New Zealanders consider the small coastal village of Ahipara to be quite northern, but for the rest of us, it is pretty darn south [pacific]. We would still find it quiet, even “sleepy,” which is why Tse’s outfit chose it for their drop. The four-woman crew overseen (remotely, of course) by his ruthless lieutenant Cai is supposed to sail just to the edge of NZ territorial waters and then bring a massive meth shipment ashore, where their Flame’s gang will take possession of the goods.
Unfortunately, the motor conks out on Cai’s dingy and when they try to cannibalize a part from their crummy trawler they end up with both vessels incapacitated. Jin, their captain reluctantly requests a rescue from Cai, knowing it will further indebt her to the gangster. Since Tse is getting antsy, Cai flies to New Zealand to handle the problem himself, but his two top lieutenants are turned away by immigration. He will have to mount the rescue himself, with only the help of his timid translator, Sam, and five of Flame’s most clueless meatheads.
None of them knows the first thing about boats, which they prove when they buy a barely sea-worthy rust-bucket. They also need someone with a tractor to launch it, so they are referred to Ed. At first, he and his wife Heather assume they are just a bunch of dumb city folk. Frankly, they kind of like the young kids, so they find it strange they are traveling with the bossy Mandarin-speaking Cai, who keeps beaching their boat. As the quick job turns into multi-day comedy of errors, the couple starts to suspect their customers are up to something possibly smuggling related.
There is a lot of absurdist black humor in Far North, but apparently the slapstick futility on the beach is largely based on fact (even some of the dialogue is reportedly taken verbatim form court transcripts). Flame’s lunkheads get a lot of laughs, especially Maaka Pohatu as Stevie, Albert Mateni as Gravel, and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Tall Guy. You really have to shake your head at their stupidity, but it is funny to witness.
However, as a counterpoint, the situation of the smuggling trawler grows increasingly dire as Jin’s crew runs short of food and water. Frankly, these scenes vividly illustrate the viciousness of China’s organized illicit drug trade. It is not just the users that suffer but also the people like Jin, who is essentially indentured to Tse’s company.
Temura Morrison and Robyn Malcolm are the glue that holds the madness together as the down-to-earth Ed and Heather. They are likably sarcastic, believably rumpled, and immediately easy to identify with. They also have a pleasant, lowkey chemistry together, which is perhaps a fortuitous byproduct of the thesps’ past work together.
Far North has two dramatically different tones, but White marries them together quite dexterously. This really is a crazy true crime yarn, but Morrison and Malcolm keep it all grounded. There is a lot of humor in each episode, but there is also a lot of sadness. That is a hard balance to get right, but White and his talented ensemble pull it off. Highly recommended for fans of capery Australasian TV, Far North starts streaming today (2/15) on Sundance Now.
