Black Snow

In 1994 seventeen year old school girl Isabel Baker, a member of the South Sea Islander community, was murdered in Ashford, a small town in northern Queensland. Twenty five years later a time capsule containing letters written by school children is opened and read. Isabel's letter talks of serious issues in the town and fears that it could get her killed. James Cormack, a cold case detective asks to be put on the case. When he arrives in Ashford he gradually uncovers secrets and lies. Friends and family are amongst the suspects.

I thought this was a really interesting series. It has a great central mystery where just about everybody could be considered a suspect of the murder or possibly covering it up. The effective use of flashbacks means that we see the events of 1994 around the time the truth becomes exposed in the present. The location is great with vast sugar cane fields dominating the landscape creating a fine atmosphere. The cast does a fine job; this includes members of the local South Sea Islander community who aren't trained actors. The story also highlights the history of this community; something I was entirely unaware of before. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of murder mysteries.

An interesting backdrop and plot, Travis Fimmel acts his part well adding a touch of class that exposes some of the others.

The character Hazel is written in such an annoying manner, I learn't to really dislike her and wanted to skip her angry monologues.

The scenery is spectacular and technically this is a good production, in 2 other areas though it falls down.

The big one is the support actors, keen to be 'good' they way over act, their movements are too fluid and their speech is wooden, some of the lines are delivered like bricks being dropped from a second story, at times it is like one big Year 12 play.

Next is the occasionally bizarre soundtrack, the 'spooky' music is overdone and every now and then a noise just occurs against the vibe of a scene, it's an attempt to jolt the viewer (I think) but often it just sounds odd and amateurish.

This series, at times, moves at an absolutely glacial pace, which was not aided by the fact that I figured out whodunit, in both seasons, very early on.

But this is Travis Fimmel's (Det James Cormack) show from start to finish. Fimmel is a compelling actor who makes very unusual and surprising acting choices. In this regard, he reminds me very much of James Dean.

Fimmel gets help along the way from Renee Lim (Senior Sergeant Angie Zhang), Gulliver McGrath (Constable Dale Quinn), Jemmason Power (Hazel Baker), Megan Smart (Samara Kahill) and Jana McKinnon (Zoe Jacob's).

It also features some stunning Australian landscapes, especially in Season 2.

I was fairly worried at the start. The first scenes of Izzy were as unsympathetically shot as possible. Then the introduction of Travis Fimmel's character had me thinking uh oh this is going to be over the top.

Fortunately it got better pretty quickly once the action moved to the North Queensland location.

There were still some quite annoying flaws in the depiction of the characters over the 25 year timeline. Some of the actors seemed to have aged about 5 years tops. While others like Hazel were realistically completely different.

Maybe got a bit too "Broadchurch" in the middle episodes. But the resolution wasn't awful.

BTW. Couldn't help noticing in an extended scene in the video shop where the victim worked in 1994 that there were numerous unrented copies of Elaine Paige's Cats film. Perhaps it was because that film wasn't released until 1998.

Everything about Black Snow rings true: the dialog, the acting and the setting, which means if you are looking for Jason Bourne or Jack Ryan go elsewhere. But, if you start this series all you will want is more story and watching will quickly become binging to see what story is just over the hill or on the other side of the sugar cane field. This is a cold case drama set in Australia among native peoples which unfold in the present about the past. The screen loves all the actors but two stand out: Travis Fimmel, as Cormac, the very slow talking and walking cold case detective driven by other demons, and Talijah Blackman-Corowa as Izabel Baker, the victim. Talijah Blackman-Corowa as the young Izzy owns the eye of the camera with her acting skill and beauty.

If I compared this story to anything I'd compare it to the writings of Sally Rooney but with more things that go bang.

Highly recommended.