Troppo is basically Australian lingo for “messed up by the tropical heat,” and Troppo is the apt title of an iMDb series returning next week for a second season on Prime Video. Call it tropical noir. It’s the ultimate outback trip, complete with crocodiles and all the mixed cultures of the continent. We’ve seen some good series out of Australia, like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Mystery Road, Glitch, and Deadloch, and you’ll want to add Troppo to that list. It stars Thomas Jane as the American ex-cop and Nicole Chamoun as an unusual local tattoo artist and aspiring private eye in a small outback community. Their chemistry combines to deliver memorable performances in a disturbing tale that delivered a satisfying ending in its first season (reviewed here).
Check out the trailer for Season 2 of Troppo:
The first season was based on the novel Crimson Lake by Australian author Candice Fox, part of a dark, often grimy, murder mystery series. The second season is expected to pull from her novels Redemption Point or Gone by Midnight. Thomas Jane (The Expanse, The Predator, Medium, The Punisher) is Ted Conkaffey, a washed-up, scruffy looking rogue type who has left his wife and child after being falsely accused of kidnapping and molesting a girl. Maybe he should have avoided a town called Crimson Lake, where a rough-looking, younger ex-con is trying to encourage him to help her new private eye business. She’s Amanda Pharrell, played by Nicole Chamoun (The Gloaming, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, On the Ropes, Safe Harbor), who ten years ago was a beautiful teenager living a normal life, until a bad night of partying ended in the murder of another local teen.
The town holds all kinds of secrets–secrets that might conjure Veronica Mars. Ted is a good guy, even rescuing a family of geese who become his roommates, and it’s easy to see how he could have been a good cop once. Amanda is a mess, a combination of determination, guilt, and self-doubt. She believes she is guilty because her memory shows her participating in the murder of the girl years ago. But she’s missing essential data. Now she’s heavily tattooed and constantly taking risky actions to sabotage any chance at getting a normal life again. But ultimately she’s a badass on a bicycle. Thomas Jane makes a great washed-up private eye, and the journey Nicole Chamoun takes is pretty exciting new territory. This is a side to Australia that American audiences haven’t seen before. Peta Wilson co-stars this season.
From showrunner/writer Yolanda Ramke, catch the second season of the mystery series Troppo coming to Amazon Freevee on Prime Video, July 25, 2024, only a few weeks after its Australia debut.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
