Max Connors

Maxwell (Max) Connors
First appearance	Broken Hearts and Crustaceans
Last appearance	Half-Life
Portrayed by	William McInnes

Max Connors (born (estimated) 1964) is a fictional character on the popular Australian television drama SeaChange, portrayed by William McInnes.

Character

Max Connors grew up in Pearl Bay with his parents, Margaret and Len, and his brother, Stephen (known as Squid). He showed promise as a writer from a young age, evidenced by an essay he wrote about the annual Pearl Bay Pork Festival when he was 10 years old (2.07). Max spent twelve years as a foreign correspondent in many war zones, winning esteemed writing awards and witnessing several horrific events (such as an entire Cambodian family - friends of his - being murdered by the Khmer Rouge). He doesn't talk about these very often, preferring to hide behind his wit and "stiff upper lip" demeanour, but it is revealed by his former boss that he eventually had a breakdown as a result of his exposure to such human tragedies. Max is often found stirring up trouble (sometimes as a way to avoid the pain in his past), and smirking in the background while it unfolds in front of him. Sharply intelligent, sarcastic, and often biting, it is obvious Max is a frustrated idealist who has become cynical after seeing so much of the evil present in the world. In an effort to suppress the strong emotions that are always just under the surface, he sometimes appears callous. Truthfully, though, he is very compassionate and is bothered by the fact that he cannot help people more (something he is eager to do, e.g. organising a tribute to the elderly population of Pearl Bay (3.08)). Max has many friends around Pearl Bay, and is well respected and liked by almost everyone, except Bob Jelly.

Seasons

Second Season

Max and his wife, Elena, arrive in Pearl Bay during the third episode of Season Two, "Broken Hearts and Crustaceans". Old friends of Diver Dan, they take up residence in his boat house, much to the dismay of Laura Gibson, who is still holding out hope that its former owner will return. Max and Laura do not immediately warm to each other, but the rest of the town is happy to see him again. At the end of the following episode, "Sink or Swim", Elena dies of a brain haemorrhage, and Max is left a widower. He spends much of the season dealing with his grief, and though he briefly tries to leave (2.07), he manages to settle back into Pearl Bay.

Throughout much of the second season, Max is seen struggling to write his first novel, for which he has already received and spent the advance. He succeeds in writing only the first sentence before giving up completely (2.10), his novel eventually being rejected by the publishers (2.13). Instead, Max and Carmen Blake begin a newspaper for the town together, The Pearl Bay Oyster. At first, Max treats it like a joke, but it soon becomes a serious job for him. On occasion, though, he uses it as a tool for his own mischief (such as issuing a denial over allegations that he and Laura slept together, knowing that it will only increase speculation, and then a retraction of the denial - all in order to annoy Laura (2.12)). Numerous times during the season, Max investigates local goings on (including a shipwreck from years ago (2.08) and a dead man in the wall of a house (2.10)) and exposes them in his newspaper.

Despite not getting off to a good start, Max and Laura forge a strong friendship, largely thanks to Laura's extreme persistence in the face of Max's grief-stricken rudeness. She is arguably the person who most helps him overcome his wife's sudden death. Many townspeople believe there is more than just friendship between the two, especially when Max is caught climbing through Laura's window one morning in the episode "Other People's Opinions" In reality, he passed out on her bed as a result of drinking alcohol while taking antihistamines because of severe allergies to a cat. They are merely close friends, although near the end of the season there are indications that both have romantic inclinations towards the other, but nothing is stated explicitly. In the final episode of the season, "Law & Order" Laura is contemplating leaving Pearl Bay, but decides to stay, due in part to Max's telling her he wouldn't like it if she left.

Third Season

The third season does not begin well for Max. Despite the best efforts of Max and the town, his boatshed is pulled down by developers (due to the shady dealings of Bob Jelly) and he is left homeless. Luckily, after a temporary stay with Laura, Max finds himself a new residence. Romantically speaking as well, things do not seem promising for Max. At the end of the first episode when Laura asks him, "what do you want?" he replies, "You, I think," and the two kiss. Unfortunately, Laura decides that things would be a lot less complicated if they remained just friends (3.01). He has a brief dalliance with Francesca, the Latin dance teacher who whirls in and out of Pearl Bay (3.02), before embarking on a short-lived romance with Carmen (3.03-3.04). This ends when Carmen leaves town because she can tell Max is in love with someone else, and he is left alone once more, confused by the women in his life.

Max returns to his trouble-making ways, most often concentrating on Laura's new love interest, Warwick Munroe. This includes telling him Laura is an alcoholic (3.05) and, most notably, writing a love-letter to Laura in the guise of Warwick while drunk with Angus, something which almost ruins his relationship with Laura completely (3.07). Max decides to ignore Laura and Warwick for a time and turn his investigative attentions to the new tunnel being planned by Bob Jelly and Morton Tregonning. It turns out something very dodgy is happening and they do not appreciate Max's intrusions. As punishment, Morton reveals that Max is behind a thinly-veiled newspaper column chronicling life in Pearl Bay and he is alienated by the town because most people do not like his portrayal of them (3.10). However, Max's curiosity is still very much alive.

The last three episodes see Max's life in somewhat of a turmoil. He decides to leave Pearl Bay for good, accepting a prestigious job as an international journalist, but stays when he realises it would make him unhappy to leave Laura behind (3.10). Although she is engaged to Warwick, he confesses his love for her and the two sleep together. When it finally seems as if things will work out for the two of them, the Pearl Bay Oyster, is closed by the authorities for publishing classified material about the new tunnel. Max desperately tries to organise a way to keep printing and to save Pearl Bay, but in the end he is forced to do something very dangerous: put his faith in Bob Jelly. The final scene sees Max and Laura together at last, arguing over what they're going to call the baby Laura is now pregnant with (3.13).