★★★★★ 0/5

Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities

Any fears that Nine has rushed the second series of Underbelly aren't evident in the first episodes of the prequel series.

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underbelly-taleAny fears that Nine has rushed the second series of Underbelly aren’t evident in the first episodes of the prequel series.

It’s just as strong as the first.

But that’s to be expected. Screentime and the creative team behind Underbelly have now forged quite a reputation. And they know they have a lot to live up to. The gangland drama was the hottest thing on the box last year. It would have been easy to quit while they were ahead.

All the ingredients of the first series are here, if just transported to the 1970s and New South Wales. By the first commercial break we have copped everything that made the series such hot property: language, nudity, violence and drugs. But while these garner all the media attention, and not always for the right reason, it’s the storytelling that continues to be the show’s strongest asset.

The action of the first episode centres on Griffith and a meeting between Italian drug baron Robert Trimbole (Roy Billing) and aspirant crim, the younger Terry Clark (Matthew Newton). Trimbole deals in marijuana but it is Clark who has connections to the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Asia and eyes the huge profits of hard drugs. The two forge a tenuous partnership built on brains and brawn.

But whistleblower and local businessman Donald McKay (Andrew McFarlane) is leading a charge to rid the area of its criminal element. He talks too much and too loudly for the likes of Trimbole. McKay disappears without trace as their drug importation thrives under the nose of Australian Customs.

From here the story focusses on the burgeoning organised crime industry, including corrupt NSW cops and the Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne.

In the top-heavy male world of Underbelly, there are tough-talking crims, cops and thugs everywhere. Female characters are a blessing.  Asher Keddie plays a Melbourne detective, whose daughter will grow up to become ‘Jacqui James’ (Caroline Craig), the policewoman who narrated the first series. Craig once again resumes this function here, which with a lengthy roll-call of characters, helps the viewer stay on top of the busy action.

Billing and Newton are excellent as the chief protagonists of this tale.

Charactor actor Billing is menacing yet darkly comic as a working class mafia boss of the 70’s. Newton, in a role that affords him a return to form, will impress with his confidence and versatility. Dustin Clare as thug criminal Christopher Dale Flannery has a lot more to show than the early episodes allow. Similarly, Peter O’Brien’s white-sheen George Freeman is only just warming up. Kate Ritchie will appear in the fourth hour and Sam Johnson in the third.

The recreation of the 1970s is outstanding. Production and Costume departments deserve a Logie right now (if we had them). The series spills over with wood-grain brown and gaudy, colours misappropriated onto clothing and cars. Griffith shops, farms, pubs, Sydney girly bars, cop shops and even (the now-defunct) Russell St Police Headquarters are wonderfully envisioned. Aussie rock songs from the era help transport the viewer.

This week Nine made an offer to abide by its M classification ruling for Underbelly. Only a censor will know if the repeated violence, language, nudity and drugs exceed what is allowable in an 8:30pm timeslot. One scene towards the end of the third hour is particularly violent.

If there is any criticism of this prequel it is that the forerunner has diminished, if minimally, its overall impact. We now expect Underbelly to be unforgiving in story, performances and tone. It’s all that.

Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities is a knuckle-sandwich. Hold on for another wild ride.

45_starsUnderbelly: A Tale of Two Cities premieres 8:30pm Monday on Nine.

43 Responses

  2. I personally love the second series, with the exceptionof casting Matt Newton in the prime role, if Bert wasn’t his father, he’d never have gotten an acting role anywhere. I adore Asher Keddie in her role as Liz Cruikshank, but real policewomen just ain’t that hot….

    1. Review was for the first few eps and I don’t detract from the initial review. Compared to most Aussie drama it’s still very solid. Ratings seems to reflect this. Further down the series as we are now I agree it isn’t holding up quite so well in storytelling as S1. Glorification of criminals would be a claim if characters “got away with it” but there are always lessons learned in the genre. But less “sexy” storytelling (a la Blue Murder) would have been preferable.

  5. Tale of Two Cities has been so disappointing and everyone is saying so. Diehard fans who lapped up the first season and were besides themselves waiting for the second have been perservering with the first few episodes are throwing in the towel.Will be interesting to see if this is reflected in next week’s ratings.

  7. Loved first Underbelly but series 2 is suffering due to poor casting of Newton. He just does not cut it as a baddie for a start and his love scenes are vomitous. He can;t do sexy even with a cast of gorgeous naked women writhing around him. Honestly – what self respecting kindergarten teacher would be his drug mule just because he does down on her for 5 seconds? Even Newton’s Kiwi accent is bad.

  11. I enjoyed it, I took it for what it was ‘ A Tale of Two Cities’ and viewed it with an open mind. Mind you it was a little sluggish at the start.

    I had read several caustic comments about Matthew Newton’s performance
    before I watched it, but could find little fault in his acting or NZ accent. In fact his performance was much more believable than several other older actors.
    Great to see Peter O’Brien almost unrecognisable as Freeman.

    I rate it 4.5 out of 5 for good aussie Drama.

  12. I really enjoyed the first underbelly, so I was looking forward to this one. How disappointing. Aside from it being boring (which may improve in later episodes) Matthew Newton was completely wrong, and he ruined it for me. I gave it an hour, but by then I’d had enough of him and switched over to something else.

  13. My rating maybe 2.5 out of 5.
    As expected Newton looked so far out of depth, it was embarassing.
    How he was cast as a Kiwi drug lord is staggering.
    Unfortunately like most shows hypped up by networks, it was “poor” and underwhelming.
    I sat there waiting for something to happen and it was like time stood still.
    I can remember the 70’s and 80’s and this was totally out of Fantasy island scripts.

    Blue Murder was a great show and had actors who could act.
    Underbelly 2 looked like a bad soap opera.

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