Chapter One Lanolin – The series opens with a woman, Birdie Bell (Asher Keddie), in a bathing suit at the beach while a narrator briefly discusses burdens and how they are passed along to those you meet in life. Birdie is then shown arriving in a city for what appears to be an arranged date with Joe Burt (David Wenham). She soon receives word that he’s arrived early, ordered them a bottle of wine, and managed to run into an old associate, Allan (Yuchen Wang).
After a brief introduction, a toast, and a quick word about renewables, Allan is off to catch a flight, and Birdie and Joe find themselves alone. Although she claims to love the country, Birdie appears to be a bit taken by the fact that he is a farmer. Apparently, he still dabbles in real estate here and there. Birdie appears to become a bit uncomfortable when he casually brushes her hand at one point in their discussion. It is merely minutes after this that she loses her nerve altogether and leaves, telling him that she made a mistake with the online dating thing.
In the following days, Joe reaches out again with offers of another meal but Birdie doesn’t even bother fully reading his request. That very same day, Birdie also turns down a colleague’s offer for a drink after work. While feeding the homeless later that evening Birdie learns that Pastor Trevor (Peter Paltos) has gotten Tina (Suzi Dougherty) to agree to speak with her.
Birdie and Tina’s meeting is brief but reveals Tina as a terminally ill drug addict with a successful daughter. Montana (Shannon Berry) is not only now a doctor but she volunteers for Doctors Without Borders. That’s as far as the discussion goes before Tina begins inquiring about Birdie’s life. Birdie receives another dinner request from Joe but his mention of a VIP stirs something inside her this time. She responds by telling him that he’s completely misunderstood who she is and hates being recognized by restaurateurs. Much to her surprise, he claims to hate publicity just as much and spends several minutes citing examples where he has explicitly avoided social recognition.
Their shared distaste for publicity and a later visit from her mother, Margeaux (Heather Mitchell), inspires Birdie to give dating Joe another shot. Birdie is much warmer this time around and even invites him to her friend, Anton’s (Nicholas Brown) bar after the play. After an extremely brief introduction, Anton pours them a pinot and leaves them alone where they discuss everything from his children to her interview with Tina. When Birdie mentions Tina being a member of the All Angels Chapel, Joe immediately recognizes the building. Much to Birdie’s surprise, he claims he nearly bought it but backed out once he learned what the opposing bidder was using the property for. She surprises him when she inquires about Eagle’s Nest and his ex-business partner, Peter Van Rotterdam (Greg Stone). After claiming that he and Peter spent far too much time together, the evening ends.
Joe and Birdie continue to trade texts the next day until out of the blue, he asks her to meet his mother, who just happens to be arriving from New Zealand that very afternoon. She surprises herself by accepting the offer, but the flight gets delayed several times due to bad weather later that evening. However, before this, Birdie just happens to be walking by The Falconer (Anton’s bar) when he sees Joe inside with a younger lady. She immediately calls Anton to ask who Joe is with but doesn’t receive a reply. It is only minutes later when Joe tells her about the flight being delayed again and running into his sister-in-law. Although she receives several more texts about delays, she eventually falls asleep at home alone.
Birdie still hasn’t heard from Joe the following day when she arrives to babysit for Anton. Due to Anton being in such a rush, she fails to learn much more about Joe’s sister-in-law other than she seemed normal. It isn’t until Tovey (Spencer McLaren) and Anton return from their event that Birdie hears from Joe. He claims that family problems and offers to make it up to her next week with a visit to his ‘shack.’
That first night at the cabin, Birdie regales Joe with tales from her babysitting adventures with Rory (Annemieke Kedmenec). He appears to enjoy them. After laughs, good conversation, and several glasses of wine, it doesn’t take them long to end up naked by the roaring fire. The episode ends with her catching him a lie.
Fake Review
Being just the first episode, I don’t want to be too critical. That said, I enjoyed this much more than I would have ever imagined. It’s certainly not great, but there is something stirring about the format and Joe’s constant overlapping narrating. Although the synopsis reads like a contemporary love story, it’s much different than you would imagine. Despite the political agenda behind the homeless bits, I must say that I do find Tina’s story intriguing and would enjoy hearing more about her addiction and daughter. For now, I’m interested and would give the first episode a 5.5 out of 10.
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