Loveday Writing

The job of a season premiere is to establish new story arcs and subplots for the season, and revisit any established in the previous season’s finale. This premiere did a great job.

As it has been almost two years since the first season finale aired, I had to read my review of it to remind myself of where the show left us – Eliza returned to England to deal with her family issues, Wayne decided to stay in Broken Hill over leaving, and the RFDS received funding for a mental health clinic in Rhiannon’s name.

The premiere fired on all cylinders, so I’m going to review it character by character.

Pete, Chaya, and Taylor – As the episode kicks off with the three of them on their way to the White Cliffs Rodeo, I’ll start with them.

Chaya is a new character this season and is revealed to be a mental health nurse, working at the newly opened mental health clinic with Taylor. Chaya does a tarot reading for Pete and Taylor before they land.

They have set up a coffee stand offering free coffee and goodie bags with health information for attendees. When the Rodeo gets underway, they watch and end up helping out one of the riders, Cameron, who is injured after being thrown off a bull. As they are taking care of Cameron, a man known as “Prawny” comes in with a dart in his eye. Graham, Matty and Wayne take care of him.

Later, Pete, Chaya, and Taylor have to attend a car crash, which is revealed to have Cameron and his friends inside. Chaya and Pete manage to pull Cameron and one of his other friends out, before he reveals that his other friend, Johnny, was a backseat passenger. Pete and Chaya eventually find him lying face down in the mud.

Pete and Chaya try their best to treat him as a locum doctor nearby arrives to assist. The locum doctor manages to treat Johnny by putting him on a ventilator so he can go on the flight back to base.

On the flight back, Pete notices that Johnny’s stats are dropping. When Chaya tries to assist, she finds that the doctor left some of the equipment on the ground, which they in turn left behind. When none of the methods that he is accustomed to work, Pete is forced to surgically open Johnny’s airway as the plane is flying through turbulence.

The episode ends with the team (minus Leonie) at the pub. After Chaya briefly leaves, Pete looks at Eliza’s Instagram profile. When Chaya returns, they almost kiss, only for Pete to stop himself, Chaya then leaves for the night.

Graham, Matty, and Wayne – At the beginning of the episode, Graham, Matty and Wayne are tending to a cycling accident as they are speaking with Leonie over the phone. Leonie informs them that she hasn’t found a doctor to replace Eliza yet and the afternoon doctor is sick, but she has left a message for the back-up doctor, who is yet to arrive.

Matty and Wayne make their way to the Rodeo, whilst Graham waits for the back-up doctor to arrive, but he never shows. This leaves Wayne to take Prawny back to base and eventually the hospital, whilst Matty stays behind to assist Chaya, Pete, and Taylor later in their flight back to base.

Leonie – Leonie is in Dubbo at a conference as she is now the base’s Operations Manager. Whilst she is in Dubbo, she tries her best to find a replacement doctor for Eliza, as well as get the back-up doctor to arrive and assist Wayne and the team in the short-term.

She also visits a doctor friend as she believes she is pregnant, due to multiple positive tests telling her so, however her doctor tells her that she is not pregnant and the positive test results could indicate a tumour, and asks her to have tests done as soon as possible.

Just before Leonie goes in to have an MRI, she texts Wayne to confirm the back-up doctor’s arrival, only the message doesn’t get through.

When Leonie arrives back from Dubbo, she runs into the unhappy and exhausted team, who question her on why there was no back-up doctor. Towards the end of the episode, Graham asks her what happened but she doesn’t explain, saying she has paperwork to do. She later calls Dr. Scotty, her apparent lover and would-be father of her baby (if she was pregnant). She then opens and reads a pamphlet on coping with ovarian cancer.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid season premiere with a new character introduced, compelling medical action, and possible story arcs with Chaya being set up as a love interest for Pete, Leonie ostensibly being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the tensions between the team and Leonie due to the staff shortages.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season.

Stray Observations:

-Darren was Dubbo in as well and was seen tending to an RFDS plane.

-According to Pete, Graham married the same flight nurse, twice.

-Matty and Ferrett’s relationship is still going strong, with the reveal towards the end of the episode that they have moved in together.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Am I dead?” “Not yet, mate.” “Then why is the angel here?” “You have brain damage is what you have, mate.” “No, that’s his regular brain.” (Cameron-Pete-Cameron-Taylor-Timmy)
• “Any medications?” “Lithium, Epilim, and XXXX.” (Pete-Cameron)
• “Prawny, was it?” “Or Prawnhead, whatever works for you.” (Chaya-Prawny)
• “Go on, you can start with the Bullseye gags.” “Thank God for that, it was all I was thinking about.” “You’ve got a better nickname than Prawny, hey, Bullseye?” (Prawny-Wayne-Pete)