Loveday Writing

The episode touches on racism – both on a macro and micro level, and Dale’s declining mental health state and escalating resentment towards Lindsay.

The episode kicks off on 4 August 1989, with Dale and Helen watching a Full Frontal-esque skit which parodies both of them and their news reading styles. Helen finds it hilarious, whilst Dale puts on a smile, but clearly doesn’t enjoy or appreciate it. Later, Dale listens to audio feedback provided by viewers, who label him as artificial, fake, robotic, and stiff, which is similar to the feedback he received from the network in season one.

Three days later, Noelene is at home with Hana and has the News at Six broadcast on in the background. When she hears Rob make a misguided comment on apparent non-existent racism during his footy days, when Dale tries to discuss the apartheid sports boycotts and Australian rugby players touring South Africa on air, she immediately knows that he’s put his foot in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Helen has another session with Marcia. Marcia asks her how she is going with filling out the diary cards designed to help her identify triggers and patterns of her behaviour, however Helen tells her she is finding it difficult to complete them due to the demands at work. Marcia tells Helen to engage in opposite action to manage her emotions, when Helen responds in a condescending manner, Marcia calls her out by telling her that she would give her a pill if she could and Helen needs to fully engage, otherwise she should leave. Helen then starts to calmly engage with Marcia and the diary cards.

Meanwhile, Richard discusses staff whose contracts are ending, and Lindsay’s behaviour with Dale and Rob. Richard suggests re-evaluating the situation at the end of the year, however Dale tells him that he doesn’t want to bring in a new decade at the network with Lindsay. Whilst Rob is shocked by Dale’s words, he does agree with him, pointing out that Noelene is now working for the competition due to Lindsay’s behaviour. Richard tells Dale to discreetly make phone calls to find possible replacements for him.

When Noelene goes into work on 8 August 1989, she finds out that Rob is now being seen as a supporter of the rugby players touring South Africa and by extension, supporting apartheid. Noelene then calls Rob at work and tells him to go on air and clarify what he meant to the viewers. Later, Leoni tells Helen that a man at reception has asked to see her as he has a story. The man is revealed to be Lynus, who appeared in season two. Lynus tells Helen and Bill that he thinks Australia is South Africa, in terms of its racism in sport, a claim that both Helen and Bill find offensive. Lynus then tells them he knows someone who played footy with Rob, Deano, and is willingly to talk about the racism he faced both back in his footy days and the racism he still faces today, but only on the condition that she interview him in-person.

Meanwhile, Dennis approaches Dale about becoming Lindsay’s replacement, telling him he has many ideas on how to improve News at Six. Dale tells him to write up a list of ideas and they’ll talk. Later, Jean sees Dennis telling his wife he will be home later and she tells him to prioritise his family. She goes home and he starts typing up his ideas to give to Dale. Later, Dale and Kay hang out at his house, and she suggests Geoff’s former producer, Paul, as Lindsay’s replacement.

Later, Helen meets with Deano who reveals to her that the racism was so bad that he had to leave the footy club. Helen later tells Noelene about the story she will be doing with him and Rob’s connection to him. Bill admonishes her for telling Noelene about it in front of everyone, but Helen counters that she was giving Noelene fair warning. Bill yells at her and leaves, and Helen can be seen practising the breathing technique she learnt from Marcia. Meanwhile, Evelyn confronts Dale at work about dating Kay and tells him to find another woman to act as a trophy girlfriend to cover up his sexuality. Later, Dale can be seen paying off Nick in his car and telling him his services are no longer required.

Meanwhile, Noelene goes home and finds Rob making several phone calls to his former teammates trying to track Deano down to talk to him. He tells her that his teammates are shocked by Rob being perceived as racist, including another Indigenous teammate. When he tells her that being called racist is like telling him he doesn’t love his own family, Noelene tells her this isn’t about her, and that she and Hana are not his defence. Noelene tells Rob that he doesn’t see the full of extent of racism that goes on in the world and he needs to look harder for it, especially for Hana, and gives him Deano’s phone number.

When Rob calls Deano, his mother picks up and when she finds out it’s him, she hangs up. She then yells at Deano and then Lynus for talking to Helen. We then hear their fight escalating and police sirens. It’s revealed the next day that Deano was arrested due to an altercation he had with the police that came around to his mother’s house after neighbours complained about the noise. Deano tells Helen that if Rob wants to speak with him, he needs to do it face-to-face. After Deano leaves, Helen asks Lynus what Deano really did to get arrested, Lynus calls her out for assuming that he did anything, pointing out the racial inequality that they have regularly faced with their neighbours.

Helen later calls Marcia for help after the anxiety from the situation has caught up with her, Marcia tells her that she needs a tolerance skill and encourages Helen to run up and down a set of stairs, which she does. Meanwhile, Dale tells Dennis that he and Richard have gone with Paul to replace Lindsay. This leads to Dennis walking out of Dale’s office and into Lindsay’s, to tell him what is going on.

Later, Rob meets Deano at a pub. Whilst Deano and Rob have clearly had a friendly relationship and Rob wants to know what he said or did wrong, Deano informs him that he did nothing. Rob interprets this as having done nothing racist, however Deano clarifies that he did nothing to stand up against the racism he faced, and that his comments about the rugby players hurt him deeply.

The episode ends with Helen and Bill patching up their differences from earlier, with Helen telling Bill that she loves him, only for him to tell her that he’s in love with her and tries to kiss her. She walks away from him and out of the office, clearly distressed.

Overall, this was the strongest episode of the season so far. Ultimately the exploration of racism in this episode is left unresolved, as it hasn’t been resolved, even today over thirty years later. Leaving Rob to deal with his own unintended racism and its consequences at the end of the episode was poignant, and I hope character building for him in the future. I also enjoyed the twist of Dennis turning on Dale and revealing everything to Lindsay, however I feel it also adds to the point I made about his character being weakened in my review of the second episode – he is talented with a lot of ideas and yes, he has the right to be a little pissed off and disappointed in Dale – however, telling Lindsay everything immediately due to not getting what he wants shows that he can’t be loyal or trusted.

I appreciated Helen’s growth throughout the episode, clearly working hard on herself and taking her therapy more seriously. I honestly wasn’t surprised by the reveal that Bill is in love with her. I’m also still not loving the Dale and Kay “relationship” if we want to call it that. With only two episodes left, and Lindsay now fully aware of Dale’s plan, it will be interesting to see where we go from here.