TV Week: “Josh Moves On” Rush 17th October 2009

TV Week
17th October 2009

Is the TR hard man really ready to put Grace’s ghost to rest and start afresh with Shannon?

While the second season of Rush kicked off with Josh mourning his dead lover, Grace, it’s been obvious for a while now that a slow-burn attraction has been building between him and his TR team-mate Shannon.

Since her first day on the job. Shannon has been harbouring feelings for the brooding sergeant, but is this week’s kiss the start of something more serious or just an office romance headed for disaster.

In tonight’s episode, what starts out as just another work day has a very unexpected ending for the co-workers when their mutual fascination leads to a passionate physical encounter.

“Shannon and Josh had been out for a drink the week before and now they’re quite playful with one another and are just really enjoying each other’s company,” says Jolene Anderson, who plays Shannon.

Callan Mulvey, who portrays her on-screen love interest, adds “We’re doing a stake-out of some bumbling criminals who’ve been involved in armed robberies. We’re helping out the armed robbery squad by doing some surveillance. It’s not what we normally do so we’re a bit over the two guys we’re watching – they’re not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. But it’s clear the attrition is there for Josh and Shannon and they just go for it.”

Whether or not the liaison will develop into anything more, however, remains to be seen.

“At this point, it’s a physical attraction more than anything else,” Jolene says.

“Shannon is curious about Josh because he’s so mysterious and she too is a very private person.”

“They are definitely physically drawn to each other,” Callan adds. “When you’re working in an environment like that in critical situations, it’s easy to find a common bond that can lead to that physical energy being explored.”

When viewers first met Shannon, it was made clear that she and TR boss Lawson (Roger Corser) had also shared a past romance. But Jolene assures us nothing more will come of that.

“Shannon and Lawson had a thing in the past which rattled him more than her,” she says. “But they’ve resolve the tension and have agreed to maintain a work relationship and nothing more.”

Shannon and Josh on the other hand, are definitely crossing the line and mixing business with pleasure. But another problem they’ll have to face is the spectre of Josh’s late ex-girlfriend, Grace (Claire van der Boom).

“Grace’s death shattered him. He really loved her,” Callan says. “Since then, he’s bottled everything up and has just gotten on with his job; head down, bum up and don’t go there because it’s too painful. That’s partly why it’s working for him with Shannon because their relationship doesn’t require a deep emotional connection yet. It’s surface level interaction and that makes it even more attractive because he can still keep all his pain bottled up.”

Then there’s the task of keeping their new-found feelings for each other from becoming public knowledge.

“Neither of them wants the team to find out.” Callan reveals. “In this sort of job, a romance between colleagues is cause for concern because it affects the dynamic of the team. When it comes to the crunch and there’s a situation involving three team members, Josh or Shannon will look out for each other before the third person. So they’ll have to their best to keep it on the down low.”

From a casual flirtation to full-blown affair?

  • On Shannon’s first day of work, she accidentally saw Josh in the buff as he was getting out of the shower. The appreciative look on her face said it all.
  • Josh was the only person Shannon trusted to help her evade the repo man who was staking out her house in order to repossess equipment that she’d failed to pay for.
  • When Josh found out Shannon had narrowly escaped being assaulted by a taxi driver, he decided to take justice into his own hands and attacked the man who’d hurt her.
  • In last week’s episode, we saw Josh confess to his counsellor Gabe (Deborah Mailman), that there was a certain woman he couldn’t get of his mind – and her name is Shannon.

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