Michelle Hansford

I’m surprised how many people love this show. I found it unbelievable and ridiculous on so many levels. The concept is great, and there is an initial attempt to build characters and show group dynamics, and how conflict and cooperation can coexist, however the storyline makes no sense - the lack of democratic decision making and the appointment of one leader that becomes a familial line, unquestioned and unchallenged I find really disturbing. This would have been a great platform to demonstrate collective decision making and collaborative leadership, which I think would’ve been more likely, believable and given more interesting insights into human behaviour. The unelected “leader”, with no apparent skills or experience in leadership or group work, is ditzy, does nothing but boss everyone around, and even when she is meant to be looking serious, looks like she is about to crack up, the acting is cringeworthy. I kept thinking it was going to turn into a comedy. It’s painful to watch. I skipped huge swathes of it as it just waffles in with no real drama or goal. They trek into the woods looking for farmland when they all live in giant houses with lush, manicured lawns, have parklands, sports ovals etc where crops could be grown, tended and easily watered. It’s so comical it should’ve been a comedy. Not even sure I can finish it - the storyline is nonsensical and makes young people appear completely clueless - it’s like dumb and dumber. However, I’ve reached episode 8 so I may as well battle on. Overall I would not recommend - it’s a disappointing time waster that started with such potential and leads nowhere and shows nothing that hasn’t been explored in other films more interestingly and intelligently. I’d also like to point out how disturbing it was in terms of boring obsolete stereotyping that lacked insight and nuance.

I’m not sure why I continued watching this - it started well and had so much potential - and the acting and cinematography mislead you into thinking it will be well written. I think I finished only because I’d wasted so much time on it - but it became more frustrating each episode with the behaviour of the characters just so ridiculous - the father in particular- a surgeon who one minute doesn’t know the difference between a text and email, then next minute is tracking his daughter’s phone around the estate. The sub plots had glaring holes in them (eg. the surgeon dad and his doctor friend in the city - as friend is being chased by thugs the surgeon just stands screaming into his phone “where are you” - motionless in panic unbefitting a surgeon as he listens to the chase and then when the chase is over he suddenly remembers he can use the find friends app on his phone and finds his friend? Thugs are suddenly scared and run away. What?) All this when they already knew she had returned to the estate anyway. There were so many gaps in plot like this. Not to mention the ridiculous dialogue between characters - random memories that attempt to explain away some of the stupid plot twists. So many holes….aaahhh. The characters all behave like fools doing unbelievable things designed only to keep the plot twists going - but the behavior is also so unrepresentative of the characters they are playing such as doctors, surgeons, police officers, teachers and hugely wealthy successful business owners - this is particularly painful to watch in the character of the father - he physically assaults so many people including teenagers, he enters premises without permission, takes things, he bullies people and demands answers with no regard and then calls the man who lost his son a bully!! What? He doesn’t even know where his wife of 20+ years worked ? He shows absolutely no concern or sympathy for anyone - even his own kids. Yet he is racing around like a looney looking for a lost daughter a day after she doesn’t come home. Based on his characters behavior he wouldn’t have even noticed. He has no idea where his other daughter is while he is playing cop. He leaves a body in a burning house? What doctor does that? He also happens to be having an affair with the top cop and yet they don’t talk at all about the case or his other child while he is out doing what should be police work with his doctor mate and the cops are doing what exactly?? No checking of phone tower pings, party photos, cctv - no interviewing all the kids at the party or establishing a timeline of events and what is known!! The couple who lost a son and are constantly harassed rudely and unsympathetically by the “dad” demanding answers - yet choose these moments to bare all their private business and secret affairs etc. What? There are just so many moments like this where you’re left going What? Really? After all the seasons of Vera on British tv a crime mystery so full of holes just can’t go unnoticed. It just made no sense most of the time - it was painful, like it was made up on the go by a child writing their first mystery 🤣

I had great hopes for this series as the concept is great and the characters began with so much potential. The first two seasons were great, but by season 3 the character development was a bit off, and I had to skip through season 4. My favourite character was Mel, she is such a good actress that even though the her character is over the top she totally pulls it off - just like Simmo and Col. I liked Heather but her character has been too inconsistent and unrealistic - which is more down to the screenwriters than the acting. And I love Liz but also think some of the dialogue written for her just doesn’t fit the character so it isn’t always authentic - a bit all over the shop. I like Harry but all his storylines are completely unbelievable and ridiculous-I had to skip them by last season they were too annoying as they make no sense to his character. Ainslie was also great in the first two season but towards the end was contributing nothing and making no sense to her past story. I started bingeing this but now don’t care that there isn’t a 5th season. Which is a pity. It’s like the writers didn’t expect this many seasons so wrote narrative to fit a storyline in the last two seasons and forgot to make the narrative also fit the personality of the characters they had developed (or failed to develop). The acting was brilliant - it was the writing and lack of consistent character development that let them down. I can see why it ended - it had the potential but characters became too one dimensional - in place to deliver comedic drama with no reference to authenticity. Ben was a great actor but the character was somehow off. They all became a bit superfluous by the last season, script not matching their personalities (except for Simmo, Mel and Col, Anton, Lachlan). The writers lost track of the main characters. The Indian stereotyping was a bit dodgy also. It’s was interesting identifying the difference between the good acting and bad screenwriting - and noticing what went wrong compared to other brilliant Aussie shows like Offspring, secret life of us, tangle etc. This was an easy watch but not one i would particularly recommend or rave about.