australian television information archive

The Secret Life of Us

With its combination of great acting, engaging storylines, earthy Aussie humour, risqué talk and sexy bits, series one of this hip and happening homegrown drama quickly built up a large and well-deserved following. While last week's rather clumsily scripted season premiere wasn't one of the better episodes, series two is shaping up to be a beaut.

It's been three months since Evan (Samuel Johnson) left for the writer's colony and there are some new and interesting developments in the lives of our twenty something friends and their various ongoing flirtations with love, life and each other. Evan is currently slumming it in Cuba as evidenced in a video postcard delivered via his erstwhile travelling companion Gabrielle (Sibylla Budd). Alex (Claudia Karvan) is putting Evan to the back of her mind by throwing herself into her job in the Accident & Emergency Unit at a new hospital. It doesn't hurt that she's also found another interesting distraction in the form of spunky anaesthetist Rex (Vince Colosimo) with whom she enjoyed a passionate snog last week.

Elsewhere, Caitlin (Alice Garner) and Jason (Damian de Montemas) are preparing for parenthood while Miranda (Abi Tucker) is busy being the new 'Pores Afresh' girl. Now that Richie (Spencer McLaren) has moved out, she and Will (Joel Edgerton) seem to be enjoying living together, despite the fact that she appears to be using him as a surrogate boyfriend. Hot out of the closet Richie, who is living with Simon (David Tredinnick) and making his acting debut in a top rating Aussie serial, has decided to pose as single straight guy for a story in a magazine. Meanwhile, Alex and Kelly (Deborah Mailman) are living in the apartment with Nathan (Todd MacDonald), Kelly's boyfriend.

Unfortunately, nothing, not even Mailman's exceptional skills as an actor can mask how irritating her character has become. With Evan out of the scene, Kelly has been given the lion's share of the show's trademark interior monologues but thankfully, Nathan should keep her from interfering too much in the lives of the other characters.

Will Rex and Alex go all the way? Does Jason really love the pregnant chick? How will Richie explain being bachelor of the month to his gay friends? When is Evan coming back? Viewers will be glued to their sets as the answers are teased out in the coming weeks. After a long-playing record of nasty, b-grade soaps which we've exported to all corners of the globe, Australia is finally offering a viable alternative to the barbie driven youth sagas of the past. The Secret Life of Us is the best of the bunch.

Telstra.com
February 20, 2002