Behind the Reviews – Edition #30 (The Wrong Girl)
The Wrong Girl premiered on Network Ten on 28 September 2016 and focuses on “Lily Woodward, a producer on a morning television show, and what happens when life, love and friendships collide. Longing for a life rich in romance, a dynamic career and a happy family, Lily is constantly thrown off course. As her journey continues, Lily discovers that sometimes the right choices can lead to the wrong places and the wrong choices can turn out to be the right ones.”
The series is based on Zoe Foster-Blake’s novel of the same name; however I didn’t read the novel before or during the airing of the show, something I disclosed in my review of the pilot, and therefore I was reviewing the show at face value.
The pilot did a good job of establishing the premise of the show and its characters, as well as story arcs and subplots. Lily meets Jack, a chef hired to be on the television show she produces, who ends up dating her best friend and roommate, Simone. Lily also sleeps with another best friend of hers, Pete, who reveals to her that he’s dating his boss, Meredith, who has fallen pregnant with his baby.
The first season balances between exploring Lily’s personal and professional lives. On a personal front, Lily and Pete are shown to have feelings for each other after their one-night stand despite Lily getting into a relationship with Jack (after he dates Simone), and Pete having a baby with Meredith. On a professional front, Lily has to endure sexual harassment from the morning show co-host, Eric, and is put in charge of the entire show only for everything to fall apart (although she does manage to save the day again).
The season ends with Pete and Meredith’s daughter being born, Lily quitting her job just after she’s been promoted to travel with Jack, Pete declaring his feelings to Lily, and the reveal that Pete’s father, Ivan, may have cancer. One main criticism I had with the writing of the season was the excessive use of in media res, as it was used to start off nearly every episode.
The second season kicks off with six months having passed. Lily and Jack are in New Zealand and are living in what they think is romantic bliss but they are clearly in denial. Her former boss, Sasha, calls and offers Lily her old job back as the morning show is in danger of cancellation, she quickly accepts the offer.
The second season goes on to explore the origins of Lily and Pete’s friendship, Lily and Jack getting engaged, Jack working on a cooking show with his ex-fiancée, Gillian, and Lily leaking footage of Eric sexually harassing Erica to give him a wake-up call about his behaviour. Lily and Jack’s crumbling relationship ultimately ends with Jack leaving Lily at the altar on their wedding day, and the season ends with Ivan’s death, Meredith and Manisha moving away, Jack and Lily becoming roommates, Lily getting a promotion, and Lily and Pete finally getting together. I felt that the second season was an improvement over the first season.
The Wrong Girl was snubbed from Network Ten’s announced 2018 upfronts, and there has been no word since on whether the show was cancelled, put on hiatus, or would ever be renewed. However, since it has been five years since the second season aired, and Craig McLachlan has had to face sexual harassment allegations and a defamation case, in which one of his accusers was his co-star in The Wrong Girl, Christie Whelan Browne (Nikki), as well as Marais’ documented mental health battles, it’s safe to say it’s unlikely that the show will return.
In all honesty, watching McLachlan’s character sexually harass his colleagues was already cringeworthy when those episodes aired, but knowing about the allegations against him and his recent defamation court case, those scenes really hit differently now.
Behind the Reviews – Edition #31 will be released next week and will focus on Upload.
Loveday Writing 