Baby Fever is a Scandinavian comedy-drama about Nana who chooses to pick an unethical solution when faced with the nearing threat of menopause. The series consists of six 30-minute episodes and is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
Nana L. Jessen offers unparalleled service when it comes to helping her clients at the fertility clinic. However, when she discovers that she is quickly slipping out of time before she runs out of eggs, she comes up with a plan to find a partner to build a family.
Coincidentally, she bumps into her ex-boyfriend, Matthias, who is on his way to donate sperm.
When Nana’s scheme to win back Matthias does not go as planned, she tries to drown the night by doing shots with Simone, her close friend and a receptionist at the clinic. Intoxicated, Nana somehow manages to artificially inseminate herself with Matthias’ sperm.
She wakes up in a disordered clinic and a sequence of problems brought on by her actions.
Performances
With a debatably unethical plot, Baby Fever is held up by Josephine Park’s exceptional performance as Nana L. Jessen, an excellent fertility doctor who is finally face-to-face with her ticking biological clock as she nears forty. Nana’s insecurities and changing mindset are depicted well by Park who embraces Nana’s dynamic range of emotions.
The amazing chemistry between Nana and her love interests, Matthias and Soren are obvious throughout the series. However, the scenes that shine the most are those that feature Nana’s conversations with her friend, Simone, played by Olivia Joof Lewerissa.
Positives
Despite the show’s bizarre premise of an unbelievable and unrealistic blunder by the protagonist, Baby Fever fails to disappoint with a remarkable cast and a reasonable amount of drama in the plot’s progression, accentuated by a suitable score.
The protagonist’s engrossing journey through the show is punctuated by interactions with her clients, that change the track to serious or comedic as needed to balance out the humour and gravity of the main plot. These interactions seem to try to expose Nana’s opinions on pregnancy, showing the audience the developments in her thoughts on the subject.
Set mainly in a fertility clinic, Baby Fever touches upon a variety of unconventional pregnancies as well as the stress that accompanies the awareness of women’s biological clocks. It succeeds in handling these real issues sensitively and presents them to the viewers empathetically.
With wholesome characters that share some great chemistry and a handful of funny banter, the series spares no effort in keeping the audience invested in the story’s progression. The dialogues are well-written and realistic, making the potentially complex story easy to follow.
Baby Fever often depicts Nana thinking out loud, giving the audience a chance to observe her raw thoughts and allowing them to sympathise with her situation by increasing the intimacy between the viewers and Nana.
Negatives
The foundation of the story, the crime that Nana commits and the nature of her choices throughout the series can be brought under inspection, and claiming them to be irrational. Nana isn’t quite hesitant about letting her close friend take the blame for her mistake and plot immoral schemes to cover up her initial blunder, bringing the sanity and relatability of her character into question.
Verdict
With a mix of hilarious dialogues and touching moments, Baby Fever is worth a watch. It is a memorable series with wholesome characters and unexpected twists that keep the show entertaining.
Rating: 4/5