Return to Eden (1983)

Directed by: Karen Arthur, Kevin James Dobson | 266 minutes | drama, thriller, romance | Actors: Rebecca Gilling, James Reyne, Wendy Hughes, James Smilie, Olivia Hamnett, Patricia Kennedy, Peter Gwynne, Bill Kerr, Chris haywood, John Lee, Jayson Duncan, Nicole Pyner, Ken Goodlet, Harry Jervis, Cedric Myers, Sheila Kennely, Charles McCallum, Charles Lathalu Yunipingli, Steve Djati Yunipingli, Paul Sonkkila, Jamie Blain, Jennifer Nairn-Smith, Jackie Byrne

Ah yes, ‘Return to Eden’. In the eighties it was a series to stay at home. For three episodes, millions of women sympathized with the fortunes of Stephanie Harper, the wealthy wallflower with the cruel husband. Stephanie is forty, frigid and insecure and has had two failed marriages. Then she falls head over heels for Greg Marsden, a slicker like they haven’t been made since the eighties. Wrong stuff, the viewer knows, but Stephanie firmly believes that Greg is after love and not money. Only when her new husband throws her to the crocodiles and leaves her for dead does Stephanie light up a light. And even that light glows slowly, because, in good eighties custom, the wealthy heiress suffers from amnesia and the memories only surface when she’s patched up by a caring and damn attractive surgeon.

Well, the eighties. At that time it was still believed that with plastic surgery you could not only make a badly mutilated face not only scarred, but also fifteen years younger. Thanks to this miracle of medical science, Stephanie is not only unrecognizable, she is a new person. On paper, then, because on television you see the exact same woman with a bit more make-up and a better haircut. Cleaned up and well, Stephanie puts on the naughty shoulder pads and registers with a modeling agency under the name Tara Wells, stating that she wants to be on the cover of Vogue within six months. She succeeds, and thanks to her newfound fame, Tara catches the attention of Greg, who promptly falls in love with her. She also hooks up with her best friend Jilly, whom Greg messed with during the honeymoon. Now Tara/Stephanie has the two where she wants them, and she can initiate her revenge plan. This includes sharing the bed with her husband one more time, so he knows what he’s missing.

Even for a glorified soap opera, ‘Return to Eden’ has storylines that are rather far-fetched. It’s absurd that no one recognizes Stephanie, not even her own children. The transformation would undoubtedly have been a lot more believable if the makeup department had bought a few facial prosthetics. It is also strange that Stephanie does not let her loved ones know that she is still alive, but rather runs the risk of being recognized at an inconvenient moment. Logic is clearly not the greatest strength of the series, and in addition, by today’s standards, the makers take very ample time to squeeze every drop of sentiment out of the screenplay. Stephanie, who walks endlessly along the beach with her head wrapped in bandages and who has beautiful moments with her surgeon, the bandages that are unwound like a bridal veil, modern viewers will get sick of it.

‘Return to Eden’ may have a dated threepence plot, but if you look at it from youth sentiment, the series also has plenty to offer. The cast is likeable, the eighties glamor drips from the screen and the Australian setting provides beautiful images and a funny exotic touch (who else but Aussies go crocodile hunting on their honeymoon?). Furthermore, Stephanie Harper is still one of the most illustrious nemesis in television history. Every woman who has ever dated a guy or was betrayed by her best friend fantasizes about these kinds of scenarios, no matter how unbelievable. ‘Return to Eden’ is the product of an era when TV heroines stood up for themselves, but weren’t yet so emancipated that they took up swords to inflict a Kill Bill-esque carnage. Good thing, too. Stephanie Harper’s revenge is more subtle. She blossoms as the people who have hurt her so horribly destroy themselves. A sweeter revenge is actually not possible.