You rarely see a version of Australia that is not basking in the sunshine. So if it's dark and cold Oz you're after, then look no further than The Gloaming.
A thriller with a supernatural twist, The Gloaming is set in a small town in Tasmania. Our first introduction is from twenty years earlier when two teens go walking through the woods to find an abandoned house.
House found, things go very wrong when one of them, Jenny McGinty, is shot and killed.
Fast forward to the here and now, and her murder is still unsolved.
What Is The Gloaming About?
A woman is found brutally murdered at the foot of a waterfall and in her hand is the old school ID for Jenny McGinty.
Needing more officers on the investigation, Inspector Lewis Grimshaw asks for assistance from Detective Alex O'Connell (Ewen Leslie).
O'Connell is a native of the town but hasn't been back in years. It's then that we find out he is the other teenager who was with Jenny when she was murdered.
Putting that to the side, he partners with detective Molly McGee (Emma Booth) to identify the latest victim.
Things take a turn when they discover she was living under a different name and they have no idea who she was.
On a different tangent, members of the local church all appear to be hiding something. Descended from convicts, they practise an archaic of religion dating back hundreds of years.
In fact, they believe their ancestors were witches and believe that the mark of the witch can protect them. The fact that one of them happens to be Jenny's mother just adds to the intrigue.
Throw in a dubious business deal, evidence linking the suicide of a young girl to the murder, the discovery of missing teenagers and Alex O'Connell's inability to remember how Jenny's death happened and you have a big murder mystery on your hands.
The Gloaming Official Trailer
Is The Gloaming Worth Watching?
Normally I'm a fan of the darker murder mysteries, and so The Gloaming definitely piqued my interest.
However, the show is incredibly confusing. The series jumps from the modern day to the origin of various occult practices hundreds of years earlier.
With little or no explanation, there is a huge emphasis on an upcoming Mid Winter Festival, a strange night that appears to be significant in that it offers a window to bring the dead back to life?!?
That then ties into a suicide and a young man who keeps seeing dead teenagers who appear as dark shadows. And all of it comes back to the murder of Jenny.
Throw in Molly's infuriatingly stupid teenage daughter Lily and her inability to make even one sensible decision, and you have a lot of head-scratching as to what direction this show is going in.
If you can keep track of all the players and figure out who is who when true identities are revealed, then you might enjoy the show.
If however, you need a notepad to work out who is related to who and how they fit into the story then you might not like it as much.
Overall The Gloaming should have been a decent murder mystery. It has all the ingredients to keep you hooked.
But when the vast majority of the plot hangs on two people having the same blood disorder and people seeing visions of ghosts, then it becomes a little too far-fetched to take seriously.
Where To Watch The Gloaming
The Gloaming was created by Victoria Madden in partnership with Disney, the distributor outside of Australia.
So you can watch the first season on Disney+ if you have a subscription.
Is There A Season 2 of The Gloaming?
In May 2020 it was announced that the second season of The Gloaming was in the works.
That also happens to be the only thing ever confirmed. When asked on Instagram about season 2, the answer was ‘We're hoping to – one day'.
The last time the official page was updated was nearly a year ago so on that basis I would say that currently The Gloaming season 2 will not be hitting our screens any time soon.
The Gloaming Cast
Emma Booth as Molly McGee, an unorthodox and troubled policewoman
Ewen Leslie (Sisters) as Alex O'Connell
Finn Ireland as Young Alex
Aaron Pedersen as Inspector Lewis Grimshaw
Anthony Phelan as William Fian
Nicole Chamoun as Jacinta Clunes
Ditch Davey as Toby Broomhall
Max Brown as Oscar Wolfe
Josephine Blazier as Lily Broomhall
Matthew Testro as Freddie Hopkins
Markella Kavenagh as Daisy Hart
Zenia Starr as Freya Harris
Rena Owen as Grace Cochran
Martin Henderson (Virgin River and X) as Gareth McAvaney a local businessman who is funding a councillor's election campaign to get land rezoned.
The Gloaming Season 1 Episode Titles
- The Dying of the Light
- Hell's Black Grammar
- The Casting of the Bones
- Black Winged Angels
- Beyond the Veil
- Heathen Dogs
- The Mark of the Witch
- The Night of the Mothers
