TV Review: Crime drama The Gone 'has a Glenroe vibe about it'
L-R: Liam Carney as Joseph Martin, Michelle Fairley as Judge Hannah Martin, Richard Flood as Detective Theo Richter and Acushla-Tara Kupe as Detective Sargent Diana Huia in The Gone
has a vibe about it. And I mean that in a good way.
It’s got rural scenery, credible characters and a bit of drama, nice and cosy for a Sunday evening.
The story fits too, it’s neat and simple. A young Irish couple on a classic Irish trip around the world, Australia and New Zealand, disappear when they are in the latter.
The woman’s mother is a senior judge in Ireland who has just put away a big player on the local crime scene.
So a troubled Dublin cop with a secret is flown out to Auckland to help in the search for the missing couple. It’s a storyline you’d expect from gnarled detective cliché, McArnagle in , but you’d forgive a cliché on a Sunday evening.
This Irish cop is called Theo Richter for reasons we might never understand, and he’s paired up with a local police officer, Diana Huia, to solve the case.
If you were playing McArnagle Bingo here, you’d be taking bets as to how long before Richter gets told that he’s off the case.
There are other Whodunnit 101s here as well – a large pharmaceutical company with a maverick CEO that has brought wealth and possible toxic waste to the area, and now wants to build on sacred land.
An Irish journalist, Aileen, who looks like she had a romantic past with Richter. And there’s the shadow of an issue with Diana and her family.
In other words, there is enough here to sustain a six-parter. All of this is boilerplate missing-couple crime drama, but it’s good boilerplate, and here’s the thing about telly drama – an average idea well-executed is better than a good idea with poor execution.
All the bits work here. The plot isn’t a rush to expose itself, but it isn’t hiding for a few episodes either.
The plot components are out in the open within 40 minutes of the first episode, and it didn’t feel like I was being force-fed the pieces.
The story unfolds in the background, so you can immerse yourself in small-town New Zealand and enjoy the goings-on.
It’s got an emotional heart, thanks to the two lead actors, who are both dealing with traumas in their past.
Best of all, the dialogue works. Most of these noir drams jar because the chats look like they were lifted from a Humphrey Bogart movie circa 1949.
But here, it sounds like people talking to each other in 2023. The journalist, Aileen, is a good example of a minor character well drawn and played with purpose by Carolyn Bracken.
Sometimes you can tell a show is going to be shite within 5 minutes, with the actors visibly wincing as they wade through terrible lines.
Not here. won’t break any moulds, but who wants that on a Sunday evening?
Don’t mind the menacing music and moody landscape, this is cosy TV that will help you forget tomorrow is Monday. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
