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After a misunderstanding, Kel (Glenn Robbins) thinks Kath (Jane Turner) has found another man. He’s dining alone at a bistro when he hears Kath playing the pokies in the next room.
Curator’s notes
Kath and Kel’s relationship plays out against backdrops appropriate to Kath and Kim’s particular take on Australian suburbia. Kel proposes in the electronics section at Fountain Gate shopping centre – and here, the pair resolve a misunderstanding in front of poker machines. While Kath and Kel are absolutely earnest, visual and verbal details provide humour. Locations, art department, production design and costumes go beyond simply setting the scene to providing visual comedy in their own right. Here, Kel’s decision to read Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One (1989) provides one of the series’ many passing, tongue-in-cheek cultural references and Kath’s cat T-shirt is gloriously kitsch, though the characters never draw attention to it. Costume designer Kitty Stuckey has dressed Kath and Kim since their beginnings in Big Girl’s Blouse (1994-95) and in 2004 won an AFI Award for her efforts.
Humour aside, there is also something quite sweet about this moment. The development of a narrative through the series as a whole has by this stage provided the opportunity to develop affection for the characters.
