Loveday Writing

Now that the premiere has come and gone, the season can really get underway.

The episode kicks off on 27 March 1989, a week after the events of the previous episode, with Dale tanning himself in his own in-home tanning bed, receiving a phone call from Helen apologising for an article. Dale rushes out of the bed to find the paper, only to discover it hasn’t arrived yet. Helen reads the article about him aloud, which labels him as a “pretty boy, with more hair than brainpower.”

When Helen arrives at work for her first day, she finds out that the producers want her to cover the Exxon Valdez oil spill, however she refuses as her show, Public Eye, is not breaking news, it’s a show with in-depth episodes focusing on a specific issue.

Helen’s day goes from bad to worse when Lindsay and Dennis try to sabotage her by spreading a fake story of Gough Whitlam’s death. Bill and Vincent fall for it, but Helen immediately questions it. When Helen confirms with Dale that the story isn’t real, she yells at Bill for not listening to her and throws an appliance at him. He calmly tells her that her outburst is more damaging than the prank call.

Meanwhile, whilst she and Rob are at the hospital waiting to see her doctor, Noelene calls Dale to pitch doing an interview of Bob Hawke and his new biography, specifically focusing on an infidelity angle, as the book implies it but no other journalist has asked him about it. However, Lindsay wants to focus on the Oscars.

Later, Dale discovers a Woman’s Day article on he and Kay Walters at the Logies, which implies that they are dating. Dale calls Kay to apologise for the article, however she makes it clear that she’s interested in him, as Evelyn listens in on their call from another phone in the house. After Dale discovers Lindsay’s sabotage, he calls him pathetic and kicks him out of the studio as he goes to read the bulletin. Both he and Helen cover the Oil Spill on their respective shows.

Noelene finds out that she has to be induced due to her high blood pressure. This depresses her, but Rob reassures her by letting her know it’s just time for the baby to be born. Noelene then calls Dale, having had an epiphany, telling him to use the word ‘womaniser’ when interviewing Bob Hawke. Meanwhile, as Helen’s first show suffers due to an interview gone wrong, Bill and Vincent watch, with the latter making a remark about Helen’s breasts, revealing that he is not as progressive as we were led to believe at the end of the previous season.

Dale manages to get Bob Hawke to admit to his infidelity, whereas Vincent tells Bill to rethink the show format as Helen was boring in the first episode. When Jean tells Dale that Richard wanted the audience feedback collected, she asks Dale if he wants to see it and he says yes. Dale and Helen watch her first episode of Public Eye together at her house and he tells that she can do so much onscreen, which is why people love her, but in the episode she was stuck in one gear. When Dale gets home, Nick is waiting for him, and Dale begins to show more dominating tendences towards him.

The next day on 28 March 1989, Noelene gives birth to a baby girl, and Helen goes into work where Bill calls her out on her behaviour the day before, saying she didn’t behave like that on the road. He recommends a therapist to her that his sister-in-law goes to, to help her deal with her emotions. It’s later revealed that Public Eye’s first episode came third in the ratings.

Back at News at Six, Lindsay tries to take credit for Dale’s success the night before, but Dale calls him out on his insults and behaviour. Dale gets Lindsay to apologise for insulting him earlier in the episode in front of everyone, and then goes into his office, asking Jean to put a phone call to Richard through to him. Meanwhile, Helen goes to a staff meeting and offers to re-shape the format of the show and the crew agrees with her.

On the 29 March 1989, Dale visits Kay, offering to take her for a drive in a car that Richard gave him as a gift.

The episode ends with Helen going to see the therapist that Bill recommended to deal with her emotional struggles.

Overall, this was a solid second episode providing some meat to the story arcs that were established in the previous episode. Helen’s show getting off to a rocky start adds another layer to the competition story arc between her and Dale, Dale asserting himself to Lindsay adds another layer to his rise to fame, and the birth of Hana adds the possibility of Noelene leaving News at Six. One little let down for me is the weakening of Dennis’ character – he was shown as a competent and formidable producer in the first two seasons, and now he is being reduced to snorting cocaine at the Logies and going along with Lindsay’s over-the-top sabotage of Helen, it was honestly a little disappointing.

Stray Observations:

-Michael Lucas, one of the writers, stated on Twitter that the tanning bed Dale is seen is was re-rigged with a safe light.