Sun 1 Nov 2020
A TV Episode Review: THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES “Blood and Water” (2014).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[13] Comments
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES “Blood and Water.†Prime, New Zealand. 28 September 2014 (Season 1, Episode 1).. Neill Rea (Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd), Fern Sutherland (Detective Kristin Sims), Pana Hema Taylor, Cristina Ionda, and a large remaining ensemble cast. Writers: Tim Balme (also creator) & Philip Dalkin. Director: Mike Smith. Currently streaming on Acorn TV via Amazon Prime Video.
When an elderly man who has been grieving the death of his wife for several years is found drowned below the bridge he came to on the same date every year, the immediate assumption is that he committed suicide. But why then, has Auckland almost immediately sent Det. Sgt. Mike Shephard (Neill Rea) to the small town of Brokenwood to investigate?
With the head of the small local police force stepping out of the picture in deference to Shepherd, it is up to Detective Kristin Sims to deal with Shepherd’s brusque and often unorthodox approach to police work, but (to no viewer’s surprise, including mine, nor should it) she gradually and begrudgingly learns that Shepherd really does know what he’s doing.
As Mike Shepherd, Neill Rea is really the star of the show, which has been on now for six seasons of four two-hour episodes each. (It comes as no surprise that at the end of the first episode Shepherd has decides to stay on, having come to appreciate the advantages of living and working in a small town filled with quirky characters.) He is overweight, scruffy, has an unspecified number of ex-wives – he admits to three, maybe four – but possesses a quick mind that is always working.
The detective work is better than average, the setting is often beautiful, but it’s the people in the stories that follow that will have me coming back often, I’m sure.
November 1st, 2020 at 10:44 pm
This show definitely has some good episodes!
It mixes mystery and comedy – always a favorite type of TV show for me.
Brokenwood is a fictitious small town on the Northern part of the North Island of New Zealand. The tales take place in Brokenwood, and in the countryside around it. Many exteriors are shot in three real small towns in the North Island, providing authenticity and good scenery.
The third member of the main police trio is D.C. Sam Breen.
He’s played by Nic Sampson, a favorite of little kids everywhere as the Yellow Power Ranger. He’s the best of the three leads IMHO, although they are all good.
Apparently this series is a big hit in France.
Years ago, saw a good 1977 New Zealand adaptation of “Colour Scheme” by Ngaio Marsh. It was shown on Canadian TV (circa 1983. Have no idea if this survives, even.
November 2nd, 2020 at 7:23 am
Mike is also a big country music fan, which plays a minor part in several early episodes (and a major part in one). One or two of his ex-wives show up too. Think of it as a Kiwi version of MIDSOMER MURDERS – the settings, the small community of suspects – but with a lot more humor and less outre murder methods. It’s also unusual in that all the major players have stayed throughout the series, unlike most British shows – Midsomer, Death in Paradise, New Tricks for three.
My favorite supporting character by far is the medical examiner, Dr. Gina Kadinsky, an eccentric and often hilarious Russian woman who likes Mike a lot. Elizabeth McCrae is Jean Marlowe, an elderly busybody/gossip type who always seems in the middle of cases, often giving helpful hints.
It’s a fun show.
November 2nd, 2020 at 7:34 am
I forgot to mention that Cristina Ionda plays the wonderfully goofy Gina, who definitely has feelings for Mike.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:25 pm
Thanks for the overall look at the series, Jeff, in terms of what’s to come, and what characters are going to stick around and have important roles. You can’t always tell for sure after watching only the first one, and right now, that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
But here’s one thing that already happened in Episode One. Mike’s already run across one of his ex-wives, a PR person from the main office in Auckland whose job it is to keep investigation under wraps as much as she can while it’s still going on.
November 2nd, 2020 at 2:07 pm
“Eccentric” is definitely the word for many of the characters – and a good thing too! The show sometimes achieves full-tilt surrealism. Prose mystery fiction from 1900-1960 was often totally surreal, something I love about it. BROKENWOOD tries hard to be surreal too.
I love town gossip Mrs. Marlowe.
One advantage BROKENWOOD has over MIDSOMER MURDERS:
BROKENWOOD is racially integrated, with people from many ethnic groups and races, whereas all the MIDSOMER I’ve seen is lily white.
November 2nd, 2020 at 2:58 pm
Mike, it’s funny you should mention that, because obviously people in England noticed that and complained. The last couple of series of Midsomers has made a point – an obvious and unsubtle one – to have one single black person in every episode, living in whichever village is featured that week. A few episodes have two or even three black people, but usually it is just one.
November 2nd, 2020 at 3:36 pm
Good!
That’s great news, Jeff. Thanks for telling us.
November 2nd, 2020 at 7:39 pm
I’ll look this up, but it occurs to me I would love to see a neat, clean, well adjusted police detective who worked well within the systerm just one more time before I die.
November 2nd, 2020 at 8:29 pm
An interesting observation, one I’ll have to think about. First reaction: both the reading and viewing public love their quirky detectives, don’t they?
November 2nd, 2020 at 9:57 pm
Remember Christopher McKee, Inspector Schimdt, Michael Lord, Lt. Valcour, Fred Fellowes, Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer, Roddy Alleyn, John Appleby, Sir John Meredith, Isnpector French, even Bony, all those nice mostly normal fairly polite supersleuths who managed to solve crime and still shave and bathe regularly while being admired by colleagues and superiors?
Columbo and the trench coat owe us. Now every brilliant sleuth seems to be channeling Joyce Porter’s Dover.
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:43 pm
Not a bad list of some very good detectives. I’m a fan of all of them. While some readers may call them “humdrum,” but I’m definitely not one of them. On the other hand, of which there is always one, I do admire quirky as well. Mike Shepherd fits well in that category. If you get the chance, knowing what to expect, give him a try.
November 3rd, 2020 at 9:40 pm
I will, and I like quirky, but if everyone is quirky then no one is quirky and quirky is just the norm.
June 15th, 2021 at 2:14 am
Having just finished watching first two seasons of Australia’s Mystery Road, was curious to view New Zealand’s Brokenwood. Appreciated strong mixture of humor and C&W music, amid character development of eccentric/quirky/ sloppy-in-appearance Shepherd, and standard trying-at-first-but-soon-appreciated relationship with cohort/co-star Sims. Wife and I enjoyed the scenery, tolerated the shop-worn story line, and appreciated the absence of violence and vulgarity. Looking forward to Series 1 second episode.