Love and Luck is a queer love story told through voicemails, from Australian team Passer Vulpes Productions, which consists of Erin Kyan (who plays Jason) and Lee Davis-Thalbourne (who plays Kane). The story is set in Melbourne, Australia, and revolves around a couple – Kane and Jason.
The show starts with Kane and Jason’s very first date. The trailer starts with the very first communication between the two, when a friend gives Jason Kane’s number, suggesting that he gets in touch with Kane to go on a date. But, neither of them are great at answering calls, and when one phones the other, it goes to voicemail. Episode one picks up after this first date, with both agreeing that they’d love to go out together again. Again, this is all done through voicemails. This is just the beginning of what will become a defining aspect of their relationship. And as time goes on, they decide to stick with leaving voicemails for each other – even after moving in together.
Episode 5, Hangover Scoop is the beginning of the development of a key part of the show, and the first hint that Kane has some kind of magical power. After a bad interview in episode 4, It Just Sucks, You Know?, (in an episode which also brings up homophobia and how queer people are perceived in professional environments, and in the wider society), Jason decides to ‘get maggoted’ to decompress. Unsurprisingly, he isn’t feeling too great the next morning. In the first voicemail of episode 5, Kane jokes about visualising a ‘psychic vacuum cleaner’ to magically remove Jason’s hangover. They’re both surprised when it actually seems to have worked! Kane laughs it off, calling it a coincidence, but Jason’s sure it was something more than just that. It doesn’t take long for Kane to accept the existence of this magic, but there’s a lot more to discover about it as the story develops.
As the title of the show suggests, Kane and Jason also turn out to be incredibly lucky. In episode 11, A Lucky Find, Jason literally trips up outside a bar that’s for rent. It’s a bit run down, but it turns out that it’s within their budget. They were going to move in together, obviously, deciding to run a business together is a whole other thing, but they decide to go for it. They open the Best of Luck bar, a queer dry bar, around which all the events of the show then revolve. And with a bar, there are customers. As time goes on, we get to know some of the regulars, and those come to call the place home.
This show very much focuses on healthy relationships, and communication – for a show told through voicemails, the importance of communication isn’t a surprise. The emphasis on communication and honesty is shown right from the beginning of the show. In episode 2, Flustering Flustertash, Jason calls Kane his boyfriend without thinking about it, and before they’d had a discussion about actually being boyfriends. After a couple of awkward voicemails, they talk it through, and decide, that yes, they are boyfriends, and arrange another date.
The show doesn’t shy away from difficult storylines, and deals with homophobia and transphobia in hard-hitting, but sensitive ways. The community of the Love and Luck bar come together to fight hatred, and to support each other. And there’s more than just a community here – Kane and Jason create a family. A found family which cares for and supports each other. And during the course of the show, the bar becomes more than just a bar for some, as it’s here that Kane and Jason offer them a place to stay, when they have nowhere else left to go.
Another thing I love about the show is the representation of polyamorous folks, and polyamorous relationships. In season two, Storm, a polyamorous woman (who is an absolute delight, btw) starts frequenting the Love and Luck bar, and eventually, she has two girlfriends. I really loved this form of representation in a show that deals so heavily with romantic and interpersonal relationships, showing that non-monogamous relationships are just as loving and important as monogamous ones.
Love and Luck is currently on hiatus after 100 episodes. Passer Vulpes Productions is also the team behind Nym’s Nebulous Notions, a sci-fi podcast where an conspiracy investigator investigates a mysterious signal; and Supernatural Sexuality with Dr Seabrooke, an advice radio show set in a world where monsters are real, which deals with romance and sex.
- Website: https://www.loveandluckpodcast.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoveLuckPodcast
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/passervulpes
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