Evelyn Bay, near Hobart (South of Tasmania). Fifteen years ago, a strom destroyed several families. Two young men died, trying to rescue the brother of one of them. Kieran, the brother, survived, but not Finn and Toby. This tragedy left the inhabitants of the small town in a state of shock. A teenage girl, Gaby, disappeared on the same night, but no one talked about it. Consumed by guilt, Kieran left for Sydney.
Now married to Mia, Gaby’s best friend, and father of a three months old girl, Kieran comes back for the first time since the drama. Although a decade and a half has passed, he finds the locals distrustful, almost hostile towards him. He is still blamed for the death of his brother and his friend. Even his mother reproaches him. His father, who suffers from dementia, remains a gentle man.
But on the evening of the son’s return, a young woman investigating Gaby’s disappearance is found murdered. From then on, unhealed wounds will bring secrets from the past to the surface.
Grief, guilt and pain, an explosive cocktail
I almost didn’t watch the series because of Charlie Vickers’ performance as Sauron (totally devoid of charisma, in my opinion). Turns out he’s not such a bad actor after all. In fact, the cast as a whole does well, with a special mention for Kieran’s parents. The series suffers from dialogue that’s a little too banal. The plot is well-constructed and punctuated with twists and turns, but the pace remains a little slow.
Based on Jane Harper’s 2020 novel, The main interest of the story is to illustrate how secrets slowly undermine and kill relationships, and even an entire town. Everyone deals with trauma in their own way. Some share, others isolate or flee. But all agree not to revisit what happened that night. And, of course, in the process of covering up tragedies that have never been cleared up, the violence will boomerang back.
A classic series, interesting and good without being exceptional, which has the merit of inviting us to confront our emotions.
Miniseries, 6 episodes (50 mn), 2025, on Netflix
Created by Tony Ayres, WITH : Charlie Vickers (the rings of power) as Kieran Elliott, Yerin Ha (Bridgerton s4) as Mia Chang, Robyn Malcolm (Dr Harrow) as Verity Elliott, Damien Garvey (Dr Harrow) as Brian Elliott, Catherine McClements as Trish, Don Hany (Secret city) as George Barlin, Jessica De Gouw as Olivia Birch, George Mason as Ash Carter, Martin Sacks as Julian Gilroy, Miriama Smith as Detective Senior Sergeant Sue Pendlebury, Johnny Carr as Detective Alex Dan, Shannon Berry as Bronte, Benedict Hardie as Chris Renn, Julian Weeks as Liam Gilroy, Thom Green as Sean Gilroy, Ian Bliss as Geoff Mallott
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