise birthday party at home. She tells Elliot the black balloons are wrong because the mood is supposed to be happy and cheerful.

Cleo and Rikki walk in, with the latter saying, “Welcome to my gothic world.” Emma doesn’t think it’s funny.

Emma instructs Cleo to write down that her dad needs to deliver the best fish he has by 7:45pm. Rikki notes that Emma seems tense as she grinds her teeth; Emma calls it a smile.

Emma yells at Elliot for only using yellow and black balloons, saying, “If you want something done right, you’ve gotta do it yourself.”

She hands Rikki and Cleo the night’s itinerary, which has the entire night scheduled down to the minute. There’s a 30-minute slot for her to read her speech. 🥴 She’s timed it at approximately 26 minutes and 45 seconds.

Rikki calls it a battle plan rather than a party. Emma needs to test her speech. She starts reading her speech to Cleo and Rikki. Her speech starts at the beginning, from when Emma was a baby.

Moon’s eye

Miss Chatham warns Cleo at the Marine Park to never talk to the sea perch, because those fish can’t be trusted. Cleo doesn’t understand why she’d ever talk to fish.

Miss Chatham warns Cleo to not look at the full moon’s eye or its reflection. When it’s out, they shouldn’t touch water no matter what.

Emma calls for Cleo. By the time Cleo looks back to Miss Chatham, she’s gone. Rikki and Emma didn’t see anyone; Cleo relays what Miss Chatham said.

Cleo thinks there’s something different about her, while Rikki thinks she’s just an old lady and Emma shows off her shoes.

Byron greets Emma as he walks by; Rikki teases her, and Emma dismisses it as nothing.

On my own

At home, Emma’s mum is proud of her for throwing the party together. Emma wanted to do it on her own, without her mum’s help.

Her mum thinks the party will be remembered for a long time and kisses Emma on the cheek.

Beware the full moon

At the party, Cleo can’t stop thinking about what Miss Chatham said: “Beware the full moon.”

“We’re mermaids, not werewolves.” ~Rikki

Emma greets everyone, including Zane’s father, Dr. Bennett, and his father’s girlfriend, Candy. Lewis walks in after Zane and Miriam.

Emma assigns Lewis to door duty whilst she gets drinks. In the kitchen, she’s distracted by the full moon and mesmerized by its reflection in punch.

Emma’s mum distracts her from the spell. Emma takes a tray of food around to the guests, though she eats it instead. She offers Miriam an appetizer she herself just bit out of.

Emma: You look way too young to be Zane’s father’s girlfriend.

Candy: I beg your pardon?

Emma: I guess you’re just after the money, though.

Zane laughs as Emma walks by. Rikki’s concerned WTF is up with her friend, but Emma shrugs her off.

Harrison Bennett wishes he had a daughter who cared about him the way Emma cares about her father; she points out his nose hair. Aunt Thea overhears and tries to see for herself as Rikki pulls Emma to the side.

In the kitchen, Emma picks up a bottle of water and pours it out.

“I love the look of water.” ~Emma

The guests watch in shock. Zane’s dad, Harrison, chuckles.

Cleo tells everyone that Emma’s stressed from putting the party together. Emma asks Aunt Thea if she stole their picnic rug to make her skirt. Cleo pulls Emma outside for fresh air.

Outside, Emma points out how weird people look because their legs don’t look right. Meanwhile, fish are “sensibly designed”. Emma requests a cheese sandwich on rye bread with sardines — without the cheese and the bread.

Cleo leaves Emma, who is once again mesmerized by the moon. Emma dives into the water from the dock.

Surprise!

Emma’s father arrives home and is surprised by the guests. Her parents wonder where she went.

Cleo struggles to open sardines in the kitchen. Rikki offers to help and is surprised that Cleo left Emma outside by herself.

Emma swims in the ocean by herself, near Mako Island. Rikki and Cleo find her shoes left on the dock.

Cleo knows something’s not right. Lewis is relieved to find the two on the dock and asks about Emma. Cleo is mesmerized by the full moon before she can finish answering him. Rikki, too.

Lewis smirks and raises his hand towards Rikki as the clouds cover the moon, and she stops him. He apologizes and says they started acting weird once the moon came out.

Cleo realizes the old woman was trying to warn them about. Rikki notes that the first night at the moon pool was a full moon as well. Lewis is confused what they’re even talking about when Emma pops her head up to the surface and insists they join her.

Rikki instructs Lewis to pull her out.

“ME? Why’s it always have to be me?!” ~Lewis

Neither Rikki nor Cleo can pull Emma out the water, because they’ll turn into mermaids. Emma begs the girls to go to Mako Island with her.

