Wellmania.

This might be a weird one to start with. One because I have heard only a handful things about Australia, and mainly that it’s racist there. Two because if a show doesn’t have any Black people in it, I usually grow a little suspicious (are there no Black people in Australia?). But what I liked (loved?) about this show is what I like about this genre in general (the genre of messy-woman-fumbles-up-her-life-and-her-friends-and-family-love-her-anyway): I like the forgiveness of it. I like that you can, for example, say you’re not going to your gay brother’s wedding because you have a work thing, and he not only forgives you the next day but also helps you get to your work thing. I like that you can embarrass your best friend in front of her boss, whom she adores, and somehow be able to make up for it by coming into her workplace on a whim and apologizing to said boss profusely. I like that this boss will not only forgive you, but let you work for her. It's a fantasy, of sorts, this genre and this show. The idea that you will be loved unconditionally by the people in your life. The idea that nothing you do can make them say, Okay, yeah, here we are, at the end of us. I find that comforting. And sure, if the protagonist is White, there’s that tension: the idea that it's only White people who can make mistakes like that, but is that true? Aren’t other cultures maybe even more forgiving of their own, especially today, considering cancel culture, considering White guilt, considering the pressing depressing nature of capitalism and Covid trauma and the world slowly burning to a crisp? White culture isn’t the roomiest place for mistakes these days, and maybe within our own little orbits, we all want to be forgiven like the protagonist of Wellmania. Maybe we all want to come into our brother’s gym and projectile vomit during a spin class and somehow still be loved by him. I think—regardless of messages of what it means to be well v. unwell, about what it means to be in Australia v. the States, of what it means to ask your minority friends to help you to the end—there’s something comforting about the fantasy that there is nothing that you can do that can’t be forgiven, that the people in your life will love you and love you until the credits roll.

Image: Netflix