Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Top of the Lake weekly on the BBC. Please do not add spoilers from later episodes.
Thanks to all the commenters who got involved last week. It looks as if the majority of you were also disappointed with the transition from season one. I thought this week’s was an improvement on the opener – if only because Mary stopped being the most annoying teen on TV since Homeland’s Dana.
We begin with a flashback to just four weeks earlier, and find out exactly why Robin isn’t married or in New Zealand. Johnno (who, in season one, had just finished an eight-year stretch in a Thai prison) is back to his old tricks, growing cannabis in the woods and cheating on Robin with a stoned blonde lady. Though Robin briefly attempts to continue the ceremony in the police station, it all falls apart, and there’s a beautiful scene in which her wedding dress was burned against the backdrop of mountains, which made me miss the New Zealand of the original.
Back in Sydney, Robin is satisfied that she has a murder to solve. The look on her face is a grim almost-smile, and throughout the episode, she’s keen to remind everyone that she’s all about the work. There’s a continued emphasis on the institutional sexism within the police force, from the male officers rough-housing in the background to the homicide cop’s instruction to Miranda that she “fetch his jacket” (then follows it up with “atta girl”).
Friendly and sexually fluid pathologist Ray conducts an autopsy on the body and ascertains that she was strangled, and, more shockingly, that she was 17-20 weeks pregnant, later realising that a lack of shared DNA between mother and foetus means the woman was a surrogate. We found out that Miranda, too, is pregnant, smoking, flirting with Robin’s brother, and generally bringing a little light relief to the drama. I’m enjoying Robin and Miranda’s reluctant partnership more than almost anything else here.
The cafe misogynists take a break from reviewing sex workers to let the nerdiest one know that it’s probably his beloved Cinnamon in the suitcase. The scenes in which he is taken to “the new Cinnamon” were unsettling, and the other sex workers explained that while Puss was a good teacher, he also gets angry and hurts them. Did he kill “Cinnamon” after finding out she was pregnant? It’s looking like the most obvious solution, which of course makes me think it might not be.
Much of the weight of the episode lay in Robin’s reunion with Mary, who appeared more like a teenager fronting with false confidence and defensive wit here. Their scenes were touching and seemed honest; I thought Mary’s line, “I’ll wear his genes better than he did” was genuinely moving. Perhaps there’s time for Robin to pull her back from the grasp of Puss after all.
Notes and observations
• “Oh, you slack prat!” and “Soft-cock Mitcham!” were two of the more pointed insults chucked at Johnno.
• It was nice to see Tui again, just before the wedding, looking happy.
• When Robin gestures with three fingers, does she mean three miscarriages or abortions?
• I watched the first few minutes of the opening episode again. Puss is clearly there at the table when the suitcase is in the kitchen, and he gestures to the other mystery man to remove the tag from it. The homicide cop this week says sometimes perpetrators are stupid enough to leave a tag on, though here they didn’t. It’s a neat detail.
• Does anyone not want to take Robin for dinner? Even Ray asks her if she wants a steak.
• How are we feeling about Elisabeth Moss’s accent this season?
• So Mary did know that Robin was raped, although not the full extent of the attack.
• There’s too much reliance on coincidence so far to make it convincing. Robin’s biological daughter is engaged to the man involved in the death of the victim of the crime she is investigating. What are the odds?
• Even though Julia is a therapy-speak nightmare, Nicole Kidman’s screen time is criminally brief. I hope we see more of her.
Misogyny watch
The homicide detectives will let Robin take the case “if it’s low-visibility” – and if it’s a sex worker, it’s likely to fall into that category.
The chief Red Pill cafe bro attempts to chat up the waitress, and returns only with a bowl of pickles.
Robin is clearly piecing together the giant panda and Adrian’s connection to the brothel, particularly with his casual admission to her that he used to use them.
Line of the week
“No one else will team up with you here. You’re the leftovers. So just get on with it.” Adrian, on pushing Miranda and Robin – aka the new Cagney & Lacey – together.
