📺 Aussie TV for the end of August
Two Australian shows to watch – one darkly funny, the other moving and melancholy
Happy late summer Thursday. September is literally tomorrow, which feels crazy, but that means Labor Day is almost here, woohoo! Nothing like a long weekend to overcommit to fun outdoor activities with friends and family, only to eventually retreat back home, overstimulated and ready for an evening on the couch. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with two shows to queue up and vedge out with this weekend.
In today’s edition:
Frayed (Max)
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Prime Video)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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This newsletter was written during the WGA and SAG strikes, without the work of the actors and writers, the shows we review wouldn’t exist.
In which we choose a recent show we’ve been enjoying to review and feature.
Frayed (2019 - Present )
Keywords: Australian, comedy drama, gritty
Watch if you like: Fleabag, Bad Sisters, Rosehaven
Jenni’s Rating: B+
Frayed tells the story of a wealthy London housewife who is forced to return to her small Australian hometown after her husband’s debts (and death) leave her and her teenage children penniless. Back in Australia, she is forced to confront how much has changed — and how much hasn’t — as well as the difficult past that led her to leave in the first place.
If you took the premise of Schitt’s Creek and crossed it with the edge of Fleabag and the dark family comedy of Bad Sisters, you’d get Frayed. Written, created by, and starring Sarah Kendall, this comedy drama is one of my favorite new finds of the summer, though I am admittedly late to the game. The first season of Frayed premiered back in 2019 to little fanfare, and its second season went similarly under-noticed. This series seems to have gotten a bit lost in the shuffle of the absolute barrage of streaming content in the last five years, but I’m here to put it on your radar.
The thing I love most about the Australian comedies I’ve seen is that they blend the ridiculous with the realistic so beautifully. Frayed is no exception; its small-town characters, while sometimes over-the-top, are also somehow believable and relatable. Though given plenty of room to play, no one is ever a complete caricature.
This series always stops just short of total absurdity, even when a catastrophe in the first season’s finale introduces more complex elements to the mix, ratcheting up the stakes for Season 2. There is a decent amount of crude humor that doesn’t always do it for me, and some of the dramatic aspects of the plot could’ve been paced a bit better for my liking. Regardless, discovering and watching Frayed was the highlight of my late summer TV viewing, and the show deserves more attention and more fans.
— Jenni
Length: 45-min runtime, 2 seasons / 20 episodes
Watch on: Max
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
Keywords: drama, melancholy, Australian, content warning: domestic violence
Watch if you like: Maid, The Handmaid’s Tale, Sharp Objects
Jess’s Rating: B-
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows the trauma-filled life of the title character, first as a young girl, and then as an adult in her early 20s. When we first meet Alice, she lives with her parents on an isolated plot of land in rural Australia. All is not well at home; her father is violent and Alice and her mother are victims of his abuse. After a life-altering incident, Alice goes to live with her estranged grandmother at her flower farm. There, she grows up amongst a group of women who support her, but these women are troubled by their own pasts, and Alice struggles under the weight of the choices that her family has made.
In the TV landscape that we’re in, where everything with an ounce of mystery masquerades as a thriller, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a refreshingly straightforward drama. Although there are secrets in Alice’s past, her tale is told linearly, with only a few quick flashbacks to underscore revealing moments. This is a series in which the premise doesn’t have a “hook” — it’s just about a girl trying to grapple with her past and her pain — but the well-developed characters and the performances by the actors playing them are the reason to stick around. Most notable is Sigourney Weaver as Alice’s grandmother; she forms the backbone of the show as a complex woman trying to protect her family, even when that means protecting them from themselves. Backdropped by the gorgeous countryside of Australia, the series has a strong sense of place that helps the characters to feel fully realized.
Unfortunately, the story itself could have been stronger. Even though the runtime spans 7 hours, at times it feels like the show is more interested in exploring its various metaphors than moving the plot along. There is a 14 year time jump after the 3rd episode, bringing Alice into her early 20s. But instead of dedicating any time to the 14 year period in-between, there are just the quickest of flashbacks to tell the story of how Alice grew up, including the loves and hardships that she faced. Once we’re somewhat settled into this new, older version of Alice, she meets a love interest who becomes pivotal to her journey; this relationship develops so quickly that I felt sure I’d missed something. Although The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is visually appealing, well-acted, and emotionally evocative, it’s bogged down by uneven pacing and an over-reliance on metaphor. Watch it for its powerful message, but don’t expect it to keep you glued to your television.
—Jess
Length: 60-min runtime, Limited Series / 7 episodes
Watch on: Prime Video
Your shows, returned:
Wheel of Time, Season 2: Premiers September 1 on Prime Video
Disenchantment, Season 5: Premieres September 1 on Netflix
Upcoming new releases:
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake: Premieres August 31 on Max
One Piece: Premieres August 31 on Netflix
Spellbound: Premieres August 31 on Hulu
Is She the Wolf?: Premieres September 3 on Netflix
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I just finished Frayed S1 after your recommendation, and it was SO GOOD! Australian dark comedies are *chefs kiss*