“It’s the most wonderful place. It’s like an underwater wonderland. We could all live down there forever.” ~Emma

Lewis relents promises they’ll go there with her — she just needs to grab his hand and show him the way. He pulls her after she takes his hand, but she pulls him into the water and laughs. Lewis comes to the surface and uses Emma’s tail for support.

Interesting party

In Emma’s backyard, Rikki attempts to dry Emma off to no avail. Emma’s dry, so why is she still a mermaid? Cleo blames the full moon, like the old lady had said.

Aunt Thea overhears them in the backyard. Rikki and Cleo distract her until Emma pushes the greenery away and invites Aunt Thea to Mako Island.

Lewis pushes the leaves away to say Emma’s not herself tonight, then disappears behind them and forces Emma away from the view.

Aunt Thea is livid and curious as to how Emma’s parents, Neil and Lisa, are raising her. She leaves.

The girls go back to Emma, who’s starving. They give Emma the sardines and are disgusted by how eagerly Emma eats them.

Rikki and Cleo leave Emma in a hot tub while they steam-dry Lewis so they can figure out the rest of the party.

Emma calls out to Byron, who’s just arrived at the party and decided to enter it via her backyard. (Looks like a plot device trapped in a character, but whatever.)

She encourages him to come closer and closer; he asks if she’s been eating sardines. 🤢 Elliot witnesses them kissing.

He rushes in to tell Cleo he’s found Emma outside in the spa, kissing Byron. Rikki and Cleo rush outside to break them up.

Tasteless humor

Lewis brings a wheelchair for them to use to sneak Emma up to her bedroom. She squeezes Byron’s butt as she’s pushed by, and he thinks it was Cleo. 🥴

Emma forces Lewis to stop the wheelchair as they pass Zane and Miriam kissing so she can freeze their lips together.

Lisa sees the group and says it’s time for Emma’s speech. Cleo decides to do the speech for her as Rikki and Lewis push Emma into the bathroom.

Lisa and Neil encourage Elliot to go grab the fish trays from the bathroom as Cleo struggles through the speech. 😶 He runs into Lewis and Rikki, and asks if they’ve seen Emma.

In the bathroom, she uncovers a foil-wrapped tray of seafood.

Cleo shares how “thoughtful” Neil is, like the time when he made her a cheese sandwich when she was 12 and she vomited it up because she’s lactose intolerant. 😅

Emma scarfs down lobster and crab.

Elliot asks Rikki and Lewis how he’s going to get the seafood platters out if Emma’s having alone time in the bathroom. Lewis grabs foil-covered trays from the bathroom to give to Elliot while Emma watches with a wide grin. She burps as he leaves.

Cleo finishes up her speech. Lisa directs the guests into the kitchen for dinner. Emma is pushed into her bedroom; Rikki and Lewis leave to cover for her.

Byron passes by in the hallway for some invalid reason, and Emma encourages him to come closer once again. Aunt Thea catches them kissing, because of course she does.

Cleo, Rikki and Lewis step into the hallway. Byron leaves for dinner, as does Aunt Thea. Emma scoots across the floor to follow.

Emma’s bedroom was a bad idea. Lewis remembers he has a key for the JuiceNet Cafe, because Wilfred hired him to fix the internet connection.

Lisa and Neil uncover the foil plates to find the fish eaten. The guests are disappointed and appalled. Aunt Thea thinks Emma needs “a good dose of old-fashioned discipline”.

Neil and Lisa walk into Emma’s room for answers, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Stuck like this

Morning comes, though the full moon is still out. The trio and Lewis awake at the JuiceNet Cafe the next morning.

Cleo and Rikki are tired, having not slept on the chairs since they had to watch Emma. Lewis slept in a booth.

Cleo ponders what will become of Emma if she never transforms back into a human. Lewis recommends the circus.

The full moon sets and Emma wakes up, transformed back into a human. Emma’s confused about how she wound up there.

She returns home and apologizes to Neil for what happened. She stops him from cleaning, as she’s hired a cleaning company to take care of that. Emma thanks him for bringing out the best in her.

At the JuiceNet Cafe, Emma says she never wants to experience the moon spell again because she doesn’t even remember exactly what she did. Byron walks up to thank her for last night and let her know she was “the world’s best lips”.

Emma chokes on her drink and begs her friends to tell her what he meant by that.

My thoughts

Byron is proved to be even more of a pointless character in this episode, because his sole existence is to be Emma’s crush.

Which also makes him being excited to see Cleo right after kissing Emma, because he thinks Cleo pinched his bum even worse.

He exists for literally no other reason than to be eye candy for the girls. Every time I rewatch this show, Byron feels like such a copout from the writing team.