Strife Season 2 review: Asher Keddie goes full throttle

When Australia serves up a dramedy, it’s usually a drama that’s just not that dramatic. Now in its second season, half-hour show Strife is a rare example of approaching things from the other direction.

It’s basically a workplace sitcom, only with the polished look – and numerous serious moments – of a drama. It’s a comedy, only you can’t afford to rent any of the locations.

Loosely based on Mamamia website founder Mia Freeman’s memoir Work, Strife, Balance, it’s set in the golden age of the internet – which would be a little over a decade ago now – when websites were seen as a financially and culturally viable alternative to magazines instead of … whatever they are now (also, what’s a magazine?).

Watch the Strife Season 2 trailer.

After making the leap online at the start of Season 1, feminist writer turned blogger turned publisher Evelyn Jones (Asher Keddie) and her motley crew of online content creators faced down a range of obstacles, though none bigger than the end-of-season shock reveal that deputy Christine (Maria Angelico) had jumped ship to start a rival website.

Meanwhile, Evelyn’s personal life was in less than stellar condition, what with her marriage to Jon (Matt Day) crumbling and their kids Alex (Darcy Tadich) and Addy (Willow Speers) giving her the side-eye. All of which gives Keddie plenty of opportunity to do what she does best: play someone just barely holding it together. But you know, also funny.

Strife: thick and fast

This season sees the trouble coming thick and fast. Former employee Norma (Lucy Ansell) has a book out titled Toxic Boss so that’s not exactly good news, while the new online competition is a stark reminder that even in 2012 there’s not a whole lot of money to be made online, no matter how high your personal profile or commitment to ‘hot topics, punchy headlines’ that’ll have the readers ‘breaking their thumbs they’re clicking so fast’.

Things aren’t a whole lot better at home, despite Evelyn now having new therapist Sylvie (Mary Coustas) to help her hash out her issues with, well, just about everything. Evelyn and Jon are trying out a new separated parenting method where the kids live at home permanently while their parents rotate in and out, which provides stability for Alex and his new clingy girlfriend while giving Addy yet another reason to dislike her mother.

Then there’s Evelyn’s best friend Lucy (Emma Lung), who is amongst other things taking up pole dancing during an increasingly extended break from her medical duties, and her sleazy husband Daniel (Alex Dimitriades), whose dubious legal skills occasionally come in handy.

This season he’s hardly alone in the dodgy male corner, with guest stars Tim Minchin and Dylan Alcott playing characters best described as ‘wankers’. At least Jonathan LaPaglia gets to smoulder in a three-piece suit.

In the end it all comes back to Keddie, whose often frantic and flustered performance makes things feel a lot more energetic than they otherwise are. It’s her ability to effortlessly pivot between comedy and drama that holds Strife together; as a vehicle for her, it’s difficult to imagine a better one.

Even with Keddie at full throttle in just about every scene, there’s a sense at times of a show that’s trying to cover too much ground. The comedy often comes a distant third to personal dramas and examining serious issues like racial diversity and how the desire to be liked can get in the way of achieving success. At least the idea of editorial independence in an advertising-driven marketplace is usually left as a punchline.

What comedy we do get is often used to flavour scenes about more serious topics. An editorial meeting during tough times features lines like ‘I just don’t see how I’m supposed to make racism sound peppy’; some sponsored content leads to Evelyn proudly ‘reclaiming the douchebag’ for girlboss culture. This approach makes a little go a long way, but a bit more comedy would go a lot further.

As a performer Keddie is so likable it’s easy to overlook the many (many many) ways Evelyn isn’t. She isn’t so much muddling through as constantly a snap decision away from being a nightmare boss, someone who can find a solid moral justification for pretty much any decision that benefits her and screws everyone else over.

As a comedy character, her self-serving side works; as a dramatic lead, it makes her a little hard to embrace.

Still, it’s her show. No matter how tough the choice she constantly falls down on the right side of the line. She means well (mostly), so it all winds up okay. Maybe this is more of a comedy than it seems.

Strife Season 2 is currently streaming on Binge, with new episodes available Thursdays.

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