Loveday Writing

The pilot did cover everything mentioned above. The pilot kicks off with Grace delivering a baby, showing off her skills, nature and prowess as a midwife, as well as showing a young, pregnant woman walking around Sydney trying to get somewhere. After we’re introduced to the Birthing Centre’s new student midwife, Max (Ben O’Toole), the young woman, Sophia (Alexandra Jensen) and Grace finally meet when Sophia goes to see her about her pregnancy. When Grace asks her about her parents, Sophia subtlely lets her know that she is her daughter.

When Grace tells her best friend and Midwifery Unit Manager, Laney (Catherine Van-Davies) that she has daughter, while shocked, Laney informs her that she has a presentation to give to the St Brigid’s hospital board to secure more funding for the Birthing Centre. When Grace goes back into the exam room to tell Sophia, she is not there, Grace thinks she has left, only to find her in the hallway as she needed to use the bathroom.

Grace rushes to the hospital only to give the board, which includes Diane, a haphazard and abrupt presentation, and leaves to go back and see Sophia. She manages to tell Sophia that she lived in London for a while but grew up in Sydney, before she is called away again by another expectant mother, Renee. Renee is in labour and reveals to Grace that her husband, Doug, has been violent and she has left him. Laney and Grace discuss Renee’s situation in the bathroom and put together a plan to keep Renee safe, under the guise of Renee needing more time at the Birthing Centre.

We then see Grace deliver a baby to a non-English speaking young woman, where Max gets to see Grace at her best and is clearly in awe of her, before delivering Renee’s baby. Meanwhile, Sophia texts someone to let them know she is leaving, but her waters break on the way out and Grace convinces her to stay to deliver the baby. After Sophia asks to be left alone for a while, Grace calls Jim to tell him about Sophia.

After Grace finishes her phone call, she notices Renee’s husband, Doug, taking their baby out of the Birthing Centre. She asks another midwife, Sasha (Kat Hoyos) to call the police and she and Max work together to get the baby away from Doug. While Grace is cool under the tense situation, once she gets Max to take the baby inside, she scolds Doug for taking the baby and hurting Renee, just as the police show up.

Later, Diane comes to the Birthing Centre demanding to find out from Laney what is going on with Grace. Grace finally reveals to Diane that Sophia is in the Birthing Centre about to give birth. Diane wants to go and see her but Grace stops her. Grace then delivers Sophia’s baby, a girl. Afterwards, Grace sees Diane and tells her about the birth, and shows her a picture of the baby on her phone.

Later Laney, Grace, Sasha and Max go out for drinks. Laney has swiped right on a guy, Evan, for Grace, forgetting that she has done this until he shows up. Grace lets Evan know that their drink together won’t go anywhere and confides in him about her day, and leaves. As she leaves, she runs into Sasha and Max talking outside of the bar where she overhears the end of their conversation, which leads to Max revealing that he was a nurse in the army.

Grace goes back to the Birthing Centre to sit with Sophia while she’s sleeping. When Sophia wakes up, Grace asks her what her plans are once she leaves the Centre. Grace offers the chance to stay at the Centre longer, but she declines. When Sophia goes back to sleep, Grace looks up Sophia’s details and calls the emergency contact listed, but hangs up when she hears a man answer the call. When she goes back to see Sophia, she catches her packing up to leave. She then takes Sophia back to her house, so she can stay with her temporarily.

Overall I felt this was a solid pilot with a stellar performance from Jenkinson. Jenkinson manages to show her range from the joy her character feels at doing her job and bringing new life into the world, to being calm under pressure and then angry at a father who has been beating his wife and then attempts to kidnap his newborn daughter, to anxious and sad whilst dealing with the pressures from her mother as well as meeting her long-lost daughter.

When I say the pilot mostly did its job, while it did successfully establish the premise and some of the main characters, we’ve really only scratched at the tip of the iceberg as there were questions raised that haven’t been answered yet, such as: why Grace and Ben’s marriage broke down, why she has a fully assembled crib in her house but no baby, why Grace gave up Sophia for adoption, why Sophia came to look for her now, and why the relationship between Diane and Grace is so strained. This in itself isn’t a bad thing – another purpose of a show’s pilot is to establish story arcs and subplots (not to mention if every question was answered in the pilot there wouldn’t be a show) – however there have been times in shows where potential story arcs and subplots are established in a pilot, only to never be addressed again, I’m hoping this isn’t the case with Amazing Grace.

I also appreciated that Sophia and Grace’s reunion, and Sophia informing Grace that she is her long-lost daughter was established within the first ten minutes of the pilot, rather than being dragged out over the course of the season. I also found it interesting that the writers’ chose to have the show be realistic but not graphic with its birthing scenes, and that so much action was packed into the pilot. I wonder if they will keep the remaining episodes of the season as action-packed as the pilot.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season.

Stray Observations:

Running gag: Grace’s desire for cream biscuits.

-Sophia’s last name is Gilbert.

-The acronym for Laney’s job title – Midwifery Unit Manager – is MUM.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I hate you.” “Remember we talked about how you’d hate me?” (Birthing mother-Grace in the opening moments of the pilot)
• “I swiped right on a guy for you.” “What?” “Don’t be shocked, I know your phone PIN.” (Laney-Grace-Laney)