HOW much more can Nina Proudman endure? Just as it seemed like Asher Keddie’s popular Offspring character was set to sail into the sunset with new love Patrick (Matthew Le Nevez) in series two’s dramatic conclusion, she was hit with a startling family revelation.
Nina’s father, real estate agent Darcy (John Waters), isn’t her biological dad. To make matters worse, her mother Geraldine (Linda Cropper) has suspected as such all along yet kept the bombshell hidden from her husband and daughter. All that in the first hour of the new series – phew.
While the first two series of the Melbourne-made drama have focused on Nina’s complex love life, with the dysfunctional Proudmans almost a back story, the third series emphasises family and identity.
Last week’s series premiere ended with Geraldine locking herself in her bedroom, unable to cope with the fiery showdown as her family uncovered her deepest secret.
That’s exactly where this week’s episode picks up, as Proudman siblings Billie (Kat Stewart) and Jimmy (Richard Davies) try to coax their mother out of her room while Darcy wanders the streets of Fitzroy in a daze. As for Nina, if there’s anything to snap a woman out of her blissful state, it’s a family crisis. She pushes Patrick and her colleagues away, and fantasises about what her mother will say when confronted (‘‘Your father is Tony Abbott, sorry’’ is a personal favourite).
As the narrator of the show, Keddie has always driven Offspring. She brings the perfect mix of quirk, charm and neurosis to the role – one that has clearly won over viewers if her back-to-back Gold Logie nominations are anything to go by.
But that shouldn’t take away from the supporting characters, all of whom have juicy storylines. Jimmy is about to become a first-time dad, Billie and new husband Mick (Eddie Perfect) are keen to start a family, and Cherie (Deborah Mailman) is dealing with the family fallout.
Offspring cracked the magic million viewer mark only once last series (the smallest audience for the last season of Packed to the Rafters was 1.2 million); but it’s a pleasure to see Ten stick with it.
Wednesday, 8.30pm.
