TV Pick of the Week: Scrublands - review by Yvette Huddleston

It is a provocative start to a cleverly twisting plot that expertly teases out an intriguing mystery. A year after the tragedy – in which the priest also died, having provoked a local cop to shoot him – Sydney Morning Herald journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) arrives in town to write an anniversary feature. His editor has instructed him to speak to some of the locals and find out how the community of Riversend is recovering from the events of the previous year.

Most people are pretty reluctant to say much to him – and he has to navigate around allegations that the priest Byron Swift (Jay Ryan) had sexually abused one of the local boys. This is vehemently denied by bookshop owner Mandy Bond (Bella Heathcote), among others, who insist that Swift was a good man who cared about the community and did a lot of good during his time there. They say that his behaviour on that fateful day was completely out of character and they are struggling to understand why it happened.

In carefully calibrated flashbacks, which are shot in a different washed-out colour palette, we gradually learn more about Swift, the background to the killing and the motivation behind it. Of course, Scarsden is not content with writing the kind of puff piece he has been asked to do – he is a proper investigative journalist and he too has some difficulties in his past that he needs to address. Having spoken to local police officer Robbie Haus-Jones (Adam Zwar) who feels bad that he was unable to prevent the tragedy and appears to be the only person in town who isn’t hiding something, Scarsden picks up on the fact that Swift chose his victims very deliberately and ensured that others were not harmed. It was precision shooting – did he have a military background?

It is a question that leads to all sorts of fresh ones that Scarsden is determined to pursue further, while also entering into a tentative relationship with Mandy who may have been closer to Swift than she initially lets on. Totally gripping from start to finish.