Baby Fever (Skruk) review: Josephine Park makes one bad decision after the other in this Danish comedy-drama

2.5/5

Story: After learning that she only has six months to get pregnant, infertility doctor Nana (Josephine Park) inseminates herself with some stolen sperm from her workplace on a drunken night. Life gets complicated real soon for her, as she makes one complicated decision after the other. 

Review: Baby Fever kicks off right where it matters and does not waste any time piquing the fans’ interest. The first scene shows us Nana (Josephine Park), an infertility doctor, inseminating herself on the client’s chair, while narrating it all to us. The show kicks up from here, introducing us to a work-driven doctor who is great with her clients, but enjoys a rather carefree personal life. Her passion for her work and daily cycling routine seems to be the only constant in life, apart from her best friend and coworker Simone. 

A positive about the show is that the episodes are not too short or too long, and it feels like it skims past events. We soon learn about Nana’s love life, where she is trying to find the perfect guy and some banter between her colleagues. But one fine day, she learns that she has a condition wherein most of her follicles are gone and that she can only be pregnant for the next six months. Stricken by the prospect of not being physically capable of pregnancy, she becomes confused and fast. The show is successful in subtly carrying out questions and situations and from here, and from here, the show talks about the societal burdens of a woman and motherhood, without really talking about it.

One fine drunken night, Nana steals the sperm of a man she would love to have been with, and inseminates herself, and she runs into trouble the next day. From then, she makes one questionable decision after the other, masking the truth, putting the people around her at risk while being confused about it all. It is nice to see how her clients’ situations translate into being her own situation and how they influence the decisions she makes

As she has to then deal with one thing over the other and try to hide a pregnancy, she also has to find a way to deal with it in the long run. She has to find a “father”, and plan it out so that they think it is just a case of accidental pregnancy. While how she decides to go with it is treated with humour, one has to question her methods and how she is on the wrong. But the show’s humour feels limited and restrained, and is overshadowed by the drama. And after the halfway mark in the six episode series, it seems like the comedy has all died out on us and that it is all drama. But then again, she puts herself into a dark place and position towards the final episodes, so it is understandable. 

While we as the viewer can agree that what she has been doing since the start of the series is not right in any ways, we still find ourselves justifying it and just sitting through the ride, which is one of the few ways the show is successful. It might not be the most entertaining or engrossing watch, but we put up with it as we see a woman who has become a victim of her own decisions while having to try and find a solution to a situation she has put herself in. As Nana tries to navigate tricky waters, we just want to see how it all ends up, and this is the same reason we stick around. 

It is safe to say Josephine Park is the face of the show, leading the lines in all the episodes. There is an array of supporting cast that also does a good job, such as Simione, her other colleagues, the two men in her life and an extremely popular mother. A number of people also have small parts in the show in the shape of Nana’s clients, but a few of them work well. While their stories and personalities are all different, most of them serve a purpose in the life of the protagonist, which makes their short screen time count. 

Review: Baby Fever is a decent show, and there is not a lot more to it. It has some comedy and a lot of drama to offer, all while sticking to just one character. If you are looking for a show to just keep you occupied for a short period of time, Baby Fever would work just fine.