How do you create interesting drama themed around a dog park? If you\u2019ve been to one before, it doesn\u2019t exactly scream \u201criveting\u201d. I approached the ABC\u2019s new six-part series wondering: will random people from the dog park meet and bonk? Will various disputes erupt, perhaps over where the off-leash area begins and ends? Will class wars break out between the bourgeoisie (chihuahuas), the working class (German shepherds) and the unemployed aristocracy (greyhounds)?<\/p>\n
Having gobbled down all six leisurely paced, very enjoyable episodes, Dog Park actually feels like a bit of a bait-and-switch: entice viewers with the promise of pooches, then serve \u2018em emotionally nuanced characters and scenarios. The show, co-created by Amanda Higgs and Leon Ford, has been marketed as a comedy but it\u2019s more a light-touch drama. Location-wise, it\u2019s based in Melbourne and, emotions-wise, in a relationship interregnum, during which it\u2019s unclear whether a marriage will survive.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The odds that the relationship between sad sack protagonist Roland (Ford) and his wife, Emma, (Brooke Satchwell, recently excellent in Dear Life<\/a>) will go south feel about 50\/50. Emma is soon to leave Melbourne for a promising job opportunity in New Mexico and it\u2019s unclear when she\u2019ll come back, or whether the pair will stay together. The writers \u2013 Ford, Penelope Chai, Nick Coyle, and Chloe Wong \u2013 do a fine job sketching a fractious depiction of love that many will relate to. Small moments can blow up unexpectedly but healing remains possible; some wounds are new and open, others are old and slowly healing.<\/p>\n And \u2026 there are doggos! And quite a lot of doggos. Roland, a career counsellor at a Tafe, is a bit of a grump \u2013 not the sort of person who enjoys chit-chat with strangers. So he becomes part of a local dog group rather reluctantly, almost press-ganged into it by the cheerful and gregarious Samantha (Celia Pacquola), who walks Roland\u2019s pooch Beattie without his permission.<\/p>\n Andrew (Ash Flanders), Penny (Elizabeth Alexander), Jonah (Ras-Samuel) and Pamelia (Grace Chow) with Marty (Betty) in the pram. Photograph: ABC<\/p>\n Samantha introduces Roland to the park-congregation including Penny (Elizabeth Alexander), Pamelia (Grace Chow), Jonah (Ras-Samuel) and Andrew (Ash Flanders). They\u2019re friendly in an almost creepy way; for a while I wondered whether the protagonist might\u2019ve inadvertently inserted himself in a The Wicker Man<\/a>-type situation, with dog enthusiasts instead of pagans (or perhaps pagan dog enthusiasts). They say things like \u201cCome and join us!\u201d They share coffees and snacks, drink in the park together, and even have in-costume sing-a-longs. I\u2019m not entirely convinced such groups actually exist, but by god, it\u2019s a nice fantasy. (Or maybe I\u2019m just jealous: can someone invite me and my jack russell, Bessie?)<\/p>\n The series itself feels very well grounded, thanks in part to a finely balanced central performance from Ford, who never opts for the easy paths or stereotypical angles. Roland is cranky but not a misanthrope, all the comedy bent around his bad mood. This is a more rounded and less performative kind of irritability that feels totally genuine. Occasionally I wondered: is this guy a jerk? But most of the time he struck me as being obviously flawed but fundamentally decent, with, like many men, at times great difficulty in expressing himself emotionally.<\/p>\n \u2018A finely balanced central performance\u2019 \u2026 Roland (Leon Ford) with Beattie (Indie), Muppet (Dallas), Little (Ripley) and Spike (Boost). Photograph: ABC<\/p>\n In one scene, deep into the series, Roland responds to one person\u2019s unexpected but welcome arrival by exiting the premises and walking to the park, admitting to Samantha that \u201cI froze\u201d. In another, Roland and Emma\u2019s daughter Mia (Florence Gladwin) is delighted by his thoughtfulness, exclaiming \u201coh my god, dad, you got all my favourite things!\u201d \u2013 to which he responds by completely downplaying his act of generosity: \u201cMaybe one or two, not on purpose though.\u201d<\/p>\n Small moments like these might not seem like much on paper, but they can be deceptively difficult to pull off and, in Dog Park, they really resonate. The series is paced and toned in quite a lovely, unprepossessing way by co-directors Matthew Saville and Nina Buxton, who imbue the drama with an earthy, unshowy accessibility that reminded me of films like Lonely Hearts<\/a> and others directed by the late Australian film-maker Paul Cox<\/a>. This is thoughtful, gently persuasive television that caught me by surprise: I came for the dogs, but left caring much more about the humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you create interesting drama themed around a dog park? 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