Black Snow

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.

Two things need to be made clear off the top. First, Australia continues to be world-class in the production of series drama, and Black Snow is no exception. Two, Travis Fimmel is one of those rare actors whose breakout performance (as Ragnar) was so strong that he may be spending the rest of his career trying to prove that Vikings was no accident. In this production, he wears horn-rimmed glasses and has a number of quirks. However, as a successful "cold case" detective -- one who solves cases no one else can -- his boss cuts him a lot of slack. As expected, this gives him room to use his considerable skills to flesh out a character that keeps the attention for the full length of the series. The story is a police procedural -- something the Aussies excel at, check out MYSTERY ROAD -- that is sparsely directed, yet effective at maintaining the suspense. Recommended. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Loved Travis in this! My favourite of his work so far.

Real Aussie style drama, loved the backdrop country Nth Qld and the really nicely tailored imagery and camera work. Story line was simple but captivating, I literally had no clue who it was till the end, love it when that happens!

Character development was well done and the timeline jumps were easily defined, even though this had the potential to be problematic as there was a constant back and forth, it was handled very well. I watch it all the way through on New Year's Day morning after watching the first sunrise for 2023!

A great way to start a new year. Great work.

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.