Season 2 , Episode 1 “ DOWN UNDER: PARADISE’S PRICE” Housing
AUCKLAND HARBOR, 2016 - WHERE ONE DREAM ENDS AND ANOTHER DIES
“Persevere” glides into Auckland’s emerald waters, herhull telling stories of 33 countries across fivecontinents. The Rath family stands on deck, triumphant yetexhausted, their two cats—veterans of every oceancrossing—perched in their usual spots. Back in Manhattan,their super reports another record-high rent for theirforeclosed condo, the irony of success at a distance notlost on anyone.
Then New Zealand’s bio-security team boards, and paradiseshows its teeth.
What follows plays like a horror movie in slow motion: thefailed paperwork, the bureaucratic death sentence, theimpossible choice. Their cats—family members who’vecrossed oceans, weathered storms, and kept the girl’scompany through 2.5 years of wandering—must be euthanizedto enter the country. In a heart-wrenching sequence,intercut with flashbacks of the cats’ adventures acrossthe globe, the family faces their cruelest test yet.
The episode ends with dual transitions: “Persevere” goingup for sale—their floating home becoming just anotherlisting—while the family piles into a camper, theirdownsized dreams now on wheels. As they navigate theirfirst encounters with Kiwi culture, language, andcharacters, the girls’ grief mingles with the excitementof new beginnings.
Cut to Hobbiton’s Ale House, where Bilbo Baggins (MartinFreeman) breaks down New Zealand’s bio-security laws withboth pride and sympathy: “We’ve kept our islands pure forcenturies… but every paradise demands sacrifice.” Theexplanation plays against montages of New Zealand’s uniquewildlife, showing what’s at stake.He elaborates how biosecurity has been able to keep out mammals out of NewZealand until the 19th century.
(EST 60 min episode duration)