Some siblings have a settled, easy-going relationship. June (Tasma Walton) and Charlie (Hunter Page-Lochard), however, are not that kind of siblings. Right from the very start of Reckless, it’s obvious that the pair have more than one point of friction between them. Charlie is the kind of guy who puts money in a wedding wishing well; June is more the “I’m taking this massive bottle of disgusting vodka home with me because they owe me” type. And don’t get either of them started on the heated car seats.
Tasma Walton as June and Hunter Page-Lochard as Charlie. Credit: David Dare Parker
So, what’s a bit of bickering between brother and sister during the drive back to Fremantle after a wedding? Nothing - just so long as they both have their eyes on the road. But between June complaining about spilling vodka on her designer scarf and Charlie getting his digs in that she never visits, they don’t even notice the old man in the street until he goes flying over their bonnet.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” June says, after double-checking that the man they hit is definitely dead. Her version of events is a worst-case scenario that sees Charlie in jail and June, who it turns out is a lawyer, losing her firm. Charlie is a nice guy who wants to do the right thing, but it was clearly an accident. Why should his life be ruined because of one simple mistake?
Of course, one simple mistake is only the beginning of the troubles that June and Charlie are about to face. Maybe if they’d just driven away from the scene of the crime, they might have gotten away with it. Instead, they drag the dead man back inside his house and leave him sitting in an armchair. You don’t have to be an armchair detective to know this is going to raise a lot of questions. And that’s before we see a neighbour’s light turn on as the siblings drive away.
Reckless is a series that crackles with energy. Revved-up music and split-screen visuals kick things along in a way that matches the high-powered storytelling. It’s a series where you know one problem is going to pile up on top of another, and every easy solution is only going to create a string of hard choices – not to mention smashings, bashings, and guns being drawn – further down the line.
As the people in the eye of this growing storm, Walton and Page-Lochard are playing very different characters. As June, Walton is all about control until her shell cracks; Page Lochard plays Charlie as a sweet guy who’s definitely in over his head. They both give performances just heightened enough to make their characters fit seamlessly into this out-of-control setting.
The trouble is, all the energy is directed directly at June and Charlie, and none of it’s good. Every step they take to try and get themselves out of the hole they’ve dug only pushes them down deeper. And it doesn’t take long to see that both siblings were in trouble even before the whole vehicular homicide thing.
June’s relationship with her lover Kate (Jane Harber) is on bumpy ground, and the wedding wishing well debacle feels like the latest in a long line of public upsets. Hiding things from your partner isn’t usually good for a relationship, and June’s already working with some of Fremantle’s more aggressive criminal elements; it’s not long before she has a whole series of secrets she’s trying to keep from pretty much everyone.
Charlie’s problems are closer to his record store home, with a daughter throwing fists at school and an ex whose new partner wants to relocate them to Sydney. At least there’s the prospect of new love on the horizon with the arrival of Sharne (Jessica De Gouw) in his life – oh wait, she’s the niece of the man he accidentally killed.
Hunter Page-Lochard as Charlie and Jessica De Gouw as Sharne with Maddie Young as Kiah. Credit: David Dare Parker
Making matters worse – this is a series where almost everything makes matters worse – Sharne (who’s travelled from the UK for her uncle’s funeral) doesn’t believe the official story around his death and starts to do some digging of her own. The police also start sniffing around, but June might be able to sort that out. Then George’s neighbour Valda (Tracey Mann) lets June know she saw what happened, and it’s going to take a lot of money to keep her quiet.
That’s only the start of their problems. Organised crime, dodgy cops, fake relatives, and a list of shonky schemes that grows longer by the day: June and Charlie are in the centre of a web of dirty deeds, and the harder they struggle, the tighter the web gets.
Reckless premieres Wednesday 12 November on SBS, NITV and SBS On Demand. Episodes air weekly at SBS and NITV starting Wednesday 12 November at 8.30pm, with encores every Saturday at 10.15pm. All episodes will be streaming at SBS On Demand from 12 November.
Upcoming On Demand
Reckless
series • Comedy drama
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series • Comedy drama
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