Netflix series
4 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
The further south along the east Australian coast, the darker, denser and twistier the trees and plants become. The arcing wide beaches of the Pacific shore to the north are fewer and further between, replaced by small, closeted coves. It makes an ideal location for a murder mystery that explores the people who have chosen to make their lives there, and the visitors it receives. The natural setting here suggests a labyrinth of secrets to unravel.
The latest page to screen adaptation from crime novelist Jane Harper is set on the gorgeous coast of Tasmania, from which, as we now expect in her work, the human drama she portrays draws meaning. The landscape analogy doesn’t always work. Beautiful as they were, the Otways and Dandenongs locations as clue to meaning in Force of Nature didn’t work as effectively as outback locations did in The Dry, the author’s immensely popular first book.
Landscape as character has become a clichéd term for how the Australian films set in our sprawling outdoor spaces deliver. The British outsider perspective that best-selling and award-winning author Harper brings to her Australian home may just enhance this attribute.
Like The Dry, The Survivors concerns a homecoming. It was long ago when Kieran (Charlie Vickers) moved away from Evelyn Bay, the fictional name of his hometown in Tasmania, but not quite long enough to put a safe distance between him and the tragedy that occurred at that time during a wild storm. As he and his partner Mia (Yerin Ha), also a former local, rapidly discover 15 years later.
The natural setting suggests a labyrinth of secrets to unravel
Despite the joys of having a baby daughter, the hurt, injured and confused feelings within families and the community rise to the surface as a sombre anniversary of young lives lost approaches. The deaths that Kieran seems somehow responsible for, that of his brother and family friend Toby, are to be marked with a memorial clubhouse and a game of Aussie Rules.
The two young men died when they attempted to rescue Kieran near treacherous rocks when their boat was overturned during the storm. The event coincided with the unexplained disappearance of a local 14-year-old girl. The body of Gabby (Eloise Rothfield), who is seen in flashback, was never found. The mystery has captured the investigative spirit of visitor to town, Bronte (Shannon Berry), a bold and assertive young woman. When Bronte’s body is found on the beach the police arrive to conduct an investigation that implicates several suspects.
Intensity of feeling focuses on Kieran. ‘You come back here and all this happens,’ says an old friend accusingly. Another old friend, Olivia (Jessica De Gouw) is grateful for Kieran’s support though it takes a while to understand why.
Moreover, gentle Kieran is unfairly put upon by his mum (Robyn Malcolm as feisty as ever) who claims that she is a natural mother of sons. She has punished Kieran over the loss of his brother by withdrawing her love. His father Brian (Damien Garvey), is battling Alzheimers.
Stylish and engrossing drama
While the passing of time has not brought closure it has seen a shift in community attitudes. The lively, thoughtful writing maintained across the episodes, three of which were each directed by Cherie Nowlan (working mainly in television since her terrific feature Thank God He Met Lizzie) and Ben C. Lucas, touch on many things that were acceptable once, but have in recent times become unacceptable. Were the young men on the boat who drowned ‘heroes or pedos’?
What is acceptable male behaviour attracts a laser focus, while other questions crop up as well. Like distrust of outsiders and strangers, the perils of a lack of impartiality in police investigations, and the number of unsolved disappearances of women and girls. Despite the critique of masculine attitudes and behaviour, the through-line is nonetheless relatively even-handed. The writing based on Harper’s novel is the combined work of series showrunner Tony Ayres, Belinda Chayko, Christian White, Peter Templeman and Alberto Di Troia.
We return at regular intervals to the rugged, beautiful headlands outside Evelyn Bay. Battlements of striated cliffs with deep caves that could prove deadly to explorers who don’t keep on eye on the changing tides. They also hold dark secrets that are, until the closing moments of the sixth episode of this stylish and engrossing drama, tightly held.
Published in the Canberra Times on 6 June 2025, and on Rotten Tomatoes
Image of Yerin Ha and Charlie Vickers in The Survivors courtesy Netflix