Bump: A Christmas Movie Review – The Most Masochistic Holiday Ever? | television

AAs a teenager, Ollie Chalmers Davis experienced her fair share of motherhood-related horrors. First, the 16-year-old high achiever went into labor in the school toilets, not even realizing she was pregnant. Soon after, she had to tell her boyfriend that he was not the father – the child was the product of an affair with another classmate. Then, unable to contemplate the possibility of a decline in her perfect grades, she decides to juggle studying and caring for a newborn, while overcoming mastitis, taunts from her classmates (including some creatively enthusiastic memes) and a rocky romance with her baby’s father, Santi.

After five series following Ollie (Natalie Morris) and Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr) as they struggle to adjust to fatherhood, hit Australian comedy-drama Bump wrapped things up last December – and yet it left us in suspense. Recently married, and with baby Jacinda (Ava Cannon) entering elementary school, the couple is preparing to welcome another child. Now the show returns for a festive special, telling the story eight weeks after the birth of their son.

When it came to the second child, things should have been much simpler. Unfortunately, Ollie and Santi seem to be masochists. Instead of enjoying Christmas back home in Sydney, they chose to fly around the world to Colombia (40-hour transit, in total), before embarking on a 10-day cruise. Did I mention they have a newborn?

If you’re wondering why, well, here’s where things get a little complicated. Over the course of the Bump’s existence, Ollie and Santi weren’t the only ones to witness dramatic upheaval. The former’s parents, Dom (Angus Sampson) and Angie (Claudia Karvan, who co-created the series with journalist Kelsey Munro), took on their fair share of childcare after Jacinda’s birth, but Angie still found time to have an affair with Santi’s father, Matias (Ricardo Shihing Vasquez), a fellow teacher at her daughter’s school. Then, after contributing to the breakup of Matthias’ marriage to Santi’s sharp-tongued stepmother, Rosa (Paola Garcia), Angie decides to live with Dom’s sister, Edith (Anita Haig).

No, you’re absolutely right, that doesn’t explain why there was a 2-month-old baby on a cruise ship in South America. Although I should add that most of the above characters are there with him, as well as Ollie’s older brother Bowie (Christian Byers) and Rosa’s two temperamental teenage sons. In fact, it is the melodramatic and hilariously brutal Rosa who organizes the trip back to her much-missed homeland (although why her stepson’s father-in-law took her and not her boyfriend is unclear). For Rosa, this is a chance to show her children the country she loves – and to sell the place to Bump viewers in the form of a series of fourth-wall-breaking monologues, in which she outlines the country’s strengths (“the best people, the best food, the best coffee, the best wildlife” and “the best Christmas!”) and angrily dismisses its perceived shortcomings (cocaine trafficking simply “doesn’t happen anymore”).

Christmas on a cruise turned out to be hellish. Surprisingly tolerant in many ways (particularly regarding the relationship between his sister and his ex-wife), Dom is driven to distraction by the ridiculously loud PA system in his small cabin and the captain’s decision to confiscate his alcohol. Angie, a cancer survivor, decides to write a memoir, which Ollie offers to edit to escape her parental duties – only to realize it is filled with complaints about her behavior as a teenage mother. Meanwhile, Santi becomes competitive when one of the Dreamboat crew starts flirting with Ollie; Edith becomes jealous when Rosa and Angie call a truce; Rosa is shocked when she loses her baby Jesus, a gift from her grandmother. Elsewhere, several people are vomiting, and Ollie feels completely exhausted (as she knows it all, she angrily tells her husband that breastfeeding is the equivalent of running 11 kilometers a day).

However, in the end, the journey ends with a feeling of success. This will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Bump’s MO: It’s a show about how families can be torn apart beyond recognition, and how love can still flourish in the gaps. For all the improbable events that underlie this special (not to mention Rosa’s jarring interludes, which, I had to double-check, aren’t actually sponsored by the Colombian Tourist Board; they’re not), Bump remains admirably emotionally tentative. Firstly, because the laid-back Australian charm makes up for the absurdly labyrinthine personal drama; Secondly, because at the core of the show is a frank and realistic depiction of the relationship between a mother and daughter. This film ends with a simple, funny, but quietly devastating conversation between Ollie and Angie, as the latter reflects on the difficult and beautiful lessons motherhood has taught her. In Bump, things are far from perfect, but they’re still good.