Love and Luck review
Love and Luck is a queer radio play set in Melbourne. Jason and Kane get to know each other through missed calls and eventually open a bar together. There’s magic in the story, but the first episode is about a much smaller gamble. How do you ask someone out again without sounding like you’ve already decided they’ll say yes?
Start with “First Date”
Open Season 1 and go one entry past the trailer. In “First Date,” Jason suggests a drag show at the Greyhound in St Kilda. Kane leaves a message to say he had fun. Jason offers to let Kane pick their next outing and promptly leaves another message because he’s worried he sounded presumptuous. The two keep missing each other. The gaps between messages give you time to notice what each of them is trying to say.
Each entry on the season page puts a short description and transcript link next to the player. The separate Transcripts index lists both seasons in order and puts the quarantine special and crossovers below them. If you’d rather skip a plot summary, open the transcript from that numbered index.
Sophia Parsons Cope illustrated the podcast cover.
From phone tag to opening night
By episode 23, “Opening Night,” the same voicemail setup has become a way to look after each other. Kane is anxious about opening the Best of Luck Bar. Jason leaves him a message saying he’s gone out for breakfast and asks him to stay in bed until he gets back. Reading the two scripts side by side makes the change in their relationship easy to spot, but I’d leave the later episode until you reach it in order.
The Heart also uses intimate voices and sound, with a Listen menu that lets you pick a series by subject. Here I’d start at the beginning. The joke about never answering the phone makes more sense once you know how they got there.
Anabel’s take
I’d give “First Date” one episode before deciding. My favorite part of the script is Jason talking himself into a follow-up voicemail to clarify the first one. If a romance built out of little moments like that sounds like too slow a start, the trailer will give you the setup. For me, the awkward extra call is the reason to keep going.