As a child, I had an obsession with mermaids and the idea of magic. I give full responsibility to ‘H20: Just Add Water’ which is an Australian TV series that debuted on Nickelodeon in 2006. It was about three teenage girls who turn into mermaids whenever they touch water. As you can imagine, this makes for a very challenging life when you could pop a tail at any moment. Yet equally pretty damn cool that you can chill in the ocean for as long as you like!
The charm of the show was that we got to see these girls living our dreams swimming in the sea with a beautiful mermaid tail. Not only could they swim underwater for hours, they each had powers in their hands. Emma could turn water to ice, Ricky could control the heat in water and Cleo could manipulate it into any shape she liked.
You may be thinking, “wow, what a life!” But no, being a mermaid came with its challenges. Drama occurred regularly when the girl’s secret was nearly revealed. This of course happened in every episode and after every couple we’d get a ‘full moon’ storyline where they’d be hypnotised, forcing them to act strange. Also guys, can we just imagine for a moment how frustrating it would be to not be able to touch water? I had and still have many questions, like what happens if it’s raining? How do they wash their hands?
This is one of those shows that 9 times out of 10 someone my age will remember it when it could very well be mistaken as a fever dream! I love how the series has grown in popularity thanks to TikTok trends re-enacting scenes and doing impressions. Now, new generations have been encouraged to watch the show and are loving it just as we did!
If you haven’t thought of the quote once since reading this, I applaud you.
“Cleo!! *tail flapping* Emma!”
