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Aria Dehar as Ma (left) and Manu Vaea as Pua (right) in Not Even (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)
Aria Dehar as Ma (left) and Manu Vaea as Pua (right) in Not Even (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)

Pop CultureSeptember 27, 2024

Review: Not Even is probably the realest reflection of life as a Gen Z in Aotearoa

Aria Dehar as Ma (left) and Manu Vaea as Pua (right) in Not Even (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)
Aria Dehar as Ma (left) and Manu Vaea as Pua (right) in Not Even (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)

Dodgy drugs, hate sex and a whole lot of whakamā makes for some very relatable viewing for Aotearoa’s geriatric Gen Zers.

A night at a flat party for 20-somethings, introduced in vignettes: opening a baggie at 8.45pm, hooking up in the bathroom at 10pm, starting a fire at 1am, masturbating to your ex at 3am. In the life of a Gen Zer on the geriatric end of the scale (as in, 20-24), a night like this can be pretty standard procedure. That’s what makes Not Even that one thing all television shows aimed at a youth audience want to be: relatable.

Focused on a group of young Māori and Pasifika (Ma, Pua, Heps, Taaps, Liz and Tawhiti) getting by in Pōneke, the series’ recently released second season (available to stream on Neon) picks up the drama where it left off – in the flat where, if walls could talk, they’d have a lot of shit to say. To recap: childhood friends Ma and Heps (who is now in therapy) are on awkward terms, Liz has stepped into her taha Māori and Pua’s lost her job and her cat, Pussy (but she’s still as funny as ever).

Ma and Heps reunite at the flat party in episode one, Manaakitanga. After the crowd of drunken and drugged-up youths thin out, they run into each other in the bathroom, and have one of those “hey, you all good?” exchanges where no one is really telling the truth about how they actually feel.

When he leaves, she masturbates to a text Heps mistakenly sends her: “Just ran into my ex-flatmate, fuck she’s annoying, still here even tho everyone else gapped it. Grabbing uber now.” It’s the “annoying” bit that really gets her hot. Is it wrong to say, haven’t we all been there?

The motley crew of Not Even: (from left) Heps (Tane Rolfe), Liz (Rongopai Tickell), Ma (Aria Dehar), Pua (Manu Vaea) and Taaps (Scott Cotter). (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)

Meanwhile, Taaps is at a turning point – his former missus is hapū, but it doesn’t mean she’s rethinking the break up. She can rely on her whānau, but she still wants Taaps to stay in baby’s life. It’s not the only difficult relationship he’s navigating – he feels overlooked by Heps, and starts to (quite literally) dodge any interaction with him.

The second season also deals with some of the difficult mother-daughter relationships within the show. Ma has to tell her mother she’s failed her law school exams and will work at a cafe full time, to which she simply replies “you owe me $6000.” Her cousin Liz, still healing with her father’s death, deals with her mum – “dumb bitch Sharon” – reaching out.

Here goes the young person complaining about the perils of youth, but being in your 20s can be incredibly isolating when you feel you have no idea where your life is headed or who you’re supposed to be. I guess that’s difficult at any age, but the mistakes caused and issued mulled over in your brain with a not-yet-developed prefrontal cortex lobe feel especially overwhelming.

No one in this show is a reflection of a perfectly average New Zealander who has it all together – rather, they represent the many, many other people living in Aotearoa whose lives only seem strange because they’re unfamiliar to us. Taaps’ parenting dynamic, Pua’s brashness, Ma’s shameless fuck-ups, Heps’ difficulty in tapping into his emotions and past and Liz’s strained relationship to her whānau and identity – these are the realities I see reflected around me in my friend circles. None of us are making it into the news for buying a house at 20 years old.

Like Pua, Liz and Ma, most of us are messy bitches with messy lives (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)

A few months ago, I was flamed for saying we needed more Māori media that makes us feel something positive, rather than the same torture tales. I have the courage of my convictions, so I still stand ten toes down on that statement, but I’ll admit to biting my tongue: the team behind Not Even are creating a “for us, by us” show for Māori and Pasifika that actually speaks to our lives in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelmingly sad.

