Top of the Lake

This is probably one of my favorite shows and I uphold my 10 stars rating after watching the second season. Top of the lake is a slow burner, with unique characters that are very flawed and human. If you let it, it can get under your skin and leaves you wondering about the heavy issues, that it dares to deal with. For example, the second season's main theme is motherhood, abuse in relationship and exploitation of a marginal group of people (sex workers). I think you wouldn't expect the ending which is a quite unique twist, but I won't say more. This show is also quite good at playing with your expectations and turning them upside down, which is the hallmark of good storytelling. The female characters are quite prominent and well written, without being obnoxious feminist champions. They feel real and very relatable. The antagonist is also very good, I was worried, that the new antihero will be only a pale shadow compared to Peter Mullan, but oh boy, was I wrong! I can only recommend Top of the Lake, it's not your typical good guys vs bad guys show. It's about people who collide with each other, have interesting story arcs and face relatable problems under unusual circumstances. Don't listen to people who watch half an episode and come here to write a "review".

I don't know what some of the reviewers were complaining about. Season 2 was just as good as season 1! I enjoyed the mystery surrounding these cases and how they keep personally affecting Robin. Well done!

This is clearly a wonderful piece of work with very precise character development that is lacking in many current productions that have a lot more money to work with. There is a boatload of really skilled actors, a great writer/director, a story with motives slowly and carefully revealed and a beautiful location. As well it is a clever detective story. What more could you want. All the characters seem like real people in that they have all suffered or struggled in some way and are quite imperfect and have all wound in the same place. Really worth a look if you like good stories by professionals who get to tell the story the way they want.

Imagine the scene in the offices of the New Zealand Tourism Board.

"You know the one thing wrong with this country? Everyone here is too damn nice. It's just so boooring! Visitors aren't coming any more. We godda do something.

"Yeah, agreed, but what?"

"I bin thinking: what about a TV series showing we're really, really weird?"

"Nah, they won't buy it. They know we're too nice."

"No, wait. You remember that old film, what was it, 'Deliverance'? We'll base something on that. Bunch of inbred psychos in backofbeyondsville, throw in a bit of incest, murder, a few hippy lezzies, a detective with a troubled past but a heart of gold sorting it all out…"

"You could be onto something. Might just work…. (laughs) nah, they'll never commission it."

But they did.

Ingredients: a set of male characters who are either morally weak, sociopathic or with an IQ in single figures. A cast of female characters who are abused, long-suffering martyrs. Add some comic relief with a bunch of women in container homes kinda led by a kinda earth mother, mockingly characterized as living on crisps and liquorice allsorts and fantasizing about men with larger-than-average penises.

Plot: Psycho McPsychface, the patriarch of an isolated, family community, lives with his children, grandchildren (some of whom are possibly both) and a colony of feral attack dogs in the middle of nowhere. Named with leaden irony Paradise, this tranquil spot, disturbed only by the occasional pointless murder and the disappearance of a pregnant twelve-year old, is invaded by a commune of traumatized women trying to rediscover their inner souls in peace. They just happen to choose the favourite spot of a psychotic Scotsman, whose Mother is buried on the plot, and whose malice is matched only by his sentimentality – with hilarious consequences! No, not really – I don't think any of these things are funny, even in an ironic way. Which is the main reason for not liking this series, which is patronizing, callous and emotionally manipulative by turns.

But the scenery is really, really lovely. Perhaps I'll visit New Zealand with its great countryside and nice people anyway – and by the way they are mostly genuinely nice, and not a bit boring.

Season One Review: I've been looking at the reviews of the first season of this series, and I feel most of the negative ones are from people who simply wanted a very different show. There are inexplicable comparisons with Twin Peaks and complaints about the quality of the mystery, as though this is a series in which the central mystery is the selling point.

It's not a classic mystery story, but neither is it meant to be (and neither was Twin Peaks, so when people complain it's not a good mystery "like Twin Peaks" I am profoundly puzzled). Instead it is the exploration of a created world. The story is shambling, with odd strings that seem untethered, but so is life. Yes, you could strip out Holly Hunter's brilliant performance as a down-to-earth guru, toss out Robin's mother, toss out all sorts of things, and you could have a short, standard mystery, but why would you want to do that?

Top of the Lake is a fascinating look at a brutal, beautiful world. The beauty comes from the landscape, the brutality from the men, who are remarkably awful. I can see why some people would complain about a show where almost every man is a monster, except for a couple of crazy ones and one passably nice guy. It doesn't bother me, but it's the one criticism I've read that I wouldn't argue against.

The show is not about the mystery but about character. There is enough mystery and plot to keep that part involving, but this is more about Robin's inner struggles and outer determination and passion than anything else.

I wish more of the reviewers here talked about the mini-series that exists instead of the one they wanted.

Season Two review: I had thought Top of the Lake was a mini-series and was surprised there *was* a season two. It is less scenic and even grimmer than the first season. There is more grit and less quirk, but there is still the complexity of character and the dark view of male-female interactions (i.e. A lot of the men are jerks).

It was interesting, but not so much that I'm eager for a third season.