Offspring

Channel: Ten
Day & time: Sunday, 8.40 p.m.
To watch full episodes of Offspring, CLICK HERE

Originally penned as a telemovie, Offspring is a series about family ties and relationships. It’s what you would expect of Aussie drama, with solid acting and a wealth of plotlines to follow, but in the end there’s just something that lets it down. Is there all too much going on? Is it too up itself? Or is it just plain old boring?

The funny thing is that there is a lot of pedigree behind the venture. The script is written by John Edwards and Debra Oswald, both of whom wrote The Secret Life of Us. There is a strong cast of actors who all play their roles appropriately. Each character is explored independently, but all stories tie back together, as any family should. And the one who acts as their support is Nina.

Nina Proudman, played by Asher Keddie, is the nucleus at the centre of everything that can and does go wrong. She is an anxiety-ridden, weak-willed woman, but one we can easily feel sympathy (and empathy) for. She has to deal with a playboy father (John Waters), a wild and snarky sister (Kat Stewart), and a compulsive liar of a brother (Richard Davies). Of course, you can just imagine the problems that arise when they put their issues on Nina.

This is where wires cross, and the show starts to smoke from over-heating. Nina’s father turns out to also be the father of Nina’s friend’s (Deborah Mailman) baby, who Nina also happens to deliver (she’s an obstetrician, you see). Then there is the hot new paediatrician (Don Hany) that Nina falls desperately (and rather quickly) for, but who has a secret that will burden any chance of a relationship. And finally there is Nina’s ex-husband who is the biggest psycho in the world; he blows up anything from chairs to cars in his attempts at a marriage revival. Actually, that’s not final, because there is also the distraught mother, angry doctor and bumbling work colleague. That’s a lot of ground to cover.

Somehow, Offspring manages to keep it all together. Suitable editing means that we cut between each of the stories and still manage to have an idea about what is happening. Individual stories are intriguing, with thought going into all of them. There isn’t a true focus on Nina, but more on how a family works together and reacts to outside threats (the obvious one being the explosives expert ex). But to me the character is also a threat to the show; while he is well-rounded, the fact that he blows things up is just a tad unbelievable. This ‘quirk’ seems thrown in for nothing more than extra thrills. But hey, everyone needs to be as eccentric as possible, right?

That brings me to the writing. While the actors make the most of it and bring their own touch to the roles, in general the script feels immature. Some scenes just meander over petty lines, such as an argument between Nina and her sister. There isn’t enough substance in a lot of the dialogue, and it often takes us round in circles. Deliberate awkwardness can work, but for the most part it leaves the viewer feeling flat.

Converse to the uninspired writing is the refreshing use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and Nina’s inner monologue. Scrap that — those are horribly unoriginal, but at least in Offspring they work. Nina’s anxieties, fears, and hopes are all played out in fantasy, and they add a bit of flair to her character portrayal. However, at the same time they add an element of pretentiousness to the feel of the show, like someone saying, “Check this show out, it’s hip!” It might be forced, but it does draw us closer to Nina.

In the end there is drama, and that’s why we watch shows such as Offspring. It’s tied up nicely, even if it does try a little too hard with special effects and overdone techniques. The result is something a little boring (despite the explosions) as you can’t quite get a grasp on something firm. The goods are there and delivered with a pretty bow, but there isn’t a lot of satisfaction to be had.

Thomas Wilson