Loveday Writing

Season 1 – The pilot introduces us to the five main characters at the singles table of a wedding: Liz (a lawyer), Ben (a tradie, who has been set up with Liz), Harry (a doctor who is Liz’s best friend, and is also gay and closeted), and Lachlan and Ainsley (both real estate agents who are somewhat friends with benefits). During the reception, the chatter turns to the real estate market and Heather (Ainsley’s landlord) comes to the table and chats with them, giving them the idea of buying a house together (although Heather tries to discourage Ainsley from taking part).

The group quickly buy a house at auction only to discover many problems with it afterwards, such as the loft’s ensuite lacking necessary plumbing, the oven not working, and the pool decking’s removal by the previous owners. Lachlan, a married man, asks Ainsley for advice on his failing marriage as he views her as a sister (gross). She angrily declares her love for him and tells him to move out, Heather ends up taking his place in the house.

The season goes on with the group adjusting to living with each other and becoming close friends, Ainsley developing feelings for Ben, Ben developing feelings for and hooking up with Heather, Ben having to deal with having skin cancer removed which leads to the reveal that he has a pre-teen daughter, Mia, with his ex, Rebecca, Liz discovering that her ex-husband has left her bankrupt, and Harry experiencing a romance with local police officer, Pete, and having to reveal the truth to his mother after Ben accidentally outs him to her.

Towards the end of the season, Heather and Ben’s hook ups are revealed to Ainsley, who ends up spending her nights with Lachlan to avoid them. When Rebecca refuses to let Ben see Mia until his life is stable, he suggests to the housemates that they sell the house and move on with their lives after four months of living together.

The season ends with Ainsley discovering she is pregnant with Lachlan’s child and that Lachlan has also impregnated his ex-wife, Mel, and the gang making up with each other after their issues and changing their mind on the house sale, only for the house to be sold via auction moments later.

Season 2 – The second season kicks off with three months passing since the events of the first season finale, and looking for a new house to live in. By the second episode they’ve found a house to buy, with Ben and Heather sharing a bedroom which shows the progression of their relationship, and there is a bedroom separate to the rest of the house that is going to be made into Evie’s (Ainsley’s baby) nursery. Heather also runs into her ex-husband, Stuart, while they are house hunting.

The season progresses with Harry entering into an open relationship with Xavier, Liz and Stuart rekindling their relationship, Ben injuring his shoulder as he’s renovating the separate bedroom and committing insurance fraud (and getting caught), Heather quitting her job and finding out her son, Timmy, is genderfluid. The biggest story arc turning point of the season was Ainsley’s pregnancy becoming complicated, resulting in the death of Evie after an emergency c-section.

The season ends with Heather deciding to get her Master’s Degree in Nursing at uni, Ainsley finding out about Simmo’s feelings for her and starting a relationship with him, and Liz going to the UK with Stuart.

Season 3 – The third season kicked off with the group hosting their first Airbnb guests in the self-contained bedroom, Sam and Geri, a lesbian couple suggested to them by Liz as she went to uni with Geri, Harry running into Pete (his love interest from the first season) and hoping to rekindle their short-lived romance only to find out he has a partner and a baby, Ainsley and Simmo settled in their relationship, and Heather at uni. The first big story arc of the season is Ben cheating on Heather with Rebecca when he goes to comfort her over Mia running away in the middle of the night. While Simmo doesn’t let his secret slip to Ainsley, he does make her believe Ben is about to propose, which leads to Ben buying a ring and Heather finding out, only for Ben to tell her truth and their relationship ending.

Shortly after the halfway point of the season, Simmo proposes to Ainsley with an elaborate proposal involving revisiting four crucial memories he has of her, which includes Evie’s stillbirth the previous year. This painful memory leads to her having doubts, with Heather reassuring her she doesn’t have to say yes if she’s not ready. Heather goes to see Simmo, which makes the viewers think Ainsley is saying no, but Ainsley arrives moments later and accepts his proposal. Other subplots playing out this season included Harry planning on starting a family with Geri, and Geri and Liz hooking up.

The season ends with Ainsley and Simmo’s wedding day, only for Ainsley and Simmo making the decision not to get married as Ainsley has figured out being a wife with five kids out in the bush isn’t the life she wants, and Simmo only wants her to be happy. Despite not getting married, Ainsley and Simmo have their wedding reception go ahead so everyone who came can party, and Heather and Ben don’t get back together as Heather is enjoying being single but they do repair their friendship.

I wrote in my review of the third season finale that this season was an interesting one, but it wasn’t as strong as the previous season. I felt that most of the story arcs were compelling but inconsistent (especially with Harry and Liz), and the writers seemed unsure of where they were going with them.

Five Bedrooms has become one of my favourite Australian TV shows to both watch and review. While I’ve enjoyed all three seasons, I felt that the second season was the strongest out of the three due to the character and story arc development. Five Bedrooms also consisted of two unique features, which I loved – its rotating narrator with each episode, and each episode having a relevant and apt numerical title (e.g. Three Millimetres which referenced the size of the mole on Ben’s arm that turned out to be skin cancer, Zero Dollars, which referenced Liz’s bankruptcy, Fifty Years, which referenced Heather’s 50^th birthday, and so on).

On May 30 2022, it was announced that Five Bedrooms was renewed for a fourth season, which is scheduled to air/be released on Paramount Plus at some point next year.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #9 will be released next week and will focus on Harrow.