Loveday Writing

Once again, the season premiere had a time jump – with the Doctor Doctor world and timeline jumping forward another year. Considering what has happened to the country and the world over the last year, as well as where the finale left me and the viewers, I felt this was a good choice.

I’m going to review the premiere character by character.

Hugh – As he is the protagonist, it only makes sense to start with him. At the start of the episode, we have Tara Brown deliver a feature report, ‘Whyhope in Crisis’, detailing that Whyhope has experienced drought, fire and flood and is now ‘on its knees’ as Whyhope Hospital has been declared an asbestos hazard. Hugh, Ken and Betty, as well as the SES have had to shut down the hospital and have patients evacuated to the next town over, Stanwell, which is an hour away.

Hugh, Ken and Betty spend a good chunk of the episode converting the old Whyhope Veterinary Clinic into a makeshift hospital/clinic as the town vet, Bill (Marshall Napier) is moving out. Ken feels at fault for the discovery of the asbestos as he was insistent on the Hospital being renovated.

Meanwhile, Meryl is ordering Hugh to charm Sharna Mahit (Chantelle Jamieson), who has been sent in by the government as the Whyhope Council administrator. Hugh and Sharna get along and even flirt throughout the episode, however things take a turn after Sharna sacks Meryl and then tells him that part of her job will involve reviewing the administration of the Whyhope Hospital Trust, as well as assessing the need for a hospital in Whyhope altogether. Later in the episode, Sharna comes to the vet clinic whilst Hugh, Ken, Betty and Bill are trying to treat a local mechanic, Chris. Hugh asks Ken and Betty in front of Sharna whether Penny mentioned anything about asbestos in the hospital. They both say no, however as Hugh and Ken sneak into the hospital to get the equipment they need to treat Chris, it’s revealed that he and Betty did know about it.

When the ambulance finally arrives to take Chris to Stanwell Hospital, Hugh rides along and when he gets there, he runs into Penny. Hugh immediately calls Penny out on knowing about the asbestos, not doing anything or telling him about it. Penny at first says she made a mistake only to say she actually made a choice to not deal with it, as she prioritised other hospital needs before the required inspections.

At the end of the episode, Hugh returns to the homestead where Meryl is having dinner with everyone else and announces that he will stay in Whyhope until the hospital is back on its feet. Police arrive at the homestead to arrest Meryl for misappropriation of Council funds. Hugh bails her out.

Matt and Charlie – It was obvious that the focus on Matt and Charlie would be their return to Whyhope after travelling to and living in Germany. It’s revealed that Matt spent his time in Germany as an intern at a brewery in Munich and Charlie was waitressing to pay the bills.

Charlie also reveals to Hayley (and the viewers) that she wrote bad reviews of The Brewery to convince Matt it was in trouble and to come back to Whyhope. In all honesty, this reveal left me feeling irritated and angry at Charlie for the rest of the episode, with her immature and selfish behaviour towards Hayley only fuelling my irritation and anger. In all honesty, I felt she had changed for the better at the end of the previous season and finally got herself together, but with this reveal, I feel she has regressed back to the selfish Charlie of season 3 and early season 4. I also think what irritated me more was the fact that her reasons for wanting to come back to Whyhope weren’t revealed.

Throughout the episode, Matt and Charlie attack Hayley – Matt because he believes that Hayley has ruined his business, and Charlie because she wants the house back the way she wants it. Hayley manages to keep Charlie at bay by threatening to tell Matt the truth about the reviews.

At the end of the episode, Matt and Charlie are spending the night in their own spare bedroom much to their chagrin. Charlie admits to Matt that being home is different to how she thought it was going to be. Matt says it’s because they have changed.

On a smaller note, I was honestly surprised that with their grand plans in the previous season’s finale that they only travelled to one country in Europe, although maybe we’re yet to hear the full story of their travels.

Ajax and Hayley – I actually enjoyed the focus on them throughout this episode as their characters were subject to more development than the others. Ajax and Hayley’s marriage is a little strained (but not majorly) as Ajax is trying to juggle running the farm, and building his and Hayley’s house, and Hayley is trying to juggle running The Brewery, pleasing Meryl, and raising Jimmy. Tensions are raised when Matt and Charlie return unexpectedly, specifically for Hayley as she is overtired and overworked, and Matt and Charlie return with matching bad attitudes and manners.

While Hayley has always been a sweet person, she has also always been a strong one who would always stand her ground, albeit gently. So I was disappointed that she didn’t stand up for herself more with Meryl and Charlie. Hopefully she will in future episodes.

As I mentioned in my review of the previous season’s finale, I enjoyed seeing Ajax and Hayley navigate through their troubles as they came out of them stronger and more mature. I’m hoping we see them grow more strength and maturity as the season progresses.

Meryl – The focus on Meryl was all about her corrupt practices as Whyhope’s Mayor finally coming back to haunt her. I say finally as while I don’t wish any harm on the character, Meryl definitely needs a comeuppance of some sort.

When Meryl first lays eyes on Sharna who is clumsily getting off the plane at the airport, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that she is more clumsy than smart, but is quickly proven wrong. Sharna announces at a council meeting, whilst sitting on Meryl’s mayoral throne that Whyhope Council will be stood down and she will immediately take over as administrator. In a private meeting, Sharna calls Meryl out on having the road to the cemetery sealed and pressuring Rod into purchasing it. She also tells Meryl that she’ll subject any corruption of hers to the full extent of the law.

