How many times have we seen a series where a woman in the late 1800s or very early 1900s resists what her high society relatives ask of her and tries to forge her own path? We’ve seen it so much that it’s become a trope. My Brilliant Career, a new Australian series on Netflix, has an advantage over those other shows because it’s based on a novel from that time period.
Opening Shot: “AUSTRALIA 1900.” A woman in a formal gown clears her throat and starts reciting a monologue. “Forbidden fruit ripens untouched,” she begins. After her provocative monologue, she runs out of the society party she’s attending, takes off her choker and gown, and jumps into a nearby pond.
The Gist: Sybylla Melvyn (Philippa Northeast) is truly a modern woman. Living in rural Possum Gulch with her family, she tells her sister Gertie (Ella Oliphant) that she wants to “Eat like a man, ride like a man,” and that she wants to “create, not procreate.” She is an aspiring writer, always scribbling her observations in a journal and making sure to use the “active verb” when she speaks.
Then Sybylla’s mother Lucy (Mirrah Foulkes) tells her that her mother — Sybylla’s grandmother — Mrs. Bossier (Anna Chancellor) has written a letter requesting that Sybylla come to her estate in Caddagat. For one, it would improve her romantic prospects to “come out” to Australian society, which will translate to a more comfortable life.
Sybylla of course resists; she’s never met her grandmother, given that Lucy left the estate for good after marrying Richard Mervyn (Nathan Page), and she also has no desire to be married off. But Gertie convinces her that the comfortable life will give her all the time in the world to write. Sybylla agrees to go, but “no marriage.”
When she arrives at Caddagt, she’s met by Frank Hawden (Jake Dunn), who is the acting foreman at Caddagat while he’s on sabbatical from his home in England. On the way to the estate, they also encounter Harry Beecham (Christopher Chung), who lives on a neighboring farm with his aunt Augusta (Kate Mulvany), whom Frank describes as a “raging suffragist,” which makes Sybylla more intrigued to meet her.
The first thing she does, before she even sees her grandmother and aunt Helen (Genevieve O’Reilly), is open her jacket, take in the fresh air, and meet stablehand Nell Kirby (Sherry-Lee Watson). Miss Bossier is shocked by her granddaughter’s wild behavior, but is determined to polish her to the point where she can come out to society and be married, most ideally to Frank. But Sybylla seems to be more interested in Harry.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Liz Doran and based on Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel of the same name, My Brilliant Career was previously a 1979 feature film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. The series’ tone reminds us of the Apple TV series The Buccaneers or the HBO series The Gilded Age.
Our Take: As we mentioned above My Brilliant Career is based on a novel that’s from the time period it’s depicting, and for the most part feels more earthy and authentic to the time and location. But only for the most part, which we’ll talk about in a second.
The series is well-paced and very watchable because of Philippa Northeast, who infuses Sybylla with a curiosity and impish glee that makes her a more well-rounded character than those we see in similar shows. She knows what she wants — and, more importantly, what she doesn’t — and only ends up going to Caddagat on what she thinks is her own terms. Of course, the progression of early-20th-century society is pretty powerful, and Sybylla is going to have to use all of her creativity and so-called “wildness” to forge the path she wants to forge, even in the face of the news that her mother gives her when she visits Caddagat to convince her to marry Frank.
It will be an interesting dilemma for Sybylla to address. Even if Australian society doesn’t have the same rules and stringency as its British counterpart, there are still people like Mrs. Bossier who want it to be like it is in the mother country, even in the face of advancements like women’s suffrage and the push to make Australia an independent federation. But Sybylla pushing against those standards, all the while knowing that getting married to money will help her family back in Possum Gulch, will help Sybylla mature a bit, and figure out how she can make both work.
Performance Worth Watching: We already mentioned Northwest, so we’ll talk about how coolly officious Anna Chancellor is as Sybylla’s grandmother, Mrs. Bossier.
Sex And Skin: None in the first episode, but we suspect we’ll see some as the series goes along.
Parting Shot: Sybylla finds out from her mother Lucy that the real reason why she was sent to Caddagat, which is because the Melvyn family is in debt up to their ears, and Sybylla getting married to Harry will go a long way to help save their home and livelihood.
Sleeper Star: Miah Madden is Betty, the housemaiden at Caddagat. She’s also Nell’s sister. We liked the relationship that she and Nell had, and it seems that Betty has ambitions that go beyond her station and upbringing, something that Sybylla will identify with.
Most Pilot-y Line: During a surprise birthday party for Augusta, Sybylla requests that the band play a more upbeat song so that everyone can have a grand time dancing. That song ends up being “Young Turks.” Yes, the Rod Stewart song from 1981. We get that it’s a stylistic choice on the part of Doran and her writers, but lordy, does the song feel out of place in that scene.
Our Call: STREAM IT. My Brilliant Career is a fun series that’s made very watchable by Philippa’s Northeast’s lead performance. At times, it tries to get a bit too stylish, but those moments are outweighed by the story and performances.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.