Behind the Reviews – Edition #3 (Bad Mothers)
Bad Mothers premiered on 18 February 2019 on the Nine Network. The 2019 TV Week Previews Edition described Bad Mothers as an Australian version of the U.S. series, Desperate Housewives and revolves around “a group of ordinary mothers who are rocked by a murder. Suddenly their seemingly normal lives are turned upside down.” I stated in my blog post of the Previews Edition that I was looking forward to reviewing Bad Mothers due to its diverse characters and a season-long story arc in the form of a murder mystery.
Bad Mothers was another show with a “limited premise”. If you missed last week’s blog post, a limited premise, my definition of it at least, is a show that is based on a premise that can only go so far and once that premise is met, generally speaking, there is really nowhere else for the show to go. In Bad Mother’s case, its limited premise was the murder mystery.
After the murder mystery is solved, there was nowhere for the show to go, it was unlikely another mother in the school community would be murdered, and while there was some character development with the mothers, there wasn’t enough to make an interesting second season. Although that being said, at the time, I did hope for a second season.
The majority of the season made us believe that Anton, the husband of lead character, Sarah, was Charlotte’s murderer due to having had an affair with her. Sarah and the other mothers try to figure out who was the murderer, who is eventually revealed to be Mr. Jasic, their kids’ school teacher who also had an affair with Charlotte.
I felt Mr. Jasic was a good choice for the perpetrator as he was an unlikely choice, too unlikely. I felt the biggest flaw of the murder mystery story arc was that he was revealed as a possible suspect, and later the murderer, too late in the season.
I couldn’t find any news on whether Bad Mothers was renewed for a second season, however as it has been over three years since the first season aired, I’d say it’s highly unlikely.
Behind the Reviews – Edition #4 will be released next week and will focus on Bite Club.
Loveday Writing 