Top of the Lake – TV Noir, New Zealand-style

The first part of the new New Zealand-based crime drama Top of the Lake aired on BBC Two in the UK on Saturday night (13 June 2013) and comparisons to recent shows such as The Killing and The Fall are inevitable.

For a start, Top of the Lake kicks off with a crime that’s been perpetrated against a young woman (more precisely a young girl in this case) and an investigation led by a strong-willed female detective. The drama has an eerie, malicious atmosphere, not dissimilar to many of the TV noir crime dramas we've seen recently, but also reminiscent of David Lynch’s uncanny crime series from the nineties, Twin Peaks.

Like The Fall and The Killing, Top of the Lake is visually very impressive – though it does have the advantage of being shot in the New Zealand countryside. But it isn't just the landscape that looks good, the whole drama is wonderfully shot; which shouldn't be surprising as the director (and co-creator) is Jane Campion – the latest high-profile film director to find refuge in television drama.

One welcome departure is that this seems to be a show that’s truly scary without being predictably violent against women (dog lovers might want to look away though). The victim of this particular crime might be a girl of only 12 but she is clearly a survivor (well I hope she is, the trailer for next week’s episode had me worried about her prospects). Played wonderfully by newcomer Jacqueline Joe, Tui Mitcham is a victim with strength and dignity; the shot of her riding on horseback towards possible sanctuary with a rifle strapped to her back suggested vulnerability at the same time as signalling that this is a character clearly not to be messed with.

The more conventional character is Detective Robin Griffin, played by Elisabeth Moss (best know for Peggy in Mad Men). With the usual range of personal problems to contend with, specifically a mother dying of cancer and a father recently dead (drowned in the lake of the title), Griffin might need more time to convince than the more outlandish characters. But she’s off to a good start; the scene in which she tackled a colleague about drinking on duty showed her understated determination and her willingness to stand up to the macho world she’s operating in. It was also very funny.

In fact, it’s humour that really sets Top of the Lake apart from other contemporary crime dramas. As well as being disturbed by the sinister atmosphere of the show I also found myself laughing out loud repeatedly. The scenes in the women’s camp were hilarious. But what was truly wonderful about it was that the women’s stories were also clearly tragic.

In this way, Top of the Lake achieved that rare thing, something for me that is the holy grail of good writing – to be funny and tragic at the same time. If dilemma is at the heart of all drama (trust me, it is) then there’s nothing better from a dramatists point of view than a story, a scene or a moment that makes the viewer unsure whether they should be laughing or crying. It’s that uncertainty that engages us and makes us want to continue watching.

I’ll certainly be watching again next week and no doubt I’ll find myself laughing at some terrible, tragic event. I just hope it doesn't involve young Tui and that cursed lake.

The Fall – murder never looked so good

As well as gaining a lot of praise, new BBC Two crime drama The Fall has also come in for criticism over its portrayal of a Belfast serial killer and his pursuit by an enigmatic police detective.

The murder of young women at the hands of male perpetrators is nothing new in crime shows. In fact, it’s a staple of the genre, including the most critically acclaimed continental dramas of the last few years such as Spiral and The Killing (which The Fall has been compared to). So why has The Fall been criticised so much?

Is it perhaps because we see the killer at work? Does the idea that Paul Spector (played by Jamie Dornan) can have a successful career as a grief counsellor somehow go against our image of an average serial killer? Or is it because we see that he has a family life? That he takes his kids to the park and cuddles them at night? Is the problem that we see him being a loving father?

Some of the criticism of the show has been levelled at the fact that the audience actually sees Spector commit his crimes on screen. This is a departure from the way these stories are usually told, and an interesting twist that was bound to get the show more attention, but for me it isn’t the real problem with The Fall, that lies elsewhere.

There’s a lot I like about The Fall. I like the writing, I like the setting, I like the performances – Gillian Anderson is superb as DSI Stella Gibson. But my problem is this: I like how it looks.

It looks GREAT – from the handsome cast to the handsome shots of the handsome locations. But what drama doesn’t look great at the moment? Have you seen the dental care that’s clearly available in the post-apocalyptic world of Sky’s Revolution?

Maybe it’s a US influence, maybe it’s a reflection of how we want to see ourselves now, but it seems to me every TV show, and everybody in a TV show, has to look great these days. Even if you’re a serial killer, you have to be a goddamn sexy serial killer.

Now, I’m not saying that bad people have to be ugly, I’d just rather have drama reflect reality a little more. And yes, I realise that the desire for the money to be seen on screen has always been around but it seems to me with the coming of HD, that desire has become more readily realised.

Let’s face it, the reality of murder is hideous (I imagine). And the juxtaposition of the glamorous, high definition portrayal of murder on television and its hideous reality is hard to take.

So I guess that’s my problem with The Fall – it makes murder sexy. And obviously it’s not. Unless it’s on TV.