If you’re looking for a comedy series that doesn’t lose
something in translation then look no further. SANDO is irreverent and plenty
funny. Acorn is releasing the Australian first season and it’s a hoot.
The main character referenced in the title is Victoria
“Sando” Sandringham (Sacha Horler), the discount furniture queen of Australia.
Each episode opens with a commercial for her stores and moves forward from
there. As the series opens we’re at the wedding for her daughter Susie (Krew
Boylan) when Sando gets a text message causing her to exclaim. Her bumbling son
Eric looking over her should sees that she is pregnant and congratulates her.
It’s then when her husband mentions they haven’t had sex in some time and there
is no way he’s the father. It turns out the father is her daughter’s soon to be
husband. The wedding comes to a halt, Sando is kicked out and her family no
longer wants anything to do with her.
Fast forward years later and her reckless choices have led
Sando to a bad spot. Her partying and wild lifestyle have left them no choice
but to remove her as the head of the company. They take away her company
apartment and car and leave her with nothing more than her stock options and no
cash on hand. With no one to turn to she decides it’s time to make up with her
family.
Her daughter has since married Gary (Uli Latukefu) a
security guard and both have moved in with her father Don (Phil Lloyd), a
musician who created the Sando jingle. Also living in their house is Nicky (Adele
Vuko), Susie’s friend/guru/self-proclaimed therapist who’s still studying.
Nicky also happens to be sleeping with Don when they can get a chance. Eric
also lives in the house, dreaming of bigger things and obviously too clueless
to take care of himself let alone find an occupation.
Into the mix returns Sando claiming she wants to make up
with her family and hiding the reality that she needs them all to appear to be
one big happy family or she will lose her company to outside forces. But
they’re not as receptive as she’d hope not to mention the fact that she
continues her wild ways and still lies to them about her motives.
If this weren’t enough Sando also has weekend custody of her
son by Susie’s ex-betrothed Kevin (Firass Dirani). Kevin still has feelings for
Susie but with Gary around he has no hope of getting her back. It still leads
to some funny moments as at one point he becomes friends with Gary.
For the most part the show is broad comedy with the wildly
exuberant Horler chewing up the scenery on purpose. This is what her character
is like and she does a marvelous job in the lead role. There is a part of you
that can’t help but feel sympathy for Sando while at the same time be repulsed
by her actions and behavior. She can’t help herself, this is who she is. One
has to wonder if there is any real hope to her changing for the better.
The entire cast offer tremendous support to the character of
Sando. Susie’s outrage, Don’s sneaking about with Nicky, Eric’s simple minded
stupidity, Gary’s search for himself and a way to support his wife are all
characters that may have their own storyline at one time or another but are
more often there to be the foils of Sando. The great thing though is that deep
down you realize that for all her eccentricities, for all the damage she
creates, there is something about Sando that makes you know she truly loves her
family.
The commercials that open each show are so real as to make
them hilarious and remind us all of those cheezy commercials that still air on
TV. The situations the family finds themselves in are belly laugh inducing. And
in the end you look forward to seeing more of Sando in the future.
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