Loveday Writing

Season 1 – The first season kicks off with the first day of the new school year and establishing each family: Lewis is the father of three girls (one grown, one teenager, and the third is primary school age) and partner to Gemma who has just sold his business, Mark is a marketer who has gone back to work part-time and his wife, Abi, is a hospital doctor, Kane is in a same-sex relationship with Tom and they are caring for Tim’s orphaned niece, and Justin is a former AFL player fighting for custody of his three children. All of the families are connected in various ways: Abi and Kane are siblings, Gemma and Abi work together, Mark is Kane’s brother-in-law, and all four families send their children to the same school.

The first season has most of the episodes revolve around school events, such as a parents’ show and tell, Morning Music Mayhem, a trivia night, a soccer grand final, and Harmony Day. The season also ends on the last day of the school term. Most of the episodes start in media res and then go back in time, before eventually making its way back to the present. This is a good technique when executed well, however it can be tiring if the writers depend on it too much which I felt they did.

The season goes on to have Kane and Abi’s father visiting, Stella (Tim’s orphaned niece) being diagnosed with a spinal tumour, Lewis and Gemma getting married, Lewis’ teenage daughter, Phoebe, revealing she is pregnant, and Mark impulsively kissing the kids’ teacher after a bad day.

The season ends with the husbands working together to deliver Phoebe’s baby boy, and Justin and Nicola getting back together (despite Justin having chemistry with Lewis’ adult daughter, Lucy).

Season 2 – The second season seemed to take a darker tone after initially kicking off with a happier and settled vibe.

The season kicks off with everyone forgetting Lewis’ youngest daughter, Tilda’s, birthday, Justin and Nicola trying to buy a house, the husbands being caught up in a petrol station robbery, and Abi and Mark deciding to have another child. Justin also tries to start his carpentry career through TAFE, Gemma has to deal with her parents’ marriage ending, and Lucy becomes flatmates with the kids’ new teacher, Mr. Tuck.

It doesn’t take long for the season’s tone to shift with Stella’s biological father returning and trying to take her from Kane and Tom, and Abi falling pregnant and miscarrying.

This season’s darkest and major turning point is with the unexpected death of Nicola after she was hit by a car whilst looking at a washing machine on the side of the road, as her and Justin needed a new one.

The writers explored the characters’ grief in many ways from Justin and Nicola’s twin boys acting out at school, to Gemma feeling guilty as she encouraged Nicola to get out of the car, and Justin having a fling with another school mum, Dimity.

Other story arcs and subplots for this season included Nicola’s attempts to start a career just before her untimely death, Tom and Kane fostering a young boy, Finn, Lucy and Mr. Tuck entering into a relationship and getting engaged, the exploration of Dimity, a housewife who is treated poorly by her husband and later has a fling with Justin, Abi and Mark switching roles (only to switch back), and Kane trying to get into business with his former high school bully.

The second season concludes with the kids’ prep graduation, and Lucy breaking up with Mr. Tuck and entering into a new relationship with Justin. Despite the season’s darker tone, I felt it was a major improvement over the previous season and I ultimately felt it was the show’s best.

Seasons 3 & 4 – I was quite scathing of these seasons as I felt that the show deviated from being a compelling drama to a melodramatic soap opera.

The third season introduces us to Ned, a son that Lewis and his first wife had and adopted out (an odd choice considering that they ended up having and keeping Lucy), and has the men buying a pub with no business plan or experience, Tom leaving Kane, and Mark not having the balls or decency to tell Abi that he hates their new daughter’s name. Lewis cheats on Gemma with his first ex-wife, Belle, Gemma finds out and subsequently asks for a divorce (although they make up).

Despite how big of an addition Ned was to the third season, he was written out and completely forgotten about in the fourth season.

The fourth season has Kane accidentally chop off his own finger whilst chopping carrots and arguing with a school mum, Eve, Gemma being a surrogate for Kane, Alex and Eve’s baby, Lewis becoming a teacher’s aide, the return of Rodney and Rachel (I was not happy about this), and Kane and Alex getting married. The story arc that made this season a soap opera was the reveal that Rodney not Justin was Angie’s biological father. I felt that this was an unnecessary story arc, especially as it was almost completely forgotten about when the fifth and final season aired.

Season 5 – The fifth and final season saw Kane, Alex, Stella and Finn written out as they moved to Scotland and saw the introduction of Hugh Sheridan’s character, Nick, Gemma going to medical school to become a doctor, the reveal that Mark was adopted, the introduction of Justin’s younger brother, Rafiq, Nick starting a music business, Gemma having to deal with workplace bullying, and the reveal of Nick’s gambling debt.

This season also had Delta Goodrem playing Izzy Dreyfus, a reading recovery teacher, who helps Lewis discover he has dyslexia, Lewis being elected to council and finding out the kids’ school is being shut down.

The season and the series ends with the school being saved and the husbands (including Nick) going on the Kokoda Trail and meeting Kane there.

I wrote in my review of the series finale that the fifth season was an improvement over the previous two seasons, and that my ranking of all the seasons from best to worst is: season two, season five, season one, season three, and season four.

I also wrote in my review of the finale that I hoped the show was renewed for another season but if it wasn’t, the finale was a good but not great way to go. The Nine Network confirmed that House Husbands had been cancelled in February 2018, almost a year after the season five finale aired.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #12 will be released next week and will focus on How to Stay Married.