Once more I’m introduced to a dynamite character in the
second half of what is hopefully a long running series. But that doesn’t mean I
was lost. Thankfully Acorn has included a short update of the first series to
let us know who is who and what has been going on. It doesn’t play into this
series in a big way but does help understand the motivations of those involved.
Guy Pearce plays the title character, a criminal lawyer who
also works part time as a debt collector and troubleshooter now living in
Fitzroy near Melbourne. His office is the back room at the local pub he hangs
out in, The Prince of Prussia. There he has friends including an old couple of
gents he refers to as “the Fitzroy Youth Club” and the club’s owner who lets
him have the office in back. Other friends include race track enthusiast and
potential criminal Harry Strang (Roy Billing) and his right hand man and
enforcer Cam Delray (Aaron Pederson), his former law partner Drew Greer (Damien
Richardson), disgruntled police officer Barry Tregear (Shane Jacobson) and
journalist and ex-lover Linda Hillier (Marta Dusseldorp).
This series opens 3 years earlier with a young Indian girl
named Lakshmi walking the streets clutching her head complaining that her head
hurts before stepping into the path of an oncoming bus. The woman is also the
girlfriend of bicycle messenger Eddie Chin who Jack often uses and who knows
what was wrong with her, setting out to prove it. This of course sets security
members in pursuit. The next day while carrying a package from Jack the young
man is caught and disappears.
Update to present time and Jack and Linda have parted ways.
She now lives in another country and is in love with someone else. Jack is
dealing with his mentor’s passing and at the funeral meets the man’s
granddaughter Gus (Tiarnie Coupland). But the ball starts rolling when a
birdwatcher finds the package Jack gave to Eddie. When he accompanies the man
to the site, they find the body of Eddie in a hole in the ground.
This is merely the beginning though and by the end just the
tip of the iceberg. It seems that Eddie and Lakshmi were students at a local
college promising them the chance of an education. In reality the college is a
front where the students are used as slave labor for the most part and learning
very little. Jack follows up a lead left to him about the location and from
there we’re dragged into a world of drug smuggling, human trafficking and
potentially illegal pharmaceutical testing by a major drug company.
Along the way we also find Harry being forced to return to
the world of racing which (apparently) he gave up in series one. He soon
becomes tangled up in a mess with some illegal shenanigans going on as an old
foe is rigging races with malicious intent.
The show is incredibly smart and the twists and turns are
many but not too complicated to follow. Each is a bread crumb that leads you on
the path of a fascinating story with interlacing characters and situations that
are amazing once discovered. At just 6 episodes slightly less than an hour each
this is the sort of thing binge watches will want to start early in the day so
they can finish by the end of the night. It is truly that interesting.
Pearce has played the cool, calm man in charge characters in
most of what I’ve seen him in but here Jack is at times clueless as to what is
transpiring but dogged enough and honest enough to want to see justice done. He
cares and that’s nice to see in a character. Pearce does an amazing job here
and deserves praise for his performance.
After finishing this one I’m now afraid I have to find the
first series and with any luck the three movies made before that took place. I
have little doubt I’ll be as entertained by those as I was by this one. My
guess is that once you start you too will be looking for more of Jack Irish.
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