Loveday Writing

The purpose of a pilot is to establish the show’s premise and characters. This show, one with a heavy, sensitive, and complex subject matter, did its job perfectly.

The pilot kicks off with joyous vibes as a group of friends celebrate New Year’s Eve, with Ash proposing to his girlfriend, Lillian (Brooke Satchwell) on their apartment balcony, as the New Year’s countdown comes to an end, with their friends happily watching on. This is the only part of the pilot that is joyous.

We then cut to Lillian waking up alone and hungover, signalled to the viewers by the empty wine bottle on the floor that Lillian nearly steps on, as she gets up. She pulls an old-fashioned dress out of her cupboard and gets dressed. It’s then revealed that Lillian is wearing this old-fashioned dress as she works at Sovereign Hill. Whilst she is giving a tour of Sovereign Hill to school students, she vomits in front of everyone and loses her job.

Meanwhile, throughout the episode, a transport team is shown escorting an esky via road and then plane, as nearby bushfires escalate. We then cut to Andrew and Kelly Schneider (Ben Lawson and Annie Maynard, respectively), holidaying in Melbourne, trying to find Supper Inn, as Kelly is celebrating her birthday.

We then cut back to Lillian, as she goes to the local hospital to get Maxolon from her doctor friend, Mary (Eleanor Matsuura), one of her friends present at the New Year’s party. It’s revealed that Mary and Ash worked together, and that Ash was killed by a patient whilst on duty. Mary informs Lillian that she has written her victim impact statement and suggests to Lillian that she sees a psychologist. Lillian angrily resists this and demands the Maxolon. Mary refuses to give it to her, they fight and Lillian leaves. Mary then calls Hamish (Ryan Johnson), her husband, who is also revealed to be Lillian’s cousin, to vent and ask for his help in getting through to Lillian. We then see a former uni classmate of Lillian’s talk with her outside of the hospital as she leaves.

We then cut back to Andrew and Kelly waiting in line outside of Supper Inn near midnight, much to Andrew’s chagrin. When a drunken woman falls in the street nearby and a food delivery cyclist swerves to avoid her, he loses control of the bike and pushes Andrew into the wall, triggering a cardiac arrest. A passerby gives him CPR and he is later seen being taken to hospital via ambulance.

Meanwhile, Lillian sits in her car and calls a doctor’s office to try and get some Maxolon. When she opens her car door to leave, a passing truck drives into it, breaking it off. She is then seen at the police station, where Hamish and Mary pick her up, after being informed about the incident by Fiona (another friend of theirs that was present at the New Year’s party).

Hamish and Mary take Lillian home, telling her that she will be staying with them as she can’t keep living the way she is. As Hamish piles up her bills, Lillian angrily snatches back her mail from him and goes through it, finding a letter from an organ donor recipient who received Ash’s heart. It’s revealed that Andrew is the heart recipient, having received the heart after the cardiac arrest sent him into heart failure. It’s also revealed in his letter that his accident in Melbourne was ten months earlier, and that he was on a waiting list for three months before receiving the heart, with the transplant team seen earlier in the episode, performing the transplant themselves. The letter also makes Lillian and Mary realise that Ash’s organ donation would have saved multiple lives, which is shown briefly in the next scene, with multiple transplant teams escorting multiple eskies containing Ash’s organs.

We then see Lillian go back to Sovereign Hill and ask Sharon for her job back, explaining that the job provided her with fun and stability when she didn’t know what she wanted out of life, enabled her to meet Ash, and led to her going to uni to study teaching at Ash’s encouragement. She also reveals that the job provides her with a welcome distraction from her grief. Sharon agrees to re-hire her, and Lillian is later seen at work trying to write her victim impact statement. Lillian instead does a Google search to try and find Andrew.

We then see a now-healthy Andrew welcoming a tour group to his winery, Rosalie Estate, with Lillian’s car (with the door replaced) parked nearby. Lillian approaches Kelly with the letter, which causes her to collapse, which a staff member brings to Andrew’s attention, as he gives a tour. Kelly gives Andrew the letter he wrote, which leads to him hyperventilating. When he asks Lillian how she found him, she reveals that she only found that one heart transplant was done in the 24-hour period after Ash’s death, through her Google search. When Lillian shows Kelly and Andrew a photo of Ash, Andrew has what appears to be a disappointed look on his face, something that offends Lillian and Kelly picks up on. Lillian then leaves.

Meanwhile, back in Ballarat, Mary and Hamish go to see Jack, a solicitor friend of theirs (who was also present at the New Year’s party) to talk about Lillian and the impending court date to convict Ash’s killer. Jack reveals that Lillian isn’t required to submit a victim impact statement or attend court, however she should, as it would make the sentence for the perpetrator stick. Mary reveals she was required to, at the orders of the hospital, as she witnessed the incident leading to Ash’s death.

