Dimension

were ratted out by Koen and Blair. As the CA attempt
to separate them in a basement carpark, the eldest son
Djukura retaliates, overpowering half of the force with his
superior speed and strength before being subdued with
For Australian audiences,
the context of the scene
is immediately familiar:
bigoted ranters targeting
marginalised people on
public transport.
a Taser. As if to punctuate the melee, a CA guard then
shoots the family’s youngest daughter dead. Belinda’s news
crew are recording, and footage of the event is broadcast
across the city and (uh-oh) inside the Zone.
Indigenous elder and actor Uncle Jack Charles makes
his first appearance as Jimmy in Koen’s bar, where he
bestows a warrior’s club (known as a nulla nulla or waddi)
on his nephew. Koen arrogantly dismisses the gesture
and is warned: “This is not a game. It’s time you decided
what tribe you belong to.” Later on, Uncle Jimmy is seen
inside a morgue passing life force into the frozen corpse
of an Indigenous girl.
The same night, Uncle Jimmy — now on a beach — lights
a campfire and summons something that arrives like
a meteor from the sky. It splashes into the water just
offshore; strangely satisfied, Uncle Jimmy opens his shirt
to welcome what looks like a giant beast surging through
the water towards him. Next, we hear the predatory squeal
of something large and unmistakably bitey.
Over at the city morgue, Waruu investigates the corpse
of his late uncle — whose left eye has turned white — and
immediately recognizes the work of a Namorrodor, which,
he tells his wife, “turns up when things are out of balance”.
Waruu learns who is behind the people smuggling, and
takes his henchman Harry to visit Koen at the bar. He
describes Koen as a “Judas leech-sucking vermin of halfbrother”,
right before Harry rips off Koen’s petulant
middle finger. It grows back almost immediately, and
Koen’s blood-filled left eye turns blue.
Koen demonstrates his new regenerative healing powers
to Blair and Ash by slicing his arm open with a barman’s
friend, and heads to Uncle Jimmy’s funeral to flaunt his
newfound powers to Waruu. Moments earlier, Waruu
had announced that he looked forward to inheriting
Uncle Jimmy’s abilities – which appear to have gone to
half-brother instead. Awks, but it sets up the next confrontation
between the two of them rather nicely (and
maybe attracts the Namorrodor?).
It’s a solid first episode, albeit heavy going with a lot of
ground to cover. The pacing is right, but how deeply can the
series cover some of these weighty themes in six episodes?
Also, why have the Hairies only appeared in the last six
months, after 60,000 years of existing almost unseen?
REVIEWS 45