Black Snow — Your next must-watch mystery series

Review by C.J. Bunce

With so many streaming channels to choose from, and few dropping the monthly fees to have them all, it’s becoming more common to miss out on something special. International TV series and movies sometimes take a few years to get to the States. Also, ask around and Acorn TV probably isn’t a channel carried by all your neighbors. For most people Stan is a guy down the street, but Stan is also a production company based in Sydney, Australia, that has delivered some exceptional original programming, including Population 11 (reviewed here) and Good Cop/Bad Cop (reviewed here). You should count Stan’s 2023 mystery series Black Snow featuring Vikings and Dune: Prophecy star Travis Fimmel as its top show yet. Precipitated by the opening of a time capsule commemorating the 100th anniversary of the local school, new evidence comes to light about a murder 25 years ago.

One of the most compelling and believable looks at police work that has hit the small screen in years, it’s also simply one of the best productions in any genre category yet, with a stunning tight script, brilliant cast, lots of twists, and a satisfying ending. With a second season now on AMC+, now is a great time to catch up on the first season of Black Snow.

Both set and filmed in Queensland, Black Snow follows cold case detective James Cormack, played by Fimmel, one of the best actors of his generation, who helmed the Vikings series and served as a central character of the first season of Dune: Prophecy (we interviewed him here at borg). A dogged and determined investigator from Brisbane who has selected the death of a 17-year-old in the insular (fictional) community of Ashford as his next case, he balances the troubled detective trope with nuances that steer far from the 0ver-dramatic, spectrum zone, or over-the-top quirky, as we’ve seen in countless detectives from Sherlock Holmes to Adrian Monk to Dr. Gregory House. Cormack has reasons for his neuroses that directly tie to his mannerisms when he’s alone–but he never lets his personal life get in the way of his job. So many shows blur the lines on this point, forgetting real detectives must earn a living and get the job done. Fimmel makes it clear Cormack never forgets that.

Isabel Baker is the season’s victim–and the season’s co-star–a teenager who was a member of the local South Sea Islander community in the 1990s. Her desire to grow as a person, as the daughter of the local preacher, as a sister, as a friend, and a member of her teen cliques and community all lead her to stand up when she learns those around her aren’t all they appear to be. The role her community historically played under the thumb of old money, white mill owners–a sugar cane farm and sugar processing mill influence everything and everyone–must be brought into the spotlight for Cormack to track down the events that led to her murder in 1994. This brings the series in lockstep with the Australian series Mystery Road: Origin, a similar thrilling series with a similar theme–both received top accolades locally.

Isabel is played in a series of flashbacks over six one-hour episodes by the engaging and vibrant Talijah Blackman-Corowa (Deadloch, Plum). The actress makes it easy to understand why her family and community never forgot her personality and potential 25 years later. She is best friends with her younger sister Hazel, played by Molly Fatnowna as a teen and Jemmason Power as an adult. Power’s ability to convey her character’s anger after no police picked up the case as the decades passed by, to convey her love for her sister, and her ability to keep her own secret completes the trio of talent that tells this story.

Isabel’s father Pastor Joe, played by Jimi Bani (Ready for This, Mabo), is that overbearing religious dad we’ve seen in all kinds of coming of age stories. But does his single-minded focus on protecting his daughter and his parishioners from unknown evils make him capable of killing his daughter? What ritual prompted someone to place a braid of Isabel’s hair in the time capsule?

Were Isabel’s friends involved? These include boyfriend Anton, played by Josh Macqueen as a teen and Alien: Covenant’s Alexander England as an adult (England won best supporting actor kudos for his multifaceted performance in this role). Anton’s father (played by Rob Carlton) runs the sugar cane farm, and hired South Sea Islanders as migrant laborers in the 1990s, two of whom vanished at the time of Isabel’s death. Then there is Isabel’s bestie Chloe, played by Annabel Wolfe and Brooke Satchwell (Neighbours), who as an adult is trying to scheme away the mill from her father, played by Erik Thomson. And what role was played by Isabel’s doting male friend, the bullied Hector, played by Fraser Anderson and Lee Jones?

But Isabel’s greatest impact may have been on someone she never met. That’s her niece, Hazel’s daughter Kalana Baker, played by Eden Cassady. Kalana is already starting to show signs of being a rebellious teen just as she receives accolades for her academics and athletics. She finds herself growing even closer to her lost aunt when she is chosen to read a message from Isabel that was tucked into the time capsule 25 years ago.

Cormack must face the same kinds of local politics and intransigence as Jay Swan in the Mystery Road series. This comes in the form of the old money men and head of the local police department, Kym Gyngell. But he also gets help. Like Deadloch’s eager newbie Abby Matsuda, Cormack gets the benefit of young constable Dale Quinn, played by Gulliver McGrath. But it’s Isabel who is the most incredible character in this story. She is a singular, compelling, well-crafted and brilliantly acted heroine.

But it’s writer-creator Lucas Taylor’s impeccable script that reigns supreme. This is exactly how to craft a mystery in six episodes that never lets up, offering a range of emotions and thrilling curves, and an ending that is both surprising and satisfying.

It’s now streaming on Acorn TV, AMC+, and Sundance Now, from Harrow writer Lucas Taylor. You should consider the first season of Black Snow as must-watch TV. Had it made to to the States in 2023, it would have made a good case to challenge the year’s top awards at borg and cinched the top spot for Fimmel as Best Actor in a TV Series. Look for our review of the second season of Black Snow in a few weeks.

Catch up with our reviews of other quality British TV series (including Australian and New Zealand shows you’d find on PBS, BritBox, or Acorn TV) beginning with our Top 10: Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes, Zen, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Mr. Selfridge, Guilt, The IPCRESS File, The Hour, The Gentlemen, Black Doves, and Shetland (yes, Black Snow belongs up here). You could stay pretty busy with our full list of top British TV recommendations, including Van Der Valk, the first season of Sherlock, Deadloch, Troppo, Case Histories, Mystery Road: Origin, Death Valley, Dept. Q, Bodkin, The Bletchley Circle, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Grace, Hinterland, Glitch, Mystery Road, Culprits, Harrow, The Day of the Jackal, Code of Silence, Luther, Professor T, and Supacell. After you’ve seen all of those, try Marchlands, Lightfields, State of Play, I, Jack Wright, Population 11, Protection, After the Flood, Traces, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Ordeal by Innocence, Unforgotten, The Bay, Wild Bill, Quirke, Requiem, The Gloaming, The Clearing, The One, The Tourist, The Tower, Collateral, Roadkill, Stay Close, The Salisbury Poisonings, and A Confession.

Other British series across genres that are worth checking out (a few still to be reviewed here) include fun romps like Monarch of the Glen, Para Handy, Cranford, Viva Blackpool, and As Time Goes By, and cozy mysteries Rosemary and Thyme, Father Brown, Hetty Wainthropp, and Death in Paradise. One of the best of all British productions is the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small, which is in our British Top 10 (and the original is good, too). Of course there’s always Doctor Who for your sci-fi fix (and spin-offs Torchwood and Class), The Watch for your fantasy fix, Truth Seekers and Sea of Souls for your supernatural fix, and Spaced for more sci-fi fun, and we really should add House, MD, for Brit lead Hugh Laurie’s one-of-a-kind performance. (We’ve also reviewed but don’t heartily recommend so much Dublin Murders, The ABC Murders, The Pale Horse, Reef Break, The One That Got Away, The Silence, The Five, The Missing, Thirteen, or Broadchurch, as well as No Offence, which could have merited a review for its first season but, like Sherlock, its later seasons were a disappointment).