Mel romances the ute

Mel heads outside and says “I love you” to the ute.

In her scene, she plays both a car buyer and a used car salesman. In a ditzy American accent, she complains that the vehicle being sold to her by the salesman is too big. When the salesman offers no alternatives, Mel’s character decides to leave—only to bump into the ute and exclaim “Peter?”.

Mel’s character recognises the ute as “Peter Peterson” from “Mrs Avery’s geography class”. Close-up shots then show her flirting with various parts of the ute, including the wing mirror and the bonnet, while its headlights flash in response. She tries the door handle, strokes the mirror, and rubs the bonnet, making a squeaky noise.

Mel tells the salesman that she wants to buy the ute, they invite her into the office to “put a little deposit down on your friend from high school”. She then declares “Peter, you’re coming home with me for Christmas!” before driving off inside him.

In the studio, Tom Gleeson questions whether it’s romantic to purchase your partner, and whether she’d built chemistry with the ute. Mel says that she’s baffled as to why they didn’t show her “jerking off” the aerial until it broke, which she then refers to as an “item job”, referencing Pete’s earlier claim that his hand was an ‘item’.

When Tom Gleeson also questions whether it counts as a proper meet-cute if Mel’s character already knew the ute, Mel argues that she only thought she recognised him, and points out that the ute never confirmed that they knew each other, since it was non-verbal.

Mel earns 2 points.

(Written by JoGo and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected and adjusted by: David Fuller)