Victoria "Sando" Sandringham (Sacha Horler) has had a poor recent history - albeit through entirely her own fault. She was the "Package Deal Queen" of discount furniture retail, until it was revealed on her daughter Susie's (Krew Boylan) wedding day that Sando had fallen pregnant to her would-be son-in-law Kevin (Firass Dirani) and then most of her family disowned her. When the story broke publicly, her company went bankrupt and she never recovered. Now ten years later, Sando has to return to Susie's house (for a very temporary stays, as Susie thinks) and get her career back on the rails with her family's help. The only one of them who still loves her, however, is her illegitimate son Eric (Dylan Hesp), who's a try-hard, aspiring stand-up comic with a Star Wars fetish.
This blisteringly funny Aussie family comedy that debuted last year is also a mercilessly brazen satire of Australian suburbia and business culture. Creators Phil Lloyd (who also plays Sando's cowed ex-husband Don) and Charlie Garber have hit on a very timely concept whose protagonist does feel like a disgraced, female Gerry Harvey (co-founder of real-life Australian furniture retail chain Harvey Norman), and the show could serve as a cautionary tale for such people. Indeed, it could arguably even reflect high-profile Australian business collapses like those of ABC Learning or HIH Insurance. Lloyd, Garber and their fellow writers also maintain the laughs with consistently sharp dialogue and relatable character dynamics and themes.
But undoubtedly, the main source of entertainment here is the dynamite cast. Horler (a last-minute replacement for Genevieve Morris, who had to withdraw due to an injury; she's thanked in every episode's credits) is so ideal because she so sincerely conveys that really perverse charm and persistence you expect in a salesperson or retail CEO, and also does make us believe Sando is a woman who does want the best for her family also; she just never thinks through how she interacts with them. Boylan portrays Susie's perennial anger towards her mother and Kevin (and borderline hatred for most of the others) with relish, Lloyd (who previously played Tim Matheson in the series At Home with Julia about Julia Gillard) is effective as the empty husk Don, and YouTube comedian Hesp, although therefore hardly challenged in his role, makes Eric into a very relatable dweeb. Sando, for me, suffice it to say, was the highlight of 2018 in television.
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