As big-budget series fall out of favor, I think Netflix is leaning towards small-town mystery novels as its lifeblood. This year alone, I've witnessed a deluge of series and miniseries that the streaming platform has commissioned from around the world. Hound's Hill kicked things off, followed by the equally dreadful Missing You. We then got two more Harlan Coben classics (pun intended), Just One Look and Caught.
The Snow Girl returned for a second season, and while it was slightly better than the first in its critique of organized religion, it was still a bit of a slog to get over. Watching The Glass Dome right after felt like experiencing déjà vu, even though one was Spanish and the other Swedish. Adolescence and Secrets We Keep were masterpieces compared to their genre counterparts, not only because of the relevance of the themes they explored, but also because of their exceptional visual storytelling.
Creator: Miranda Nation
Stars: Morgana O'Reilly, Kristina Bogic, Rudi Dharmalingam
Catalina Sopelana fell victim to typecasting due to this trend, appearing in two very similar series: The Gardener and The Crystal Cuckoo. Wild, directed by Australian Eric Bana, and Survivor, set in Australia, were entertaining, but ultimately incredibly forgettable. Now, Playing Gracie Darling arrives to complete this Australian trio.
Playing Gracie Darling, produced by Miranda Nation and directed by Jonathan Brough, begins in 1997, following Joni, Gracie, Jay, and Anita as they travel to a cabin near their town in New South Wales for a séance. At first, it seems one of the four children is mischievously wielding the Ouija board, pretending to be the conduit for the spirit Levi. But things take a serious turn, and Gracie suffers a nervous breakdown, leading Joni, Jay, and Anita to flee, abandoning her in the cabin. We catch up with Joni 27 years after that incident. She works at a children's psychiatric hospital in the city.
She has two daughters, Mira and Lulu, from two different relationships. Her life is relatively good, but she's forced to return to her hometown after learning of the disappearance of Gracie's niece, Frankie, and that the circumstances of her disappearance are quite similar to Gracie's. Jay, as a member of the State Police, leads the official investigation. Meanwhile, Joni begins an unofficial investigation, questioning Frankie's classmates—including Raffy, Jay and Anita's daughter—and is horrified to discover that they all seem to have been summoning Gracie's spirit and encountering an entity known as Levi.
Overwhelmed by guilt for having left Gracie in that shack, Joni decides to delve into the case and investigate until she uncovers the truth behind the possessions and subsequent disappearances. If you've read as many of these small-town mystery novels as I have, you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect. There will be a group of people who used to be friends, but then drifted apart for one reason or another. They'll have some kind of conflict among themselves, and the reason will seem controversial, but in the end, it will turn out to be a simple matter of miscommunication and misunderstandings.
Then you get to the parents of this group of friends, who will bring their own personal trauma packages to the table. And one of them will turn out to be the mastermind behind the crimes, because no one would expect one of the elderly parents to be a murderer. And there will be a major red herring that will be subjected to scrutiny, but ultimately, their innocence will be proven, which serves as a commentary on society's tendency to judge a book by its cover. Playing Gracie Darling is no different. The only difference between this and the aforementioned series is that it has a supernatural element. But even that isn't fully exploited. So all that's left is a lukewarm exploration of religion, guilt, and trauma.
From a visual and tonal standpoint, Playing Gracie Darling is strangely inconsistent. The color grading shifts from scene to scene. Many films and series do this to convey the ever-changing atmosphere of the narrative, but it's usually quite subtle and only noticeable upon rewatching. In this case, the transition is sometimes so jarring that you're forced to check if it's due to a technical glitch with the device you're watching on. I'm not kidding.
There are several scenes filmed in broad daylight that look so different from each other that I had to stop to check if my laptop was working properly. As for the tone—and I don't want to sound prudish—it seems the series was trying to cram in its share of sensual and provocative subplots. And they're so oddly placed amidst this super-seriously-serious murder mystery that you can't help but wonder if Brough and his team have any idea how human beings function under stress. Despite having only six episodes, the series takes forever to get to the heart of the matter. And when it gets to the heart of the matter, the creators decide to end it in the most abrupt way possible, leaving us with more questions than answers. If that was the showrunners' goal, then they've certainly succeeded.
The cast of Playing Gracie Darling is quite talented. It was fantastic to see the legendary Harriet Walter back on the small screen after her incredible performance in Silo. Morgana O'Reilly, who is great, carries most of the heavy lifting. Rudi Dharmalingam, Chloe Brink, Eloise Rothfield, Peter Carroll, and the rest of the supporting cast are decent. Now, while I'm not usually very critical of younger cast members, since they're just entering show business, I have to single out Kristina Bogic, because the way she's been treated is really strange. The script surrounding her and the amount of screen time she has, despite being the main character, could make it seem like Bogic's acting ability is quite limited. However, I'm willing to bet that's not the case at all.
I'm sure that, in the hands of better showrunners, it would have been the most interesting aspect of the series. However, here, it apparently drew the short straw, and in my opinion, they made the most of it. That said, is the series a good entry in the aforementioned Australian trilogy and worth watching? Firstly, no, and secondly, if you've become addicted to the small-town murder mysteries that Netflix offers, this will be perfect for you. If you're immune to this trend, stay put; you're not missing anything monumental.
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