Law’s nuclear family fall-out

The Family Law season two doesn’t include a reunion, but rather shows how the family works after divorce, writes Seanna Cronin

IT’S a beautiful Queensland morning when I arrive at the Suttons Beach Pavilion in Redcliffe.

The sun is sparkling on the water and inside the pavilion there’s plenty of bling as well. The cast and crew of The Family Law are shooting a wedding scene, and the reception room is decked out in red and gold.

But what should be a happy day is, of course, a little more complicated for Australia’s favourite Asian-Australian family.

SBS’s award-winning comedy drama, loosely based on Benjamin Law’s memoir about growing up on the Sunshine Coast, returns to our screens for a second season this week.

Season one was a runaway hit; it was the highest viewed program on SBS On Demand and attracted more than 1 million viewers for its exclusive Facebook premiere.

“Season one was all teething... it was a big learning curve for everyone but especially me,” Benjamin tells The Guide.

“I’d studied a bit of screen writing but nothing of this scale.

“When we were writing the script, and even when I was writing the book, we came to the conclusion that this show is about adults and adult situations that involves children and is told through the eyes of a teenager.

“The way we ended up approaching the first series is we wrote it like a drama and then we trusted that the laughs would come.”

And come they did. The Family Law was nominated for two AACTA Awards and won the Screen Producers Australia Award for Best Comedy Series.

Season two follows the Law family after Jenny and Danny have amicably parted ways, and now share custody of their five children. Jenny focuses on her children, who increasingly don’t need her, while Danny pours his energy into his Asian grocery store.

“They’re separated but it’s the kids job to keep the family together in a sense,” Trystan Go, who plays Benjamin, says.

“Ben worries about the bad things that are going on but he just looks ahead and keeps going. I think that’s why people like his character.”

Benjamin says the new season will be even more painful, hilarious and poignant than the first.

“I know a lot of the audience was watching it hoping the parents would get back together, but sometimes for a family to work the parents have to be apart,” Benjamin says.

“The question coming into season two is what divorce has ever gone straight forward? What co-parenting situation has ever worked flawlessly?

“They’ve gone from a nuclear family to a post-nuclear family and any post-nuclear situation is going to have fallout.”

THE FAMILY LAW – SBS THURSDAY AT 8.30PM