TL;DR – A delightful return of a wonderfully amusing Australian show

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

Deadloch Review Introduction

I had no idea what I was getting into when I sat down to watch a Nordic noir translocated into the Tasmanian wilderness, and the crazy turned up to 11. Season 1 was a wild ride, but it was very Tasmanian-coded. So, I was a touch concerned when they relocated the series up north, literally as far as you could get from Tasmania from a distance, weather, temperature, and general humidity perspective. However, given how well the first season went, I had to find out if it could survive the shift.  

So, to set the scene, up in the Northern Territory, in a town called Barra Creek, a local croc tour is taking a bunch of tourists out on the river. But tragedy strikes when they find the local bull-crocodile has been murdered, but even more concerning was what was in the late crocodile’s mouth. Thankfully, Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) were already in the area and were able to give a hand before the local detective looking into some missing Swedish backpackers came and made a mess of everything. The only issue, okay, one of many issues, is that Eddie used to live here back in the day. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Chaotic Banter

One thing that is clear, they have kept the chaotic banter between the cast that frankly comes at you at 100 km an hour, and you better be ready for it. There is a line about a dumpling here that is so wild that you almost must catch yourself and wonder, ‘Did I just hear that’? I think it helps that they don’t have to do all the building up of the relationship between Collins and Eddie this season. So, you can just roll with the gender flipped police characters of the straight man and the crazy one as they move from one wild moment to the next.

The Perfect Storm

A murder in a small town with a clear rivalry between different croc-tour families captures the imagination. It is also a scenario that I think would have crossover appeal outside of Australia, given some of our current cultural exports. Which is, of course, intensified when the identity of John Doe is revealed in the closing seconds of the episode. But what elevates this is how they made it personal by adding the fact that this is where Eddie grew up. Yes, it is a huge coincidence, of course, but that is how TV works sometimes. It is a solid foundation for a murder mystery or indeed a murders mystery.  

The Cast

I will probably go into this in more depth when we have a look at the season as a whole; however, goodness, is the casting director going overdrive here. Firstly, it is always good to see Genevieve Morris pop up in a show set in the outback. Indeed, you have not really set an Australian television show in the bush if Genevieve Morris has not turned up at least once. But we also get Shari Sebbens having a moment, Talijah Blackman-Corowa being an absolute delight, and the highlight was probably seeing the Water Rat himself, Steve Bisley, having a blast.   

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Deadloch? Well, this first episode is very promising. It has all the hallmarks of what made the first season work, just now positioned in a part of the country that regularly sits above 40°c and 90% humidity. Have you seen Deadloch yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Feel free to share this review on social media and check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Deadlock
Directed by – Beck Cole
Written by – Kate McCartney & Kate McLennan
Created by – Kate McCartney & Kate McLennan
Production/Distribution Companies – Amazon MGM Studios, okay Great Productions, Guesswork Television & Amazon Prime
Starring – Kate Box, Madeleine Sami, Alicia Gardiner & Nina Oyama
With – Steve Bisley, Shari Sebbens, Jean Tong, Genevieve Morris, Damien Garvey, Byron Coll, Nikki Britton, Anthony J Sharpe, Blake Pavey, Ngali Shaw, Lennox Monaghan, Storm Murgha, Reiden Corpus, Linh Cooper Tang, Syd Brisbane, Ursula Yovich, Talijah Blackman-Corowa, & John McNeill
And – Jordan Abbey-Young, Joseph Althouse, Nick Carr, David Eastgate, Ines English, Nick Farnell, Kira Puru, Kristina Andersen, Jack Henry, Ben Anthony, & Liam Grienke