A journalist is assigned to write about a traumatic event, speaks to wary locals, scratches away layers of obfuscation and discovers All Is Not What It Seems. Yes, we’ve been here before. Ditto for crime stories based in rural Australian locations; the bounty for this year alone includes Deadloch, Black Snow, Bay of Fires, The Clearing and Ivan Sen’s feature film Limbo.
However, Stan’s new four-part mystery series Scrublands, directed by Greg McLean and adapted from Chris Hammer’s bestselling novel of the same name, demonstrates why genre-ified tropes and formulas have evergreen appeal if staged with some vim and flair.
