The Gone

Like most Kiwis I suffer from cultural cringe, and I was only watching because I know someone who knows someone on the show.

Therefore I was pleasantly surprised by a mostly well acted crime drama. Yes, there are some clichés like the cop with a troubled past, and someone returning home to their small town to confront some unresolved family dramas. Acushla-Tara Kupe is very good as Diana Huia. Richard Flood does a solid job. There's a nice blend of Maori culture and language.

The story is well-paced, and New Zealand's scenery makes an impression as always. I hope it finds an appreciative audience overseas, we're too harsh on our own.

I liked it when the detective hero loses a fight with a passing teenager right at the start. Refreshing not to have the lead character a super-hero who outfights everyone.

We then get a glimpse of New Zealand society. In particular the life of the Maori.

How they were ill-treated in the past, and are still far from equal.

And also real imperfect characters. Different from each other.

We start with one mystery, and then several more crop up.

The season ends with at least one mystery cleared up. More for Season two, I assume.

And some excellent scenery. Places where real people are living and having complex lives.

I really enjoyed this drama, it had suspense and beauty to add to this enjoyable story. It had left us with some questions that hopefully will be answered on season 2. But the acting was great and believable, the New Zealand countryside was amazing and added to the suspense of the storyline. I feel for the characters and how their lives are intertwined, and also the Maori culture is brought out in the storyline is interesting as well. It's an interesting twist of suspense and culture. The last couple of minutes of the last episode was rather scary and has me hanging on waiting for the next season.

I wasn't going to watch this as I often find NZ dramas can be poorly acted or with thin story lines but eventually gave an episode a go. I was drawn in after about 20 minutes and ended up watching the full series over 3 nights.

Acting was good by both the NZ and Irish contingent. Story line was also good and tense at times. I think the blend of Irish and NZ themes worked well together. As someone who watches a lot of UK crime dramas I think this stacks up pretty well with some of the better ones.

Scenery beautiful and score pretty good. Definitely recommend to anyone who likes well paced crime dramas.

Despite feeling slightly deterred by the reviews I gave it a shot as I was intrigued by the collaboration between Ireland and New Zealand. And I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

Scenery is obviously beautiful and the use of both Te Reo and Gaeilge was great. Characters are solid and make the show even more intriguing.

I do wish we would've had a little more closure at the end of the season and with the current production schedule I'm afraid it'll lose a lot of steam before season 2 comes out. Hopefully season 2 will wrap it all up nicely and not continue to drag it on...

Overall solid detective show, slow and steady, a little too mine side plots at times, but an interesting show nonetheless.