The Bad Seed sowed good roots
The Bad Seed (TV One, Sunday to Thursday) was more than a five-episode crime thriller. It represented a seismic shift in the quality of New Zealand drama, and that shift is upwards, not downwards in the direction of
Westside and Filthy Rich.
The series, heavily indebted to leading-edge UK productions such as The Bodyguard and Marcella, has more plots than a garden centre.
It centres on Auckland obstetrician, Simon Lampton, his family, his clients, his affairs and his unhealthy habit of being around dead bodies.
Then there’s a creepy connection with a devious politician and his disturbed wife.
In addition, Simon has a brother, Ford, who becomes more conniving and deadly with each episode.
With enemies like this who needs friends. At the heart what’s going on, is a series of deaths and Detective Marie Da Silva is sent to solve them.
She’s a paint-by-numbers cop who only has Simon Lampton in her sights. The Bad Seed has pace, intrigue and so many twists and turns on the journey that Shane Jones should throw $5 million at it to upgrade the surface.
It also has wheels that fall off. By episodes three and four, it had become a sinister soap opera with dialogue that skirted the gutter and went direct to the sewer.
Almost overlooked was the death, in the opening seconds, of Juliet Stevens, a former patient at Simon’s clinic.
The Bad Seed has been a bold effort. It’s flawed, loses sight of where it’s meant to go but, by the end, has momentum enough to piece together the strands of a septic society.
It’s the best thing to come out of
Auckland since Leon Macdonald took over the Blues.
❚ Nothing ages more than judging foodie competitions.
Ina Decade of MKR (TV2, Sundays), Pete and Manu looked back on 10 years of presiding over pastries, preserves and puddings.
They started off as svelte and shaven. Now, they are larger, older and bristlier.
As series 10 begins, the enjoyment of the episode was the characters and what they cooked.
My favourite were Robert and Lynsey. Robert produced good old Texan cooking with language to match.
‘‘I’ve cooked quail eggs since I was a tadpole,’’ he exclaimed.
You can’t match that. I hope he’s still cooking them now he’s a frog.
In 2012, Peter, an outspoken contestant, asked how hard was it to mash a potato.
Very hard, Peter. The spud took up the challenge and won.
Then Alyse and Matt became culinary criminals by using a jar of curry paste when they had to cook everything from scratch.
They tried to curry favour, but lost.
❚ In All New Lost and Found (TV3, Wednesdays), a Russian child was lost but her mother was found.
Vika, adopted by a New Zealand couple from a grim Russian orphanage when 6, returned two decades later to find the woman who abandoned her and her two sisters.
In losing her three children, Inna admitted she just ‘‘fell in with bad company’’.
In the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre, it’s rewarding to view a programme that does good and brings people together.
Yet we’re told, it’s the final series.
TVNZ’S legacy should be to seek out more programmes like that.
Pigs might fly.
❚ What did fly was Anna Wilcox’s legs in Dancing With The Stars
(TV3, Sunday/monday).
Anna was the star in a new series that cosily features too many Auckland radio jocks and TV personalities.
She’s a skier and knows when and where her legs go and why.
She has great muscle memory and, when it came to the tango, her memory had muscles.
In defence of the unknown celebs, they worked hard and performed well.
Some had legs up to their armpits while others had armpits down to their ankles.
Watch out for Carolyn Taylor, Manu Vatuvei, K’lee and All Black, now policeman, Glen Osborne.
His was an arresting performance.
Great entertainment.
In a saliva of superlatives, the judges all had valuable advice to help the 12 competitors through to the next round.
That’s great.
I just hope Simon Cowell’s celebrity team was watching.