Small town murders, always charming. In the middle of 2023, English dramas are still tired, and there are very few bright new works. The Australian drama "Deadloch" (Deadloch) produced by Amazon Prime received a high score of 9.0 on Douban and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not too high a rating.

"The Town of Derlock" Poster

The story is commonplace: in the lakeside town of Dallock, Tasmania, Australia, a serial killer who specializes in killing men was discovered. The impact of the serial killings was staggering: the men of the town fled, and the women were caught as murderers. In this small town, male misogyny and homophobia converge into a vortex. The old and new forces are wrestling with each other, but they are violently attacked by serial killers.

The two creators, Kate McCartney and Kate McLennon, are both female comedians. In this play, they give full play to their strengths and make everything complain. Although under the cloak of a suspense film "Dyloch Town", the political color is quite strong, but it is not annoying. The two Kates were impartial when they wrote, not only hating certain traditional masculine qualities, but also scoffing at the creed that was regarded as the standard by the white leftists. It's really hard to say who is more annoying on the two sides of the scales that are incompatible with each other.

Stills of "The Town of Derlock"

The town of Derlock at the beginning is already a full-fledged rainbow town. The winter carnival, which attracts tourists, is in its third edition. The patron of the carnival is a woman, the senior sheriff is a woman, the new mayor is a woman doctor, and the celebrity chef who just returned home from Sydney is also a woman.

Dallock used to be a traditional male society with sawmills as its pillar industry, and respected "manliness". After the death of the sawmill owner and the old mayor, the widow closed the factory and used the money to fund the carnival and help women find employment. Derlock quickly reinvented himself and the men's territory is now reduced to football clubs and pubs. Despite their grievances, they had no choice but to adapt to the status quo until they were hunted down by murderers.

On the other hand, the brand-new town attracts migratory tourists and new immigrants. They settle down here and pursue "work-life balance". Forensic doctors never work overtime on weekends, even if someone has just died. The new immigrants build transparent houses in the forest, aiming at the double health of body and mind. Equality, tolerance, environmental protection, and art are now the main spectrum of Dallock, and it is striving to become a hippie paradise in the new era. The ex-lawyer and veterinarian from Sydney are very enthusiastic about life here. She famously said: "I'm going to die here and I can't imagine living in an environment without a 50-year-old composting system."

Stills of "The Town of Derlock"

The two Kates gave the most enjoyable irony to these new age hippies. Because they are kidnapped by ideals and beliefs, common sense and common sense are obliterated and they don't know it. Also domineering, simply domineering. They focus (only) on their emotions and their bodies, insensible to the constant death in the town, the parties and the revelry.

Psychiatrists are like witch doctors. They only focus on the words "honesty and communication". They don't understand the police's code of confidentiality, and they can't detect other people's sorrows. They lose their professionalism of insight into people's hearts. Under the guidance of a psychiatrist, a normal person opens and closes "my emotions", as if emotions are the most precious treasure in the world, which needs to be held in the palm of the hand at all times, and forcibly shown to others regardless of the occasion, which is no different from exhibitionism.

The murderer kills one after another, and joins in with the town's carnival. No matter how dire the situation, the mayor was reluctant to call off the festival. For these people, Carnival seemed like a justification for its own existence. But what is the content of the program? Meditation in the forest, dog parade, immersive art exhibition, female chorus, water cinema... The contents of the program booklet are shining, promising tourists an expensive and fulfilling vacation aimed at relaxing physically and mentally.

The festive scene passing by to solve the case is ridiculous. A performance art in the wilderness, the white-haired woman sat still, and the standing participants could not move either. It is said that this is an experiment on patience. The participants gave up one by one, leaving only the veterinarian alone until dusk. Tiredness finally made her always confident face no longer excited. At that moment, did she feel shaken in her heart? Is the beautiful new life she "created" just golden and jade? A brilliant program wrapped in an extremely boring core.

The most exciting show, unfortunately, is the "masterpiece" of serial killers. The killer devoted his time and energy to bringing visual spectacle to the town one after another. Waxed corpses in the lake; corpses of the same type as the robbers who were crucified with Jesus; beside the sofa in the water theater, dead people quietly surfaced.

Stills of "The Town of Derlock"

Screenwriters must be annoyed by today's trend of political correctness. For the chubby and cute gay policeman, they added lines like this: "Gender doesn't exist, it's just the result of acquired training." The catchphrase-style quotations came out as soon as they opened their mouths, confusing the clever mind of this master of oceanography up.

The problem with small-town new hippies is that they approach the complex world with a set of simplified dogmas that they unthinkingly adopt. And when things don't go their way (like a serial killer at a carnival), there's nothing they can do but turn a deaf ear and pretend nothing happened.

Fortunately, not everyone is an ostrich. The three female police officers who solve the case have different identity labels, and their identities are intertwined: lesbian, heterosexual; heterosexual with traditional femininity, and heterosexual with sloppy and arrogant. Identity labels do not prevent them from recognizing the reality, and they always have a clear goal: to catch the murderer. It doesn't matter if the female identities of the trio who solve the crime are replaced, whether they are male or female does not affect their charm as a person.

On them, labels are of little importance. Common sense, intelligence, and courage are far more important qualities than labels and categories. They don't know each other, and they help each other grow up while solving the case. Their existence further brought out the absurd status quo of Derlock. The newly born town was forced to take off its bright coat, revealing its inner contradictions.

As for the murder case, it is inconvenient to spoil it, but the quality is above the standard anyway. Both the gloomy scenery of the town and the structure of the case can be compared to British crime dramas such as "Broadchurch", "Top of the Lake" and "The Bridge". The special feature of "Derlock" is that it uses eight episodes of talk show-like hooks to film the ideological changes in a piece of land.

On the surface, the town is making progress and the transformation is successful. The situation of gays and ethnic minorities has been greatly improved, toxic masculinity has been suppressed, and the goddess of culture and art has come. The murderer made a move, the man ran away, and the woman was caught, only to find that the harmony on the surface was a mess.

Stills of "The Town of Derlock"

The old ones have never been willing to fail, but they have long since lost their courage. A group of young and old men picked up gardening tools and claimed to form a self-defense force to protect each other's lives, and boarded the fleeing bus in a blink of an eye. The new ones are not much better. They soak in the fresh and friendly air all day long, always greet others with smiles, and extend their hands to help others. The intentions are good, but this time of caring about vegetables, poppies, and compost somehow makes people incredibly selfish. They care wholeheartedly for their own well-being, and prevaricate others with phony words.

It can be predicted that after the calm, they will laugh and recall this adventurous time at the dinner party and hug each other. But that doesn't change anything. To truly creative people, hippie stereotypes are still boring. The small town of Derlock will probably continue to do so. The "conservatives" completely flamed out after this battle. Their leader had his tongue cut off, and he could only order a glass of beer and sit silently on the edge of the court.

The murderer was brought to justice, and Ta's closing line was very wonderful, summarizing the faults of many characters in the play-like to stand on the high point of morality and speak righteously, like an idiot.

What happened in the small town of Dallock is not a revolution of political correctness, but a change of customs. Murder is done to help the new mediocrity replace the old mediocrity. And life is inherently mediocre. The good thing about this show that upholds a neutral stance is that it is not blindly optimistic, not sure, and it is not like "Barbie" force-feeding. It just honestly creates the characters, describes the detailed and believable situation under their identity labels, and ridicules and solves the case by the way. The perception is what makes it so refreshing.