'Tali's Baby Diary' milks Mzansi's ability to laugh at ourselves for all it's worth

Julia Anastasopoulos throws off her wedding gown and dons some trendy maternity wear for the return of her uncomfortably recognisable but beloved Cape Town kugel creation Tali Shapiro in the sequel to the Safta award-winning mockumentary, Tali's Wedding Diary.

Called Tali's Baby Diary, the 10-part series picks up where the 2017 original left off. Recently married and busily forging a career as a fitness Instagram star, Tali's world is thrown into disarray when it turns out that hubby Darren's (Anton Taylor) "David Schwimmers" can actually "schwim" and she's going to have a baby.

Ever resourceful Tali turns this unforeseen obstacle to her advantage as she discovers the hungry social media world of "momfluencers" and sets about crafting her baby plans as fussily as she did her wedding arrangements.

Featuring cameos from Danny K, Deon Lotz, Schalk Bezuidenhout and Siv Ngesi, it's another rollicking piece of light-hearted satirical comedy that milks our capacity to laugh at ourselves for all it's worth.

It may not have anything too deep to offer in the way of social critique but it's certainly strong on exposing the foibles of human nature within the framework of its solidly crafted white, middle-class Cape Town bubble world.

Perhaps as much as we hate to admit it, there's a little bit of Tali in all of us and Anastasopoulos, together with husband director Ari Kruger, exploits that to pleasantly entertaining if forgettable effect.

As a patchwork of sometimes cringeworthy pokes at our social foibles, Tali's Baby Diary works as effectively as its predecessor while also making the most of the situation and its initial success to sometimes go in a slightly wilder and weirder direction. This provides some welcome distraction in these anxious times.

It never quite manages to prick the balloon of privilege and wilful ignorance that enables its characters to live in their world but it has plenty of fun shaking things up within that balloon.

Admittedly, that's a necessary blind spot for a show whose main character's source of laughs is her obliviousness to the world around her — popping the bubble would leave us with nothing to laugh at.

Where next Tali will land as she stumbles in uncomfortable heels along the (not very) perilous journey up the marble steps of her carefully crafted path through middle-class problems, remains to be seen. For now there's plenty to guffaw at as she pulls herself to the top in her inappropriately fashionable threads, huffing and puffing with indignation and retouching her hair and makeup for selfies, stomping ever onwards, with her inept crew faithfully tagging along behind her. 

• The first four episodes of 'Tali's Baby Diary' are currently available on Showmax. The last six episodes will be available from March 12.