Mystery Road

Image provided by Acorn TV.
        When I saw the listing for a show called Mystery Road I was intrigued.  Then I found out it was based off of a film of the same name, so I decided I should watch that first.  The film ended up being very grim, which made me wonder how the TV show would be.  Now that I have watched the show, I can say it’s not the cheeriest thing I have ever seen.  Yet, it is definitely not as grim as it could be, and it is definitely worth watching. 
         Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) has been called to a small Australian town to help the local police force find two missing teenage men.  The town is so small, there are only three main people in the investigative part of the police department, but that does not stop them from trying.
Image provided by Acorn TV.
    Heading the investigation is Senior Sergeant Emma James (Judy Davis).  As the only person available to investigate until Swan comes to town, Emma sometimes has to do things that would appear to be a conflict of interest, such as questioning her own brother or dealing with her ex-husband the defense attorney.  Also, as the only person available to investigate crimes, through the years Emma has gotten to know the people of the town better than others have.  This is helpful when questioning the Indigenous members of the community.  While this community does not necessarily trust Emma, they are willing to talk to her.
       Since one of the young men missing, Marley Thompson (Aaron McGrath), is of Indigenous descent, the cooperation of the Indigenous community is essential.  One would think since they share a heritage with Swan, they would be more open to talking to him instead of Emma who is white.  The opposite is true.  The people of the community would much rather talk to Emma than Swan.
Part of the reluctance to speak with Swan may be because he is new to town.  They do not know him.  While this is an understandable reason, I believe most of the distrust comes from Swan’s rough and forceful manner.
Image provided by Acorn TV.
         Gentle is not at all a natural part of Swan’s way of being.  A quiet and forceful man, Swan prefers to do things his own way, without telling anyone where he is going or what he is doing.  This aggravates Emma because by Swan going off on his own, she ends up doing things twice, slowing down the investigation.  Had she known Swan already questioned a person or gone somewhere to take in the scene, she would not do it herself a second time.  Eventually Emma and Swan figure out how to work together, which is good because not only does the case have twists and turns, it also has lies and secrets to unravel.
    Marley and his friend Reece Dale’s (Conner Van Vuuren) disappearance is the main case that needs to be solved.  While Reese is new in town, Marley is a local football star.  They worked together on a cattle station until Reece was fired.  The fact that Marley was working at the station at all is a mystery since he just finished a year playing professional football.  This type of laborious job would not be one people would expect a professional athlete to do.
         Since Reece was fired, he was not supposed to be on Marley’s rounds as he checked the cattle’s water troughs.  For some reason he was, and there is video to prove it.  The video shows them together as friends, then they are fighting.  After the fight they are gone from the videos and not seen again.
         While the disappearance of Marley and Reece is the main case that brings Emma and Swan together, it turns into so much more.  They find out drugs could play a factor in what happened to the men, although that would not be the whole story either.  With so many people telling only partial truths, lies, or nothing at all, it is hard for Emma and Swan to find out what is truly going on.  The person holding back the most is Shevorne Shields (Tasia Zalar), a young woman who was raped, beaten, and left for dead ten years before.
         The man put away for the attack on Shevorne is Larry Dime (Wayne Blair).  He has recently been released from prison, and upon learning his nephew Marley is missing, he returns to the town instead of moving to the city.  No one is happy to see Larry except his sister, Kerry (Deborah Mailman), Marley’s mother.  Kerry has always believed in Larry’s professions of innocence.  No one else believed him.  This is why it is so strange Marley visited Larry in prison the week before he disappeared.  Emma and Swan have to wonder if this visit is part of the reason Marley went missing.  With this being just one of the many pieces of information and interesting situations surrounding this case, Emma and Swan must figure out how to put it all together, implying all these pieces fit together at all.
        While working on the investigation, Swan must also handle his family who has come to town.  First his teenage daughter, Crystal (Madeleine Madden), arrives.  Not wanting her around the case, Swan isn’t exactly thrilled to see her.  Then, when he finds drugs on Crystal after she gets in a fight in a bar, he really wants her gone.  Swan calls his ex-wife, Mary (Tasma Walton), to come pick up Crystal.  By the time Mary arrives, Crystal has gotten a job.  Not willing to leave without her daughter, Mary stays in the town too, forcing Swan to face the family dynamics he has always avoided.
Image provided by Acorn TV.
        I must say, seeing the film first does make some things more clear (like why Crystal no longer wants to be at home), but I don’t think it’s fully necessary to watch in order to follow the show.  If you listen closely, most everything about what happened in the film that affects the show gets explained.  And I do mean listen closely.  This is a quiet show.  It is very easy to miss something.  With so many different directions the investigation takes, you don’t want to miss anything.
       Still, despite paying close attention, there were some things that puzzled me in this show, and that was the lack of DNA use.  There was a lot of talk about blood type, which makes me wonder if they used that for identification because doing a DNA test would take too long.  While that makes sense for the current case they are investigating, I was very surprised it was not brought up with Shevorne’s sexual assault case.  I don’t recall it being mentioned once, which I found to be strange.  In a case such as Shevorne’s, I would think DNA would have been looked for.  It would be interesting to find out why it wasn’t mentioned.  DNA could have changed things entirely. 
        With the way the show ended, I’m not sure if there is going to be a second season or not.  I have found out there is a second film, which I may take a look at.  A second season would be good, though.  A new town.  A new case.  And who knows, maybe Swan will have learned how to get along better with people from the start.  Or maybe not.

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