Latest ‘Mystery Road’ series another hypnotic trip across the Outback
The Australian drama “Mystery Road” definitely is not part of the Marvel universe by any stretch of even the most fertile imagination. But the 2013 film chronicling the sometimes troubled life of middle-aged Aboriginal detective Jay Swan, whose beat is the sprawling, sun-baked Outback, has spawned an almost an “Avengers”-like number of sequels.
The movie “Goldstone” followed in 2018, which led to two seasons of the “Mystery Road” TV series. That series, in turn, gave birth to “Mystery Road: Origin,” a six-episode prequel series set in 1999 that serves as Jay Swan’s origin story, in which he works on his first big case. As with the previous editions of “Mystery Road,” a universe initially created by Aboriginal director/ writer Ivan Sen and now overseen by another Aboriginal filmmaker, Dylan River, “Origin” (which begins streaming Sept. 26 through AcornTV) reflects the harsh, desolate beauty of its environment.
That means it often moves deliberately and slowly, as if it’s not trying to work up too much of a sweat in the Australian heat.
While the ancient landscape and the languid pace remain the same, the big difference is Swan himself, a man stranded between white and Black worlds, where neither side fully trusts him. Played previously with stoic grace by veteran actor Aaron Pedersen (“Jack Irish,” “A Place to Call Home”), this younger Swan is portrayed by relative newcomer Mark Coles Smith, who manages to capture his predecessor’s taciturn, tight-lipped intensity.
The setting this time is Jay’s dusty, dying hometown in Western Australia, which is being terrorized by a group of thieves in masks, reminiscent of Ned Kelly, the famous 19thcentury Australian outlaw known for wearing a helmet that covered his entire head, with only a slit for the eyes. On top of that, the unsolved murder of an Aboriginal teen from years prior continues to haunt everyone, especially after a lawyer from out of town, Anousha (Salme Garensar), arrives to begin picking at the cultural/racial scabs that some thought had long healed.
Meanwhile, the rich family that owns a seemingly depleted area gold mine is trying to woo Chinese investment in order to use new technology to reach hard-to-extract ore.
They say that the resulting financial benefits will help everyone in the region, white and Black, though the constant tremors are reminders that there might be unintended environmental repercussions.
Unfortunately, unmotivated senior police officer Peter Lovric (Steve Bisley), burntout cop Max Armine (Hayley McElhinney) and rookie Cindy (Grace Chow) aren’t up to the task of piecing any of this together. That’s the world that Jay, who has been away in “the big city” for several years, is stepping into.
It’s in “Origin” that Jay also meets Mary (Tuuli Narkle), the woman who would become his wife and the source of much of the friction in his life in later years. Here, she’s a nurse dealing with an ailing mother (Lisa Flanagan) and a trouble-prone brother (Jayden Popik), while Jay, too, has family members — a drunken, former rodeo-riding father (Kelton Pell) and a deadbeat brother (Clarence Ryan) — who cause him grief.
Unfortunately, not all of the strands of storylines are fully fleshed out. A budding romance between Chow and bartender Sissie (Leonie Whyman), in a place and time where same-sex relationships would seem to be frowned upon, perhaps deserves a series of its own.
Still, all of these stories — set in the crosscurrent of race, class and cultural memory — merge and intersect in fascinating ways that take their sweet time playing out over the course of six episodes. They also set the tone for what Jay will become in later years.
It makes for another engrossing chapter in this saga of Outback-noir that has been of a consistently high quality and hasn’t disappointed in its near-decade of existence. Marvel should be so lucky.
This origin story of Aboriginal detective Jay Swan is a slow but rewarding Australian crime-thriller