WA continues to punch above its weight with one of the best local dramas of the year – or is it a comedy?
Reckless is not only one of the better SBS dramas of the year, it’s one of the best Australian dramas of the year.
Or is it a comedy thriller?
It’s certainly a live-wire story, lit from the moment brother and sister Charlie (Hunter Page-Lochard) and June (Tasma Walton) accidentally run over a white guy on a dark night in Fremantle. Talk about flipping the script.
But bad decisions follow as June desperately convinces Charlie to carry the body back to the man’s suburban home in the hope of covering up a traffic accident.
“You’re just going to be another absent black man in prison….”
The incident turns into a comedy of errors when Charlie’s wallet is found in the building, which he explains away as a friendly visit to a customer from his nostalgic record store. But then he meets Sharne (Jessica De Gouw), a grieving niece from Britain, and romance makes a complex situation much worse.
Added to this is a nosy neighbor (Tracy Mann), a crafty repairman (Clarence Ryan) who learns more than he bargained for, and Kate (Jane Harber), June’s partner who wants to start a family together.
Deception is everywhere in this four-part series based on the Scottish mystery thriller Debt by Neil Forsyth, shown on BBC First in 2020. And yet it works so well adapted into a First Nations spree by Kodie Bedford. Rooted in the port city of Fremantle, it is bold, modern, frenetic and spirited, enhanced by some great performances.
Tasma Walton has rarely been better as the success-driven lawyer whose master plan collapses before her and she struggles to salvage what little bit of success remains. Hunter Page-Lochard plays the more complex role of divorced father of a young child, as he is torn by his newfound feelings for Sharn. The brother-sister relationship is a constant tug-of-war in capable hands.
Jessica De Gouw appears again as a niece with growing suspicions about her uncle’s death… while Tracy Mann is fantastic as the sour, silent neighbor who sees everything from the front window.
Director Beck Cole keeps the “Freo-Noir” pace crackling, using split-screen when storylines overlap, and letting everyone’s schedules collide, be in danger, or preferably both at the same time.
As things progress, dark comedy mixes with a rising temperature of despair, while the unpredictability of the plot is also a huge asset.
If Reckless If you were on Netflix you’d recommend it to friends, but don’t let the fact that it’s on NITV/SBS stop you from checking it out (all 4 episodes are streaming). Like The Twelveit stands on its own merits as a top local adaptation in the West, punching above its weight in a year.
Reckless continues Wednesdays at 8.30pm on NITV/SBS and SBS on Demand.
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