Australian crime comedy takes on the Top End
Impasse (second season) ★★★★
When Impasse‘s first season The series, which premiered in 2023, was already the most ambitious program on Australian television. A truly engaging crime thriller that is a wild odd couple comedy, biting social satire, and also mercilessly mocks the genre itself. happened A feminist satire about self-serious prestige crimes and Scandi-noir, so aggressively Australian that it threw around terms like “c— punch” without anyone batting an eyelid.
Remarkably, there’s even more to come in the second season of this Emmy-nominated series.
There’s a change of location from Tasmania to the Top End, subverting the established “Tassie noir” aesthetic. An injection of the intimate backstory of the series’ most absurdly crazy character. A deeper focus on the politics of race. And it’s a series of mysteries involving not only the oddball locals (including a Steve Irwin-style obnoxious alligator celebrity hilariously played by Luke Hemsworth) but also law enforcement itself.
This is too much; especially considering this season only has six episodes out of eight. But if you find the beginning a bit cumbersome due to the necessary narrative setup, don’t be dragged along. The thrilling finale of this grand and spectacular show will prove it. (once again) co-creators Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Katering Show,Get Krack!n) are some of the most exciting creatives working in Australian television today.
Building on the coda of season one, season two follows detectives Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) as they investigate the death of Eddie’s former partner Bushy in Darwin. Or at least that’s what they go there for. The unlikely duo — plus Nina Oyama’s forensic technician Abby — quickly arrive in the small fictional town of Barra Creek and try to make sense of stray body parts, missing backpackers, and two warring alligator tourism companies.
Who are the traditional owners of those lands? Chaotic tour guide Amber Darrell (Nikki Britton) doesn’t answer when asked, other than to say that her father’s business, Don Darrell’s Best Jumping Crocodile Tours, was there “long before” Jason Wade was in the Land of Crocs. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when the camera pans past a youth detention center in the season opener, his name sounds a lot like Don Dale.
It would be easy for the Kates to resettle on the safe shores of Tasmania’s Deadloch and create another cozy and campy mystery. That’s the name of the show, after all. But the Top End provides an excellent social texture to uncover as our main characters question their relationship with the justice system. And these heavy themes are balanced well by the outrageous cast of new characters.
Now fish-out-of-water Dulcie and her exuberant wife Cath (Alicia Gardiner), along with Tassie’s art and greyhound-loving lesbians, are traded in for suntanned bogans who swear as much as Eddie and celebrate birthdays with “steak cake” in the pub.
In an interview this week, the Kates said It might be the last season of their show.. Although the duo isn’t completely ruling out a comeback, they “feel like” [they’ve] I have done a lot with the genre” and “I am willing to do other things from now on”.
It would be sad to see this drama I was impressed by the critics And gained fans around the world – complete. As counterintuitive as it may be, wouldn’t it be great to see Dulcie and Eddie running around Australia? I would soak up a season in Byron Bay. But if this is truly the end, it’s a great way to get out.
Impasse It’s streaming on Amazon Prime Video starting March 20.
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Meg Watson, assistant TV editor at The Age and Sydney Morning HeraldConnect with: X or email.
