The many mysteries within A Remarkable Place to Die
Plus: Martha Stewart slams her own documentary, the ballet was very good, and let's hear it for My Old Ass.
Central Otago is the star of TVNZ’s new murder-mystery drama
It’s a beautiful day in Central Otago for a car to plummet off a cliff. Somewhere deep inside Skipper’s Canyon, a car leaves the road and tumbles down the hillside, rolling and twisting and bouncing off rocks as it crashes to the valley floor below. Nearby, a plane has a much safer landing in Queenstown, as a woman wearing a wooly hat and scarf disembarks and sighs a sigh that can be heard from Glenorchy to Glendhu Bay.
It’s the opening moments of TVNZ’s new series A Remarkable Place to Die, and we’ve just met Detective Anais Mallory (Chelsie Preston-Crayford). Anais hasn’t a moment to lose on her return to her hometown of Queenstown, because the body in the car has no identification, other than a snazzy pair of red sneakers. Suicide, or murder? Either way, it’s the third recent fatality in Skippers, another “idiot gone over the edge,” as Anais’ grumpy colleague Simon Delaney (Matt Whelan) puts it. Anais’ sister Lynne (After The Party’s Tara Canton) was one of those “idiots” two years earlier, a young woman known for her careful driving but who inexplicably drove off the road.
Something is wrong in paradise, and nothing will stop Detective Mallory from finding out what it is.
In its first scenes, A Remarkable Place to Die feels a lot like fellow New Zealand cosy crime drama The Brokenwood Mysteries, from the twang of the country music theme song to the team of small-town officers who have to unravel the tangled strands of this unusual murder mystery. But where Brokenwood has a quirky, rural charm, Remarkable leans more into swanky aesthetics: it’s a ridiculously beautiful show to watch. All the murder suspects live in expensive, architecturally designed homes with lake views and huge windows, and Central Otago is a vision, all golden hills and jagged mountains and gravel roads that lead only to heartache.
Each 90 minute episode features a self-contained murder case, with the mystery around Lynne’s accident running through the four-episode series. Anais returns to a changed Queenstown: her friend and colleague Sharon (Lynette Forday) is now her boss, her best friend is now involved with Anais’ shady ex-fiance, and her relationship with her mother Veronica (Rebecca Gibney) has also fallen off a metaphorical cliff. Veronica hates it when Anais is late home for tea, and doesn’t care that her daughter is a clever detective who carries a red folder everywhere and says things like “speaking of sneakers, anything back from traffic on that moped?”
It's no wonder Anais is late for tea, given how much talking there is in this show. Chelsie Preston-Crayford is brilliant here, appearing in nearly every scene and making every line feel believable. She brings a convincing depth to Anais, who at one point has to break into fluent Spanish while interrogating a suspect in front of a pie cart about a pair of stolen shoes. Inevitably, she’s going to hook up with sensitive pathologist Ihaka (Alex Tarrant), who definitely wouldn’t get all passive aggressive if Anais was late for tea after a hard day of solving crime. “Let me hold your red folder for you,” Ihaka would probably say, “and you can tell me about your day – in Spanish, por favor”.
A Remarkable Place to Die is sleek and glossy, and clearly a vehicle to take New Zealand to the world. It’s an international co-production between Screentime NZ and Real Film Berlin, and as well as screening in New Zealand, will air across Germany and the US on ZDF and Acorn TV. The show has to appeal to a broad, global audience, which explains why it embraces an all-too-familiar storyline: troubled detective returns home, finds secrets at every turn, and by uncovering the truth, risks destroying the only family she’s ever known.
It’s also a well-made, quality drama that’s safe and easy to watch, with some unique New Zealand aspects, like the conversation between two Māori police officers about a tangi, or when Ihaka talks about caring with manaaki for a murder victim. The stunning scenery will no doubt have overseas tourists itching to jump on a plane immediately but, beyond that, it doesn't push any boundaries. It feels a lot like shows we’ve seen before, like Brokenwood or One Lane Bridge, the latter also a crime drama set in picturesque Queenstown.
But as linear TV dies away and the struggle for funding continues, perhaps we can expect to see more shows like A Remarkable Place to Die – New Zealand-made co-productions by international funders who want stories that pull in international audiences. Does this mean we’re less likely to put our more unique and unconventional stories on screen? Are we moving into an era of low-risk storytelling? And does that even matter, if Remarkable finds the same level of international success and keeps the industry working as with Brokenwood?
