Fighting Season

This excellent mystery series shines a light on what our soldiers and their families face fighting overseas, and more importantly coming home. Totally gripping and heartbreaking in parts. Excellent acting from the leads and some newcomers I didn't know. Best series I have seen this year.

Ideally I would give this show no stars. As a veteran of the Afghanistan war I gave up watching it after the second episode, anything to do with the military in this show is 100% inaccurate. The ceremonial dress uniforms are worn wrong, not ironed correctly, not sure how the infantry combat badge is awarded to someone who only has the Australian Defence Medal (4 years service), the medal precedence is in the wrong order. Not sure what year this is meant to be set but infantry units no longer wear the dull cherry beret (It was only worn by 3 RAR, who are no longer paratroopers or located in Sydney). The F88S used in the series was taken out of service in 2010 and replaced with the F88SA2. The so called patrol base was built wrong it needs a hesco basket wall around the perimeter. The landrover was never used by any deployed unit outside of special forces, the preferred vehicle was the bushmaster PMV. If there was a military advisor used their credentials need to be checked.

I don't know if there are any mistakes in the Army rules, but I don't think that's where you should judge the series. It's a very compelling and suspenseful series, with outstanding performances, most notably by Jay Ryan, Ewen Leslie and Kate Mulvany. The first two were nominated for the Australian Logie Awards 2019 - Nomination for most outstanding actor. Fighting Season is a very delicate and respectful tribute to the troubles that soldiers returning home from Afganisthan (or other expeditions) have to face, with very strong effects on their character and feelings and consequences on family relationships. They often suffer in silence and fall ill with PTSD. Soldiers and men, strong, but also so fragile. Heroes and victims at the same time. Not to mention the touching and heartfelt tribute from Jay Ryan / Speedo to Anzac Day.

Guess war can drive people crazy no matter what you have done in a war zone. Terror, guilt and trauma can deeply affect every solider. That's what the movie is about. The movie tells us how four soldiers deal with their lives after returning from Afghanistan. In the meanwhile, a video of the suspicious death of Edward brings everyone doubts each other. Edward's wife, Kim, decides to find out what really happened to her husband.

Lots of suspense, e.g. Why Izzy is feels so guilty about himself; why there are different explanations about Edward's death, what really happened to him, and etc. While we look into each character's inner world, we also get to know the story behind Edward Nordenfelt and how he spends his last moment in Afghanistan.

An excellent plot with a few twists. Very good acting, in particular from the leads, Jay Ryan, Ewen Leslie & Kate Mulvaney, & support actor Jay Laga'aia.