Bad Behaviour

I only made it through 2 episodes.. it's slow. EXCEPTIONALLY slow.

The "bad behavior" is simply teenage girls at a boarding school being "mean girls" nothing more. There was nothing really engaging or exciting. Perhaps one needs to have been a bullied teenage girl for this to series to matter. Watching from the outside it's really rather drab and unentertaining.

Acting is sub-par. Dialog delivery is just odd in places.. weird pauses for seemingly "dramatic effect"... a la.. "I .... .... ... have to get going." No one actually speaks like that. Overall the entire series feels like it was written, directed, filmed and acted by individuals who were half-asleep and lacked ANY type of real-world vigor or "life".

After nearly two episodes the story is still rather unclear. There doesn't appear to be a direct cohesive storyline. It's merely a collection of events strung together. And the primary focus, oddly, seems to be sexual fluidity overall. It's not outspoken or prominent. But that really seems to be the only "unique" aspect here. As if a series of rather standard events are made more interesting by non-gender-normative characters - they aren't. People, regardless of any gender fluidity, are still people - and the events are still pretty much the same.

I watched 50% of this and could not, for the life of me, see why it warranted watching the remaining 50%.

It's fair to say, this is a different direction to the typical Australian Bildungsroman.

The show is incredibly dark, gritty, at times brutally tragic, but clever and overall, unapologetic. Watching it feels like an Australian version of "Euphoria" meets "Yellow Jackets", with similar tones and themes from each. The pace works for the longer episodes, and the dialogue depicts Australian teens well.

The young female cast shine in this. For me, the character of Emma (played by Abbey Morgan) was a standout. The character of Alice was also particularly likeable and found the tormented relationships although sad, genuinely believable. It also allows the audience to think about how they would cope as 15 year olds left in the woods to their own devices just how challenging that environment would be. The setting itself is beautiful, with contrast between the Melbourne city to the stunning Victorian High Country.

It's definitely not going to be for everyone and the warning at the start of each episode is warranted, but overall, a bold new Australian show that is far from the generic with a phenomenal female cast that is sorely needed on our screens.

It's definitely not horror genre, but it does remind me of a horror movie. It's just a whole series of uncomfortable, painful and awful experiences one after the other. I think if you enjoy watching awful things happen, then you would enjoy this. But if you want something more than that, then you will likely not enjoy this.

Having said that, the cinematography was great and I thought most of the acting was excellent, especially Kavenagh.

I also loved that a gender neutral character was included without making a big deal about it. A conversation between people using them/they super naturally is really lovely and still quite a progressive thing I think. So, I appreciated that.

But as I said, the storyline was just too constantly painful for me to give a higher review.

I remember seeing the ads for this and thinking "wow this could be bad." but I watched it all in one sitting and it ended up being really good? That was the surprising thing. It was just daring to be different and daring to change the normal of just a 'school drama', the director and cast did a fantastic job at bringing this to life, congrats.

What this shows is that you can never really hide from the past and make sure the future looks safe when its not and unfortunately while everyone else let go of the past Jo couldn't. Jo is the epitome of 'can't let go' and it really shows when she meets the people from her past who have let go their previous lives at the school.

You can run from the past but you cannot hide from it.

Where to begin?! This is one of those series where it's hard to accurately pinpoint the directors intent but what it does capture, it captures brilliantly enough to warrant praise from my perspective. Often have I bared witness to the abundance of missed opportunities in capturing such a unique dynamic between two symbiotic protagonists who simply cannot exist without, nor with one another. A subtle but constant awareness, a duel, a dare to test the limits and determine just how far they are willing to go to complete and challenge fate itself. Nothing else can exist in their presence given the picture would be otherwise incomplete.

I've read several reviews throwing the word "toxic" around but i'd argue this is only applicable to Jo and her so called friends of whom she'd easily discard for her other half. The series tackles this with her constant need to apologize (for being toxic) despite the fact that its been years and everyone else but them has moved on, explaining the constant flashbacks; a yearning to close a chapter that she may move on.

Thats my take currently as theres currently only four episodes . I dare say perhaps i'm reading into it too much and simply experiencing what the director left open to interpretation based on my own desires but who knows really. Let this review serve as a reminder that whilst currently I am absolutely in love with this series, my prediction is for my opinion to rapidly decline as we progress from EP:4 onwards given its unique nature and humanities (modern writers especially) constant desire to warrant destruction over anything so beautiful and fragile, its flaws must be exposed and laid bare for us to trample our feet upon.. that it may never be beautiful again.

I'm pondering concluding the series here and never picking up the book as I have no desire for tragic endings despite my high praise for the story and its unfolding so far... time will tell.