Loveday Writing

I felt that Squinters was a unique show for many reasons: its focus purely on the characters’ commute to and from work, all the characters being put into groups by car load, and the common thread they all have of working at the same company but within different facets of it. It was also unique in that it revealed its premise and why its title was chosen in the first ten seconds of the pilot episode, with the dictionary definition of Squinters shown, “a person who commutes to work, squinting into the rising sun in the morning and again into the setting sun in the evening.”

The five car loads of travellers in the first season are:

• Lukas (sales) with his mother, Audrey
• Paul (courier) and Romi (marketing) – Paul has a crush on Romi.
• Ned (I.T.) and Macca (forklift driver) – they went to school together where Macca bullied Ned.
• Bridget (wrapper/shipping) and her teenage daughter, Mia.
• Simoni (dispatch) and Talia – Simoni and Talia are roommates and in the pilot, Simoni is driving Talia to a job interview at the company in the morning. During the afternoon commute Talia reveals to Simoni that she not only got the job, but is now her supervisor.

I wrote in my review of the pilot that we don’t see any of the daily dramas that the characters have to deal with, rather we are told about them, therefore the overall story inverts the classic writing rule of ‘show, don’t tell’.

Even though the show only focuses on the commute to and from work for the characters, the writers still established a good story arc in the company eventually being sold to a U.S. Hedge Fund. The sale was hinted at throughout the season from Talia revealing to Simoni that Amazon may take over the distribution centre, and the reveal that the CEO was given a massive payout and has left the company in the third episode. There were also some good smaller subplots throughout the season from the civil lawsuit filed by Macca against Lukas when Lukas accidentally hit Macca with his car in the pilot, to Paul and Romi’s blossoming romance, Lukas’ blossoming romance with Davis, and the reveal that Bridget is pregnant with Gary’s baby (who she just recently broke up with). The final moments of the finale showed the company’s sign being taken down due to the buyout.

The second season, which premiered in July 2019, sees some cast departures and arrivals. The five car loads of travellers in the second season are:

• Talia and Romi – they both managed to get their jobs back, Acting Marketing Director and Dispatch Facilitator, respectively.
• Macca (now promoted to Warehouse Systems Supervisor), and his wife, Jess (Head of Corporate Security).
• Lukas, his aunt Alison and his younger sister, Rachel.
• Bridget and Mia (Bridget commutes with her sister, Amy, in the premiere)
• Tina and Brett – Tina is the company’s new CEO and Brett is her chauffeur

The premiere reveals that Paul left Romi to save the ocean, Talia and Simoni’s yoga wine bar business failed, Macca and Jess are trying to have a baby, Lukas lost his redundancy payout and Davis to a lonely hearts scam, and that Bridget is now heavily pregnant and back with Gary. I wrote in my review of the premiere that I was disappointed by the lack of returning characters (Ned, Miles, Paul, Simoni, Gary and Davis were MIA) and unexplained continuity errors , but all the interactions between the characters were hilarious and well done.

Much like the previous season, there were plenty of smaller subplots from Talia and Romi’s developing friendship (which also included Simoni briefly appearing to reveal that she doesn’t hate Talia but she needs space from her as she didn’t pay her share of the business debt), to Tina and Brett’s blossoming romance, to Bridget and Gary’s tumultuous relationship, and Macca and Jess’ IVF journey. There was a bigger story arc in the form of Tina’s tenure as CEO with an asbestos scare, followed by her sacking for revealing the scare to all the company’s employees, to ultimately being rehired due to a sit-in protest involving employees which was orchestrated by Brett.

Despite my negative review of the premiere, my review of the finale and the second season as a whole was more positive. The finale saw Tina and Brett enter into a relationship, Bridget and Gary getting engaged as she went into labour, Talia and Romi getting new jobs within the company and now working directly with each other, and Macca and Jess being told by the IVF Clinic over the phone during their afternoon commute that the embryo implantation was successful and Jess is pregnant, only for the IVF Clinic to call back moments later and tell her they had the wrong patient information and she’s not pregnant. I wrote in my review that this season was an improvement over the first due to the introduction of the new characters and increased character development.

I wrote in my review of the second season finale that I hoped for a third season but if the show wasn’t renewed it ended on a high note. I haven’t found any news on whether Squinters was officially cancelled, however as it’s been over three years since the second season aired, I doubt that there will be any more episodes. That being said, Jungle Entertainment announced in September 2020 that they were in active development on creating an adaptation of the series for U.S. audiences, although I haven’t heard or seen anything else about it since.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #25 will be released next week and will focus on Street Smart.