Back in Adelaide, Lillian is in her hotel room and calls the organ donation family co-ordinator, Susan (Deborah Mailman) to ask her if there is a vetting process or caveat for organ donation (as she still believes Andrew is racist), and then asks why she hasn’t received any letters from other recipients. Susan tells her that there is no caveat or vetting process on recipients, and that she hasn’t received any other letters, as other recipients may not be up to writing to her. Lillian tells Susan that she would like to receive letters from other recipients.

Meanwhile, when Andrew wants to eat dinner in another room of his and Kelly’s home by himself, Kelly questions him, and calls out his reaction to Ash’s photo, specifically that it came across as racist, which offends him.

We then cut to Lillian having returned to Ballarat and getting groceries out of her car, to discover Andrew waiting for her. When she asks him what he’s doing there, he tells her that he was able to track her down via a Google Search as well, and flew himself to Ballarat in his plane. Andrew tries to apologise for his reaction to Ash’s photo, instead Lillian calls him out on his reaction and what she believes is racism. Andrew reveals to her that he was shocked, not disappointed, as it’s one thing to know about receiving a donor heart, it’s another thing to see who is donor was. Lillian then breaks down, admitting that she misses Ash, and also reveals to Andrew (and the audience) that Ash was killed by a man high on ice, who mistakenly thought that Ash was hurting his equally high girlfriend.

The episode ends with Lillian visiting Mary at her home. Mary is drinking in her chicken coop and Lillian apologises for her behaviour, and informs Mary that she has written her victim impact statement. She also informs Mary that she found Andrew and has invited him and Kelly over for dinner at Mary and Hamish’s house for dinner the following week.

Overall, this was a heartbreaking, heart wrenching, poignant and emotional pilot. Satchwell leads the pilot and the show with authenticity, powerful emotions, and humour (when needed). Satchwell, Lawson, and Maynard provided powerful and visceral performances that even made me emotional. Satchell’s and Matsuura’s performances during the letter reading scene were also outstanding.

In regards to the writing, I appreciated that the group of friends we see at the beginning of the episode aren’t just your standard group, but they are connected to each other in meaningful ways – Hamish is Lillian’s cousin, Mary is Hamish’s wife and was Ash’s colleague, Jack is a solicitor and is representing Mary and Lillian in the impending court case, and Fiona is a police officer who attends to the car door incident (and possibly Ash’s death, although this hasn’t been clarified yet). I also appreciated the foreshadowing of Andrew’s accident, which provides palpable tension to keep viewers on their toes. I also appreciated the uncertainty of the timeline, with the subtle reveal of how much time has passed between Ash’s death and Andrew’s transplant operation, shown in his letter to Lillian.

The cinematography was also well done, with the constant presence of black swans serving as a metaphor for the events of the series, and the plane carrying the transport team travelling alongside the escalating bushfires, to be highlights of the crew’s work in this area.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season and seeing where the show takes us.

Stray Observations

• Both Ash and Andrew were rowers.
• Lillian lives in an apartment within the Ballarat City Rowing Club shed. From what I can tell via a Google Search, there is no actual apartment, but there is a function room that appears to be acting as the set for the apartment (if the cast and crew come across this review and I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me).

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Okay, there were two rings, which means your phone wasn’t off. You’ve just hit the ‘piss off Hamish’ button, which shits me, because I’m working on this really important noodle shop logo, which, as I say, I know it doesn’t sound that important, but it is, so fucking call me back!” (Hamish leaving a voicemail for Lillian)
• “You’ll have to excuse my husband, he hasn’t left Adelaide since 1983.” (Kelly to the people waiting in line outside of Supper Inn)
• “Yes, this is your fault, Mary. This has absolutely nothing to do with me being an arsehole.” “You’re not an arsehole…all the time.” (Lillian sarcastically to Mary, after Mary apologises to her, then Mary to Lillian)
• “You need to snap out…well not snap out of it, that’s offensive. I just mean that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And yes, you are in the tunnel at the moment, and it’s very dark because there’s a curvy bit that’s, and…and…what am I trying to say, Mary?” (Hamish to Lillian, then Mary)
• “Hello! Welcome to Rosalie Estate, I’m Andrew Schneider, third-generation wine maker, ninth-generation wine drinker.” (Andrew welcoming the tour group to Rosalie Estate)
• “What you don’t have in warmth, you make up for in petrol fumes.” (Mary to Jack on his office being at a petrol station, and the crappy aircon in the office).
• “Who goes to Adelaide to clear their head?” (Hamish to Mary on Lillian going to Adelaide)