Scrublands — Try on a slow-simmering mystery Down Under

Review by C.J. Bunce

With its second season arriving on AMC+ this year, TV viewers in the States can now sit back and discover the mysteries of Scrublands, based on the novels by Chris Hammer. Viewers travel to the small rural town of Riversend to meet Black Sails star Luke Arnold as investigative journalist Martin Scarsden from the Sydney Morning Herald. His editor sends him out to the sticks to follow up on the case of five parishioners murdered by a charismatic and dedicated young priest named Bryon Swift, played by Beauty and the Beast series star Jay Ryan. Martin soon realizes things aren’t what they seem, and there’s more to the story than what has been reported. Luke befriends a local woman, Mandy Bond, played by Bella Heathcote (The Man in the High Castle, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and the closer he gets to her the more it seems she, too, has secrets related to the case.

Aussies call the series “rural noir” and it fits. It’s not heavy on action, and finds its troubled hero and the damsel in distress who may be a femme fatale, all in the confines of a seedy town, in the footsteps of series like Black Snow, The Clearing, Mystery Road, and Deadloch minus its humor.

One year after the church murders, Martin is nosing around among the townspeople, who are nowhere near moving past that dark event. Director Greg McLean begins by throwing a wrench at the audience–he shows us the priest murdering the parishioners. He obviously committed the crime. So what’s the big secret? Two teens help Martin begin to piece it all together.

Did you ever want to watch Longmire star Robert Taylor using his native Aussie accent? Season 1 is your chance. Taylor plays Harley Reagan, a figure that fans of rural noir Aussie crime stories will notice as a recurring archetype. Wealthy, white ranch owners all put their stakes in the ground in each new town these crime stories tell us about. Corruption, drugs, money.

Jay Ryan is convincing as this good town leader, a priest who helps people. But he, of course has his dark backstory, which director McLean dishes out to us moving back and forth over the season’s four hour-long episodes, and he saves all the answers for his satisfying final episode.

Martin’s relationship with Bella Heathcote’s Mandy becomes the through-line connecting the two seasons. Mandy and her child are already in Martin’s hometown of Silver when Martin decides to return at the beginning of Season 2. But nothing is ever easy for this couple, as Martin’s friend from his youth is murdered and guess who is the chief suspect… yes, it’s Mandy.

Heathcote is consistent with her character, and that’s what stretches out the second season’s mystery. She keeps a lot to herself. Both seasons carry the familiar theme of insular communities with no desire to share their lives with outsiders. Martin is there to stir up the locals. Luke Carroll is a strong addition in the second season as Martin’s childhood schoolmate, who is now a cop leading the local investigation.

The trials of Riversend and Silver are more current than those of a series like Mystery Road, which delved deeper into politics and culture. Scrublands isn’t as compelling, but if you’re after gritty, it comes closer to the detective and the criminal elements found in Troppo.

Scrublands fits in well with the other mystery series of Aussie’s rural noir. From the Australian network Stan, you can find the series in the States on AMC+, also on Acorn and other streaming services. The compelling lead actors and McLean’s approach make it worth a watch.

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. You could stay pretty busy with our full list of top British TV recommendations, including The Artful Dodger, Van Der Valk, the first season of Sherlock, Deadloch, Troppo, Case Histories, This is Going to Hurt, the second season of Black Snow dragged the series from the Top 10 tier down to here, Mystery Road: Origin, Death Valley, Dept. Q, Bodkin, The Bletchley Circle, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Grace, Steeltown Murders comes in about here, Hinterland, Glitch, Mystery Road, Culprits, Harrow, Annika, The Day of the Jackal, Code of Silence, Luther, Professor T, and Supacell. After you’ve seen all of those, try Viva Blackpool, Marchlands, Lightfields, State of Play, I, Jack Wright, Population 11, Protection, After the Flood, Traces, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Scrublands, 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 episodes were a disappointment).