A couple of weeks ago I started watching the Australian series
'Mystery Road' on BBC4. Two episodes back to back on Saturday nights. This turned into something of a saga for me. I became intrigued by the central character
Detective Jay Swan, an indigenous cop rolling into small town Australia amid vast soul stirring landscapes. He's surly to the point rudeness. He doesn't say much, doesn't appear to like people in general (regardless of colour,) but as a detective, he's like a dog with a bone.
The thing is they kept referring to past events and I realised this was series 2. So between the first Saturday and next I found series 1 on IPlayer and binge-watched it, not that hard, only six episodes. I was looking for the back story of
Jay Swan. Guess what ? They kept referring to previous events ...
So I did a bit or research and sure enough, there were two feature films prior to the TV series.
'Mystery Road' 2013 and
'Goldstone' 2016, both award winners. So I found '
Goldstone' on IPlayer and watched it, and then found the first film
'Mystery Road' on Amazon Prime (rent it for £3.50) So I've completed the back story of Jay Swan backwards ...
Last night I watched the last two episodes of the second series. All of it is set in small habitats in what seems a never ending horizon. I found out it was filmed in Queensland and the northern part of Western Australia. I have some small experience of the latter having visited there a few times to load iron ore, (they're digging out a mountain range of it there.) It is a mind boggling vastness that looks more like Mars than Earth.
You do find out why Jay Swan (played by Aaron Pederson) is they way he is. He's been through the mill, professionally and personally. He's tired of the racial undertones he encounters from both sides of the divide.
In short, he's pissed off, but a dedicated cop.