There’s more to unpack here than just a pair of red sneakers at the bottom of a cliff. Better get Detective Mallory on the case.
A Remarkable Place to Die streams on TVNZ+ and TVNZ1 on Sundays at 8.30pm
Why you should watch: Home Education – On the road with the Rasmussens
The fifth episode of docuseries Home Education joins the ‘road-schooling’ Rasmussens in their house bus. The seven kids learn through collaborative family based projects – here they’re learning about geography, history and politics through designing their own ancient civilisation. Their resourceful mum Bridie is kept busy meeting the needs of her children - aged from 6 weeks to 17 years. The Rasmussens’ unconventional lifestyle has them run into judgement all the time, but “we thrive on proving people wrong,” says Bridie. Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Why you should watch: Martha (Netflix)
While Martha Stewart might not have the cultural pull here that she does in the US, this new documentary has already shot into Netflix’s top 10 films in Aotearoa. Made by RJ Cutler (The War Room, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry), Martha tells Stewart’s life story in her own words. It charts the rise and fall and rise again of one of America’s most powerful businesswomen, and reveals whether Stewart’s private reality matched the picture perfect image she so carefully cultivated in public. Stewart is apparently “candid and unplugged” in the series, but the 83-year-old recently criticised the documentary, saying she “hates” the final scenes.
Why you should watch: My Old Ass (Prime Video)
Elliott (Maisy Stella) is a queer teen spending her last summer before she goes off to college hooking up with a local girl and getting as high as a kite. If you’re thinking My Old Ass sounds a bit like The Edge of Seventeen or Lady Bird, you’d be wrong; My Old Ass has a fun twist up its sleeve – time travel. On a mushroom trip with her two close friends, Elliott comes face-to-face with her not-so-happy 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). Described as “one of the best coming-of-age comedies in forever”, My Old Ass sets out to answer the question: What advice would you give to your younger self? / Thomas Giblin
More pop culture news from The Spinoff:
Political journalist Jack Tame revealed the Breakfast live cross that still haunts him in this week’s entertaining My Life in TV.
Looking for something good to watch this weekend? Don’t miss this week’s new to streaming list, which includes Netflix’s new (and way too early) Christmas film.
We put RNZ’s soothing Guy Fawkes concert on for our pets, and the results were…intriguing.
Bianca Bailey from the Wellington chamber-pop project Wiri Donna reveals her perfect weekend playlist.
Gabi Lardies dives into the bizarre case of whether Elemeno P’s first song in 13 years is really them.
It’s Travel Week on The Spinoff and there’s some cracker yarns to enjoy, like Hera Lindsay Bird’s awkward high school exchange to Germany and Alex Casey’s heartwarming account of eloping at Loch Ness.
And if you haven’t been following Joel MacManus’s intrepid journey from one end of the motu to the other using only public transport, then where the bloody hell are ya?
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Why you should watch: RNZB’s A Midsummer Night's Dream (touring nationwide)
The only thing I know about ballet is what I learned in Mrs O’Neill’s Saturday morning classes in the Edendale church hall when I was seven (ie not much), but last night I pliéd and pirouetted my way home after watching the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s joyful performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Dunedin. What a delight! We chuckled through Bottom’s donkey antics, squealed when Puck swung onto the stage like Tarzan, and I found myself so swept away in Titania and Oberon’s final dance that I had a little cry. There was non-stop energy and colour, with the stage transformed into a magical fairy wonderland and the story brought to life with quirky, colourful costumes and a heartwarming sense of fun. Am now inspired to recommence my long-abandoned dance career, or at least just buy a nice pair of tights.
Before we pop off…
“NZ’s scariest sheep is back”: Alex Casey has the huge news that a sequel to cult local comedy film Black Sheep is in the (freezing?) works.
Founder of Kiwi Christmas Books and author Sonya Wilson reveals her reading habits in this week’s Book Confessional.
Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Jacki Weaver will star in the film adaptation of Joy Cowley’s novel Holy Days, which will be filmed in Te Wai Pounamu and sees “three quirky older nuns hit the road looking for miracles but end up learning to drive like demons instead”.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
