Blaine: “Top of the Lake” was something I tried to watch years ago, but I had other things on my mind. During quarantine I was able to find the series on Hulu, and finally watched it. The co-creator of “Top of the Lake” is Jane Campion, the creator of the Academy Award winning film, “The Piano”. “Top of the Lake” is a crime mystery taking place in New Zealand. A 12 year old girl, Tui, is five months pregnant and the police believe it was sexual abuse that did it. But Tui isn’t saying anything about who did it. Detective Robin Griffin, played by Elizabeth Moss, will do whatever it takes to find the person responsible. Robin has a bit of trauma in her because she was raped once, during her teen years.
“Top of the Lake” I would say is a well thought out show. Crime shows always know how to lure you in with the mystery, and investigations that go on, and “Top of the Lake” has that. Of course there is more to it than just mystery. It also has interesting characters that you get to know, and you see what they are going through. I don’t want to give too much away because if you are interested in the show I don’t want to spoil anything.
The shots they did of the landscapes are cool to look at. The style of the shots are a little grayish, and moody a lot of the time, but the areas look nice, wide, clear and naturalistic. There are shots that will focus on the landscapes, like the mountains and the lake from either a high, and wide point of view. It takes a lot to get those shots. You have to hike all of that camera equipment up to the spot so that way you can see the view you need for your shot.
Elisabeth Moss said playing Robin is challenging, but that’s what she loves most about the job. Robin is completely different from Elisabeth, and as an actor you want to transform yourself into someone else. Elisabeth brings so much into Robin by making her someone who is having trouble finding peace in this world at times, but also doesn’t like to give up on things when she has a feeling that they are not completely finished. Robin is also very carrying. She obviously cares about the girl, Tui, and wants to catch the man who raped her. Robin takes her work personally. Robin also will have to play tough if she has to.
I like the relationship between Robin, and her boyfriend, Johnno, in season one. They’ve known each other since they were teenagers, and Johnno was with Robin the night she was raped. Johnno had to suffer as he was on the ground while watching Robin being taken advantage of. That memory haunts him just as much as it haunts her. But Johnno has been there for Robin ever since then to protect her in any way. Robin and Johnno are very close, and they like to play things close a lot.
“Top of the Lake” returned four years later with it’s second season, known as “China Girl". The lead character, Robin, is still in it, but has found herself in a new area, surrounded by new faces, and a new case to solve, murder. At first I didn’t think “China Girl” was as good of a season as the first season of “Top of the Lake", but things were getting interesting as I continued to watch it. And I ended up thinking it was as good as season one in the end.
In “China Girl”, you learn something new about Robin, and that is she is a mother. She got pregnant with a daughter after being raped that night. Robin wasn’t capable of raising a child, so she was adopted by foster parents. Robin’s daughter, Mary, was played by Jane Campion’s own daughter, Alice Englert. Mary is very understanding towards Robin. She understands why Robin had to let her go, and knows she has been through a lot. They both bond fast.
“Top of the Lake” also had big actresses, like Holly Hunter in season one, and Nicole Kidman in season two, but they both have small parts. They're like cameos, and Jane Campion has worked with the both of them before. Jane worked with Holly Hunter on “The Piano” and Nicole Kidman on “The Portrait of a Lady”. Not “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, the French film I keep talking about, just “Portrait of a Lady”, a film from 1996. Anyway, back to “Top of the Lake”. Holly Hunter plays a leader of women, and she's like their tribe chief. And Nicole Kidman plays the foster mother of Mary, and she’s having a hard time connecting with her. She has a hard time figuring out how to be the best mom to Mary.
In season one, Robin was working closely with her boyfriend, but that changed for “China Girl”. Jane Campion thought about Robin partnering up with a female, played by Gwendoline Christie. It was a huge honor for Gwendoline to be involved with the series because she is a great admirer of Jane Campion. Jane enjoys writing female characters who are so different from each other. Gwendoline’s character, Miranda, is someone who is trying to make good use of herself, and help in any way she can.
One of the show’s directors was Garth Davis, who later became the director of “Lion” and “Mary Magdalene”. Garth had directed four of the seven episodes of season one. Three of them, Garth co-directed with the show’s creator, Jane Campion. Garth directed one by himself. And Jane Campion directed the other three of the seven on her own.
If you’re interested in the show I would skip this paragraph because it’s a spoiler. Towards the beginning of “China Girl” it shows why Robin is no longer with her love interest, Johnno. On the day of their wedding, Johnno did a dick thing, and the relationship was over. A few of the girls from season one are in that flashback, and it’s good to see their faces. They have developed a close relationship with Robin, and seeing them together is like family. These are the type of women who stand up for each other. In “China Girl”, Robin spends some quality time with Mary's foster father, Pyke, and they get along fine. They even agree on things, and the number one thing is carrying for Mary.
“China Girl” ended in a way I wasn’t expecting. I mean some good came out of it, but one of the main characters got shot, and is in a coma. Makes you ask what her ending will be like. And also someone knocks on Robin’s door, but you don’t get to see who it is because it cuts to black. Makes me ask if there’ll be a season 3, but who knows. It must take a lot of brain power to have thought up how Robin’s story would continue, which is why I think it took four years to be a season two. That’s my guess. I mean Jane Campion was involved in writing every single episode of “Top of the Lake”. I can’t imagine how exhausted she was from thinking up this entire story.
The entire first season of “Top of the Lake” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. The Sundance Film Festival is usually a place for independent films, documentaries, and short films, not T.V. shows. But “Top of the Lake” is distributed by Sundance in the United States. It is said that “Top of the Lake” is the first series to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The whole season ran for six hours of an entire day during it’s premiere, and it only stopped twice for an intermission, and a lunch break. Season two, “China Girl”, got to premiere at another popular Film Festival, Cannes.
“Top of the Lake” is a five star series in my book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested.
