Deep Water - review

Deep Water is an Australian murder mini-series (4 episodes) currently available on Netflix.

Despite being set in Sydney (around Bondi Beach), this is in many ways one of those dark, brooding serial-killer stories, recently popularised by the "scandi-noir" genre, although Detective Tori Lustigman (played by Yael Stone, of Orange is the New Black fame) is thankfully not quite as tortured as so many of her nordic colleagues. She is, in fact, a fairly-straight-forward, tough woman on a mission, which, in its own way, is quite refreshing.

The story is complex, the writing is tight and the performances are first class; all coming together to form a gripping and tense, sometimes even moving, thriller.

However, what could easily have been a slightly formulaic, if not predictably stereotypical, plot, also functions as an unflinching and often disquieting exposition of homophobia that feels grounded in historical truth.

Its various and numerous guises, as well as its manyfold consequences, are presented to the viewer in all their insidious banality and/or revolting horror. This is ultimately what makes this series special and worth watching, if, at times, harrowing too.

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