Our ties to our whānau can be messy and difficult, looking internally often makes us shut off, and sometimes we treat our friends like shit, but we’ll always be down for a piss up in the garage (even if the bro brings his Pākehā girlfriend, bless her). Being Māori and/or Pasifika in Aotearoa is a beautiful experience, if we take a bit of humility and see the humour in the things other people use against us.

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Time Bandits (Design: Archi Banal)
Time Bandits (Design: Archi Banal)

Pop CultureSeptember 26, 2024

‘Stupid not to do another series’: Local kids respond to the cancellation of Time Bandits

Time Bandits (Design: Archi Banal)
Time Bandits (Design: Archi Banal)

NZ-made fantasy adventure series Time Bandits will not be returning for season two. We asked some of its biggest fans for their thoughts. 

Last week it was announced that Time Bandits, Apple TV+’s reboot of the 1981 time travel adventure film, would not be renewed for season two. The series, produced by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement and filmed around the Wellington and Wairarapa region, follows an 11-year-old boy named Kevin who joins a troupe of time travelling thieves through his wardrobe. 

 “This was basically a really long way of me getting to travel through time and be Kevin,” Clement told The Spinoff in July. On the fandom surrounding the cult classic, Clement knew they were wading into dicey waters. “Occasionally people are saying ‘THIS SHOULDN’T BE REMADE’ – I probably would have thought that too, but I also just really wanted to do it.” 

Reviews of the series were mixed upon its release in July. The Guardian gave Time Bandits five stars, calling it “a series of glorious romps” and “genuinely family-friendly viewing”. Variety called it a “giddy reboot” packed with “fantastical style and the blustery humor.” Less glowing critics called it fun but tiresome, a slog that doesn’t deliver the swag

But, you know what? All those reviews were written by boring fuddy duddy adults, not wide-eyed 11-year-olds marvelling at time travelling to Stonehenge, Troy and beyond. We asked the two biggest Time Bandits fans we could find to weigh in on the series, and it’s cancellation. 

Tessa, 11

I felt upset when I heard there wouldn’t be a second season of Time Bandits. I like it. It’s funny and has a good cast. It was even educational, you learned about things from the past. And I liked the demon.

I really love Phoebe [Penelope, played by Lisa Kudrow, who was Phoebe in Friends]. I liked how kind and caring the character that Phoebe played was, but also, well, she was a bitch. She slays. And I like how the little girl, the sister, is confused the entire time.

They’re stupid not to do another series. They should bring it back. It’s a great show. If they did another series more people would come back and watch the first series.

I’d rank it in my top three, after Friends and Taskmaster. It’s really funny. It’s bingeworthy – a solid 50% comedy and 40% adventure and then the last 10% – oh just make it 50% adventure.

I especially liked the last episode because the demon was funny.

More people will watch it if there’s more to watch. I’ve already said that but I say it again because it’s very important.

Pippa, 11

At first when I heard about Time Bandits, I was like “oh well, just another TV series being cancelled”. Then I thought “oh no, why? This is such a great kids show”. The main character is a kid, and there’s lots of kids who like to watch mystery shows. It can help you learn about history, but it’s also got lots of adult jokes. We could watch it all together. 

I like that there are lots of different timelines, and they all bind together into one. It’s telling history in a very different way. Also, Lisa Kudrow and Taika Waititi are in it, and I love them. Lisa Kudrow puts some Phoebe into it and makes it funny. She’s sassy. I think Taika is good too and influences it with his New Zealand sense of humour. Lots of New Zealanders would like that.  

My favourite moment is the bit where they go to the Ice Age and they’re at Kevin’s house but they’re thousands of years too early, and when Penelope recognises her ex-fiance Gavin in the medieval tapestry. I like Judy and how she feels everyone’s emotional pain. She’s the little one that doesn’t get noticed but she pays attention to everything. That’s like me!

Maybe they’re not doing another series because it’s on Apple TV+, and it’s not getting as many streams as it would on Netflix. Maybe the star rating wasn’t high enough. Maybe people weren’t grabbed in the first episode. 

I would give it a 9 out of 10. There’s humour and it’s creepy but also cool at the same time. 

Time Bandits streams on Apple TV+. 

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