Spinal Destination
Dramedy best in its lighter moments
It’s been weeks since Tessa (Bree Peters) lost the use of her legs and yet no-one can give her an answer as to what’s wrong with her. What began as a relaxing bath turned into a nightmarish trip to hospital, daughter Poppy (Ibanez Maeva) frightened by what was happening to her mum and hapless husband Karl (Niwa Whatuira) just perplexed as to how this could have happened.
At Goldsfields Hospital’s Spinal Rehabilitation Unit, Tessa struggles with the awkward small talk and being surrounded by strangers, and with resident psychologist Todd Taniwha (Tainui Tukiwaho) reminding her that she has to plan for all scenarios.
But for Tessa, that certainly doesn’t involve giving up her job as a journalist. Steadfastly refusing to tell her boss what’s transpired, even as she struggles to meet deadlines and has to work from awkward spaces, Tessa finds herself frequently “visited” by a manifestation of her preincident self to keep her on task and prevent her feeling sorry for herself.
The truth is, though, she hasn’t had a bowel motion in a week and her latest lab results show there’s nothing wrong with her, despite not being able to “shit, shower, shave ... or walk”.
Inspired by director and co-writer Paula Whetu Jones’ (Whina, Waru) own experiences at Christchurch’s Burwood Spinal Unit, Spinal Destination (which debuts on Sky Open on March 27, before arriving on Sky Go and Neon the following day) works better in its more comedic moments than as an accurate depiction of the inner-workings of such a facility.
Peters (Good Grief, Sweet Tooth) does a great job in delineating the “two Tessas”, while also effectively communicating her character’s frustrations and confusion.
And while some of the supporting players are rather thinly sketched, both Tukiwaho’s (Step Dave) “friendly face” of the unit and John Landreth’s (The Kick, The Hopes & Dreams of Gazza Snell) pithy, darkly humorous long-term “inmate” John provide plenty of laughs.
Which suggests Spinal Destination’s strengths and weaknesses are due to the project’s potential surfeit of writers, Whetu Jones and Landreth two of the seven listed (a line-up that includes another co-star, Tom Sainsbury, as well as screenwriting veterans Greg McGee and Gavin Strawhan).
Whether it’s a scenario that could sustain four seasons is debatable, but Spinal Destination at least offers more evidence of both the increasing diversification of New Zealand’s on-screen storytelling and its skill at finding humour even in the most potentially serious of set-ups.
Spinal Destination debuts on Sky Open tomorrow night. It will be available to stream on SkyGo and Neon from Thursday.