At the end of the episode, Meryl is arrested for misappropriation of Council funds and Hugh has to bail her out.

I honestly enjoyed the interactions between Meryl and Sharna, I feel Sharna will be a great foil for Meryl, as well as a great antagonist for this season.

Penny – Much like the return of Matt and Charlie, the return of Penny didn’t really surprise me, in fact in my review of the previous season’s finale I stated that her return would be inevitable. However the difference between Matt and Charlie’s return and Penny’s was that Penny got less screen time.

It’s revealed that Penny is living and work in the neighbouring town of Stanwell and is dating a younger doctor, Nick. Unsurprisingly, her marriage to Jarrod failed after they moved to Broome.

What was a surprise was the writers’ choice to attempt to make Penny out to be more like Hugh. Last season we had a “Hugh 2.0” with Tara, which was a swing and a miss, however the difference with Penny’s behaviour is that it is clearly driven by a desire to repress the pain of her failed second marriage and to avoid dealing with Hugh and her unresolved feelings for him. Also, true to Penny’s nature, she is not a full “Hugh 2.0” rather she is trying too hard to be a ‘bad girl/bad woman.’ While this change in Penny’s behaviour and personality may be fun for a while, it is clearly a phase that will come to an end at some point. Interestingly, the ever-astute Betty calls her out on trying to be like Hugh, and points out that she’s behaving this way because she misses him.

Hugh and Penny running into each other was inevitable, and while I’m glad it wasn’t dragged out, I did feel that they weren’t given enough screen time together. On another note, I was also surprised by the reveal that Penny knew about the hospital being filled with asbestos and not only did nothing about it, but justified her lack of action on the issue by saying she prioritised other hospital needs. While she has had a recent change of behaviour/personality/character, this is certainly out of character for the Penny we’ve come to know and love over the previous four seasons.

Wes & Kassie – Wes (Darren McMullen) and Kassie (Zoe Ventoura) are two new characters. A married couple with two children, with Kassie dying from an undisclosed terminal illness (not explicitly stated but most likely cancer).

Not much information is given about these two new characters, other than the fact that Wes is a local mechanic and that he and Kassie have known Hugh, Matt and Charlie for a long time. This is shown when Wes runs into Matt and Charlie in town, and when Matt and Charlie visit them, and Kassie asks Charlie to look in on the kids and take care of Wes after she dies.

While it’s nice to see some new characters, and they are clearly going through a lot, due to the fact that little to no background information was provided on them in this episode, it is hard to feel an attachment to them. I’m sure we’ll find out more about them in future episodes.

Bill – Bill is another new character, although whether he is a recurring or regular cast member remains to be seen. Bill is the local vet who has sold his vet clinic, seemingly to Hugh or at least the Council, to be used as a makeshift clinic/hospital, while the Whyhope Hospital is shut due to the asbestos.

Bill appears sporadically throughout the episode, cleaning out his clinic, and even assists in treating Chris, by assisting with an x-ray and sedating him, even comforting him the same way he clearly did with animals when he worked at the vet clinic.

After he assists Hugh in treating Chris, Bill encourages him to fight for the town as it’s too good a place to let die.

I enjoyed Bill’s appearances and interactions with Hugh, Ken and Betty. He stole every scene he was in and I hope he makes more appearances throughout the season.

Overall I felt that this was a solid premiere. The narrative gaps that the time jump presented were easily filled, the continuity from the previous season’s finale to this premiere was flawless, and multiple story arcs and subplots were established.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of Doctor Doctor’s fifth and final season.

Stray Observations:

Dora sighting – At the bathtub at Matt and Charlie’s house.

-Hayley was so tired at the beginning of the episode that she fell asleep in the car when she was sitting between Rod and Meryl.

-There is a portrait of Meryl in her Mayoral robes hanging in her office. When Sharna sacks at her and takes over her office, the portrait has been taken down off the wall.

-When Penny and Betty are at the bar in Stanwell, Betty is drinking raspberry soft drink, a subtle nod to her past alcoholism and current state of sobriety.

-Hugh and Bill were wearing veterinary scrubs while they operated on Chris in the old vet clinic.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Now I know what it feels like to be pimped out by my own mother.” (Hugh to Meryl)
• “As a hoarder my instinct would be to archive.” (Ken to Bill on Bill’s request to destroy his old files)
• “You wouldn’t say I’m a selfish person would you? I’m always there in times of crisis.” “Usually you are the crisis.” (Hugh-Betty)
• “I’m not the messiah!” “No!” “Absolutely not!” (Hugh-Ken-Betty)
• “What’s the dosage?” “More than a Labrador, a little less than a horse.” (Hugh-Bill on Bill anaesthetising Chris)
• “Off to sleep now Chris, we’ll have a nice recovery cage waiting for you when you wake up.” (Bill as he’s administering anaesthetic to Chris)
• “What happened, did you guys get deported?” (Hugh to Matt on his and Charlie’s return to Whyhope)
• “Well if there’s nothing more other than questioning my integrity and sacking my mother?” (Hugh to Sharna)
• “You’re like a bureaucratic FIFO – fly in, sack a council, fly out, shut a clinic, make people drive 100km to get a flu shot.” (Hugh to Sharna)
• “I will not be silenced!” “But you may be jailed.” (Meryl-Hugh on Meryl’s arrest)