The Straits is the Australian Sopranos

I’m torn about The Straits, hitting Hulu Plus this Saturday, December 15, from Australia’s ABC. The Straits surrounds an indigenous crime family located along the Australian side of the Torres Strait. Harry (Brian Cox) and Kitty lead the Montebello crime family. While Harry heads the family’s criminal enterprises, Kitty oversees her adopted children’s lives including Noel, the hot head; Marou, the straits bad boy gone straight; Sissi, the good girl turned bad; and Gary, the drug user.

Outside of Layer Cake and Snatch, I’m not a big fan of  mob hit shows like The Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy. When MI-5 went from a show about minimally paid British civil servants struggling to survive to a show featuring agents handling terrorist threats and undergoing torture, I stopped watching. When I felt overwhelmed by Criminal Minds‘ torture porn, I moved on. But, when Hulu noticed my obsession with international series like Spy, Party Animals and Kingdom, they let me know about The Straits.

I previewed the season finale and season premiere of the initial season’s ten episodes over the weekend, which originally ran in the Spring of 2012. I’m conflicted over The Straits because I loved the season finale but absolutely hated the season premiere. The characters displayed in the season finale are wonderfully mature. The overarching script features a contemplative tone. And the sublime natural scenery serves as a secondary background character. However, in the season premiere, three of the main characters — Sissi, Kitty and Marou — are underdeveloped, while Noel and Gary come across as entitled twats. The season premiere represents everything I hate about mob shows: useless violence over small pots of money. However, the season finale took the  genre to a different level. It focused less on petty struggles and more on family and survival. In the finale, the characters felt more connected. I actually believed all three were brothers; by contrast, in the premiere, only Brian Cox generated that family feeling.

As a result, I’m going to split my review amongst what I liked about the finale and what I disliked about the premiere.

The Good

To avoid giving anything away, I’ll skirt discussing the episode’s beauty and instead address the verdant mise-en-scene and the family’s cultural diversity which grounded the show.

The cinematographers (Pickering and Wareham), the episode’s writer (Blake Ayshford), the director (Rowan Woods), and the actors have my eternal affection for producing “Fatherhood.” I loved the wide expansive shots, the script’s melancholic darkness, and an individual character’s dangerous depression. The continuously blowing wind reflected in the trees and the hair and clothing of the characters added an eerily sublime element. The natural outdoor setting, the half shadows, the abandoned white buildings, the crumbled autumn leaves on stone steps contrasted with the verdant island trees, and the wild Torres Strait background were overwhelmingly beautiful. The mournful music, almost mimicking a whale song, complemented the oceanic background. Despite their previous struggles, the characters displayed a relaxed cadence which attracted me.

I particularly loved the community’s diversity. I have a friend who is Maori. As an American, I typically only see the stereotype of the Caucasoidal Australian cowboy in American novels and TV shows. But, I enjoyed the tangible cultural diversity displayed throughout the show. All I can say is this family is badass. If you’re going to adopt four kids, you might as well adopt three hot sons who can handle a gun.

The Bad

Unlike the finale’s originality, which pulled in native scenery as its own character and featured a controlled, sedate pacing, the premiere felt like a Sopranos or Goodfellas knock-off that borrowed from Shakesperean and biblical themes. Because the premiere was more geared towards introducing us to the children and Harry’s world, the premiere featured quick erratic, high paced shots (establishing the children’s individual personalities through visuals) followed by over-dialogued scenes (where the parents verbally detailed their children’s foibles) to fully explain each character. But, instead of entertaining, the pacing felt off. The shorter shots felt irregular and the longer, boring.

Although not fleshed out, the Shakespearean and biblical overtones actually made the show more interesting. While Harry played King Lear, telling his three wayward children to prove who can best lead his kingdom; Marou, the good boy, enacted scenes from MacBeth with his wife. On the biblical side, Kitty recreated the Esau and Jacob parable. By casting herself as the scheming mother, Rebekah, she helped Noel to cheat his father to regain his birthright.

Out of the entire hour, only Brian Cox’s portrayal felt 100% dead on. While the finale’s bloodshed didn’t bother me, it also didn’t feel senseless like the shots fired in the premiere. Overall, the premiere shows you things that the finale embodies naturally. If you love mob shows/flicks like The Sopranos, GoodFellas, or Vampire Mob, you’ll probably enjoy the premiere. But, for a non-fan of mob shows, I loved the finale because it both embraced the genre yet felt comfortable enough not to restrict itself to previous templates.

Final Thoughts

The reason I’m mixed about The Straits is because of my unabashed love for the season finale (which originally aired in March 2012 in Australia). Maybe if I hadn’t watched that first, I would not have had such high expectations for the premiere. Then again, I might not have watched past the first 15 minutes if not for the finale’s awesomeness. Overall, I can’t say enough positive things about the finale (which I accidentally watched first). Although I didn’t like the premiere, items that I enjoyed in the finale which existed in the premiere included high production values interspersed with local shots; kickass opening credits (seriously, watch them — I loved the music and the overlaid video) and minor bits of humor including building dog stairs and a son believing he can survive abroad with a Spanish CD. There are a couple moments when I flipped out of reviewer mode and felt sorry for any innocents that might mix with this family. Like any mobster family, the main characters will always survive, but will you? The Straits premieres on Hulu Plus on December 15.