It’s clear from early in this slow-building but eventually thrilling drama that something’s a little off about the man Asher Keddie’s food writer protagonist, Birdie Bell, has started dating. David Wenham’s Joe Burt is a smooth operator and wealthy grazier who humblebrags about big business deals and life on a picturesque farm away from the city’s hustle bustle. But he’s harbouring some kind of secret; we’re told as much in the first episode when we hear him reminisce via voiceover narration that “you were on to me from the start”.
Vocalising what could have been inferred feels like the easy way out and detracts from a production – created by Anya Beyersdorf and directed by Emma Freeman, Jennifer Leacey and Taylor Ferguson – that avoids many of the easy routes.
