Significant Others

First off I've only seen the 3 episodes that have dropped and I can safely say I don't think I've seen an inner city Australian family portrayed with such naturalness and fragility . No performances are overplayed , none of the interiors are overblown and the general cinema verite style is intimate and awkward.

The two young leads performances are really impressive, as are the two older sisters and Todd shows off acting skills rarely seen from Him before .

I appreciate the somber and deeply saturated colours of the show don't reflect the coastal NSW we are used to, but I'm intrigued and keen to see where all this goes .

The first episode of the series says a good introduction to the premise and characters. However, from the second episode onwards, the characters are shown through their various weaknesses - but I'm struggling to find strengths.

The kids can be forgiven, being just teens, for struggling to deal with the loss of their mum. However, the self-centredness of the various aunts and uncle shows how they're unable to focus on the most important thing - supporting the kids. Relationships with friends and officials are strained, as happens at such a stressful time, but the sort-of-maybe wannabe romance between Hanna and the ?non-binary George feels far more clunky than even the most awkward teen romance in TV history.

Episode 4 is a total disaster. With the exception of the last two minutes, it does nothing to advance the story. It's as though the writer of this book adaptation originally thought there should be five episodes - but the network had decided, at the last minute, that there should be six eps. Enter the episode of mindless partying, drugs and booze at the Mardi grass. (I did enjoy the parody of one prominent religious anti-mardi grass Sydneysider, however.)

The sole reason I have for watching past ep 3 was that I don't like abandoning short series. I do want to know what happened. However, in this case, the series was just under six hours that I'll never get back 🙄

This series started out promising/intriguing, but the more you get to know the characters, the more offputting and unlikable most of them are. The teenagers annoyed me, and the adults are all ridiculously self-centered and more or less worthless. It seemed to be well acted, but there wasn't much redemptive in any of the characters.

I tried to enjoy it, but it just kept letting me down over and over again. And that single sister was just despicable. The gay couple was also rather offensive. Why would anyone want them to be the parents of the two teenagers? They kept taking drugs and having sex with everyone. Not a great example, nor good role models.

After the first episode my interest faltered but I thought I'd give it another try. However, after episide two, this straggle of annoying, dysfunctional characters, none of whom is even remotely likeable or relatable, makes this too painful to continue watching. I find the acting clumsy and the flashbacks are too short to provide insights into the history of family relationships. It may well be that there are lots of families like this, burdened by feuds, animosity and lack of genuine affection. But in this show, watching them deal with the issue of a missing family member is, I just can't make myself care about any of them. They all seem too self centred and fake to elicit sympathy or even interest.

I really loved this series. It really pulls are your heart strings. I cried at least once every episode. Anyone with half a heart should watch it.

All the cast did an absolutely brilliant job, with the two kids (3 actually) and Todd giving stand out performances. I've always found Todd to be funny, but in this role, which was far from comical, I really think it was made for him and he played it flawlessly.

The production values were really great too and it's obvious that everyone involved put their heat and soul into making what was a really great show dealing with emotional topics.

I highly recommend this series.