Drought and flood, we are told, are the only two seasons of territory. The sunny, sandy, barren landscape looks droughty, all right, but no tumultuous waves of water ever appear on the screen. Alcohol and blood are probably the only two liquids frequently seen in this series. They bring flood - hell, even tsunami - into the characters' lives. Take Graham (Michael Dorman), for instance. Alcohol has destroyed him. His father, Colin (Robert Taylor), considers him a loser because of his alcoholism. In Dorman's hands, Graham really looks like a bum - a worthless, good-for-nothing human being. His face is almost always heavy as if he is carrying a great burden on his shoulders that has drained all his energy. Graham wants to be the ideal son, the ideal father, and the ideal husband. Unfortunately for him, he is unable to hold himself together and fails to be good at anything because he is too desperate for a pat on the back from Colin, which the old patriarch is in no mood to give to this desperate child. Dorman renders Graham so incompetent, so weak, that you understand why his wife, Emily (Anna Torv), would get seduced by her former boyfriend, Campbell (Jay Ryan). And when he calls her daughter, Susie (Philippa Northeast), and finds her all happy in the company of her uncle, Hank Hodge (Dan Wyllie), a part of him must surely be thinking that he is losing her daughter to someone he hates wholeheartedly. He must be burning from the inside.
So, on one hand, there is Graham, who just wants to please Colin. On the other hand, we have Marshall (Sam Corlett), who doesn't want to run the family business (the world's largest cattle station, Marianne Station) and doesn't want Colin's blessing, but is given both these things when he arrives for the funeral of Daniel (Jake Ryan). Daniel, before the events of this show, was running Marianne Station smoothly, but his death sends the business into chaos because Colin is picky when it comes to choosing Marianne's successor. He wants to hand it over to Marshall, who's clearly not interested in the cattle station, and he doesn't want Graham, Emily, or Susie to control the family business. This puts the Lawsons on shaky ground, leaving them open to attacks from vultures like rival cattle farmers, gangsters, and businessmen. Enter Sandra (Sara Wiseman) and her son, Lachie (Joe Klocek). She is a mining magnate who comes bearing lucrative monetary deals, while he... well, he falls in love with Susie. Will someone like Sandra give her blessing to this relationship? That's the thing about Territory. Characters end up falling for someone with whom they don't seem to have a bright future. Campbell wants Emily, but she is married, and the Lawsons see him as an enemy. Marshall develops feelings for Sharnie (Kylah Day) even when he knows she is the girlfriend of his best friend, Rich (Sam Delich), who often looks unhinged. Such obstacles don't stop the lovers from having sex, which is fine. However, the sex scenes are devoid of passion, eroticism, or intensity. When the characters kiss and make love to each other, it feels as if we are watching robots completing a specific task obediently.
Such an issue arises because the director, Greg McLean, maintains the same tone throughout the series. He sees every single moment as dramatically explosive, which is why Territory is always enjoyable and never boring. Scenes do not build. Rather, McLean takes some key moments near the explosion point and then returns them to their original state before anything can blow up loudly on the screen. Hence, even the action sequences have an "observational," documentary-like quality. You observe them like a fly on the wall - they don't get your adrenaline pumping. When Emily, while driving, catches a bull in Episode 1, the people around her praise her for this one-woman show. We, however, feel as if we have watched something ordinary and unremarkable because McLean doesn't infuse this action with excitement. Even a literal explosion toward the end of the sixth episode comes across as feeble. I am not sure if the creators are faithfully trying to imitate Yellowstone (I have not seen Yellowstone) or if they want to subvert your expectations by offering you a different experience than the one found in typical Netflix Originals. Either way, you merely end up thinking that Territory is a prestige show for people who don't watch prestige shows. The series is the cinematic equivalent of a man who behaves like his idol to attract the attention of his fans, his followers. Territory is an A+ student, or rather a student who wants an A+ on his paper - just like his favorite class topper.
I don't want to be overly critical of this show because I truly appreciate its ambition. Look what McLean achieves with the closeup of a gun in Episode 1. Susie says something along the lines of, "Let them think they are in charge." Meaning: Let men think they have all the power. They will never realize that the real boss - the real brains behind the business - is a woman. This is Territory in a nutshell. The male characters here act all haughty and mighty - they exude arrogance. They underestimate what the women around them have done or are capable of doing to them. The whole complication arises because a man upsets a woman. Also, it's Sandra, a female, who ends up being a big problem for all the characters. She is the main villain, although you can't help but chuckle while using this v-word because almost everybody in Territory is unlikable. Characters are either tolerable or intolerable. This frees us from caring about anyone. We simply sit back and have fun. But things could have been better if more care, more attention had been provided to certain aspects, such as the father-son relationship, discussions about being a Black man, and Sandra's thread. These elements are handled in a somewhat unsatisfying manner. The execution is so casual that nothing registers. Territory is not a bad show. It's very, very watchable. Nonetheless, it leaves a lot to be desired. The show has potential that the creators don't tap into with fervor. Perhaps a potential second season would come with all the necessary improvements.
Final Score- [6/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times
Note: All 6 episodes are screened for this review.
Premiere Date: Oct 24, 2024, on Netflix