Top of the Lake China Girl (2013– ) Online

After watching the first two episodes of "Top of the Lake: China Girl" I feel this mini-series suffers from auteur overload. When one person is the producer, the writer and the director, there aren't too many people around to say, "Hold it, we've got a problem here".

Jane Campion's "China Girl" is heavy going. Some reviewers feel that it has a feminist agenda, however that in itself would not be a problem for me; the thing that undermines "China Girl" is that it is tedious.

Full of depressing, brittle characters, it's a total wallow, there isn't a light touch anywhere.

"China Girl" is a drama, but it's also a cop show. However it comes up short against British series such as "Shetland", "Lewis", "Wallander" and "Vera". The main characters in those possess a quality lacking in "China Girl" - empathy. They are cops, but they have an understanding of human frailty and they identify with other people's pain. I don't get that from "China Girl".

Detective Robin Griffin, the central character played by Elizabeth Moss is a victim, her personal problems overwhelm her, she shrugs nothing off. The other characters are also dealing with issues. Her partner, Constable Miranda Hilmarson (Gwendoline Christie), the character who goes closest to saving the whole thing is also overly complicated. Nicole Kidman's neurotic Julia may have seemed like a great role, but it's acting with a Capital 'A'.

Maybe those who watched the first series will relate to it more, but the drama in "China Girl" is woven into a tight circle of implausible connections. Griffin investigates the murder of a prostitute while at the same time seeking out the daughter she allowed to be adopted at birth. Then we discover that the daughter is deeply involved with the king pimp of the brothel where the murdered girl worked. Really?

As for the men in the show, the hyper guys in the cafe talking about brothels, even Robin's police colleagues, seem fixated on sex. If they are actually supposed to represent real males, Campion should know that they would be just as interested in food.

I'm not sure how many more episodes of "China Girl" I've got in me. I may have to get a life instead.

The plot draws you in inexorably to a seedy world of prostitution, young men and their use of pornography, and manipulative behaviour by both men and women. The nastiness of the plot is counterbalanced by quite magnificent cinematography, images of the ocean, exterior and interior scenes beautifully lit, even when abhorrent situations are shown. This duality, horror depicted by beauty has a certain fascination which continues the theme of series 1. Gripping, yes; disturbing, yes; enjoyable, hum... I'm not so sure about that.

So what the hell happened here. I just watch the brilliant Top Of The Lake Season One again in preparation for this long-awaited sequel. Though now I have watched the hour episode I have to ask What The F?

Whatever Campion was on when she directed this I want some - in fact, I need some in order to enjoy it. This feels as if it's trying too much to be something... though I have no idea what that something is as you have a lot of strange going on in this episode, though it's not good. Is Campion trying to do a "Twin Peaks"?

There are dayglo dream babies... police officers who wear motorbike helmets with antennas and the like stuck on so they can pretend to be "Rocket Men". A group of men who visit and rate prostitutes then meet in a coffee shop to review their "dates" and to exchange notes. There are a lot of other things happening which just don't feel realistic or believable. The scene where Robin goes to the murder scene with the extremely tall Miranda is painfully silly. Miranda jumps off the boat ramp which leads down to the beach where the body has been found. She then turns around and holds her hands up to Robin as if she's a child who will jump into her arms, and not her senior officer. God, I just wanted Robin to turn around and walk away a few steps and then turn around and run full pelt at Miranda... then with a high-pitched, "wheee!" jump into her arms.

The best thing in this episode is the opening sequence - the dumping of the body - and then the way the body in the case is filmed up until it's pulled ashore. This is a brilliant set of sequences. More of this less of the other.

So far this is way inferior to the previous series. Even Elisabeth Moss, who plays Robin, looks a little lost and confused at times. I know how she feels.

I do hope the rest of the series gets better than this.

I found this series mesmerising. The acting of Elisabeth Moss and of Nicole Kidman was of the highest order, but actually for me Gwen Christie, playing the leads geeky side kick was a wonderful surprise. Campion takes us to the uncomfortable, there was a lot of rape intertwined in this story. It deals with the seedy side of life prostitution and surregacy for financial gain. All the characters are well developed, some intriguing some revolting. The initial early development of plot and character invested well into the overall story. There are lots of twists turns surprises and Campion creates the uncomfortable scenes extremely well. This is not a pacey action packed crime drama. There is drama and some action. It's strength is in taking you into relationships, usually dysfunctional and absorbing you into the plot and characters. I sincerely hope there is a TOTL 3 there is plenty to further develop and please let Gwen Christie be in it! She as is Moss are going to be in top demand in the very near future.

Do yourself a favor and watch season 1. It is GREAT. Now do yourself an even bigger favor and stop there. Six hours of my life I can't get back.

While the original set us up with high expectations, the problem isn't that it's different - though it did cause much of the initial appeal to completely vanish. It's just BAD.

Forced plot line. Contrived connections. Stunted characterizations of inappropriately flat characters bordering on parody mixed with beyond the scope over-the-top stock characters though impressively portrayed despite an unconvincing story and dialogue that is not even close to compelling and ranging, occasionally, from outlandish to absurd. Two of the foils (bio-mom and bf) took the most flight, but never landed.

I completely agree with a previous reviewer about the cinematic intrigue of the opening scene and the segments revolving around that particular optic... Yes to much more of that and much less of everything else.

Such a shame these important and relevant topics were handled so clumsily. A total waste of talent and time. But, seriously, watch the first season. It's absolutely everything this isn't.

Jane Campion at her best is a great writer-director, but China Girl, a collaboration, has a few stunning camera shots, but the script is not credible, the characters are consistently repulsive, and a particularly repugnant narcissistic male character, in an ending twist, is portrayed as a hero suddenly, a "saint" looking out for exploited people, hard to swallow such drivel. Many films have downright evil characters, but the actors hold your interest by applying their skills to a well written screenplay. This mini-series is a parade of hateful characters, with human wisdom of any kind barely present in 6 hours. A film can be very dark but still be gripping and hold one's interest, like Seven, by David Fincher, or Silence Of The Lambs. Campion misfired abominably with this effort in my opinion.

Jane Campion: One of our finest filmmakers, but she wears her disdain for men on her sleeve. I thought the casting of TOTL China Girl was impeccable. Nicole Kidman was captivating and perfect, as usual. Gwendolyn Christie was surprisingly surprising in her role as a timid, chain smoking pregnant rookie taken under the wing of Elizabeth Moss's Robin Griffin. But don't get me wrong, the first season was very good as well. My only beef with this show is the extremely one-sided viewpoints of men and women. Campion's obvious disdain for men is taken to the point of absurdity and downright annoyance: Every man Moss's Griffin character comes in contact with asks her to go to bed with him. It's like, "Hi, I'm Detective Griffin! Hi, I'm Detective Parker. What do you say you and I get a room. No strings attached?" It is like this with literally every single male character Griffin encounters, in both the first and second seasons. There is not even any courting, just, "Hi, I'm So and So. I really admire you and would like to get in your pants." And of course, all the women are emotional basket cases in need of psychological re-education - all because they were screwed up by those evil, nasty, sweaty, gluttonous, grunting, filthy, testosterone-poisoned men. And the women who aren't mentally screwed up by men are lesbians. Go figure. As talented as Jane Campion is, her blatant man hating and portrayals of all women, or at least a great many of them, as victims left mentally scarred forever by men is cliche and boring. I hope she takes a different approach to her characterizations of both sexes in future works, but it is unlikely, as she built her career on her feminist ideologies, as biased as they are. But as a director, I cannot discredit her talents and contributions to the art of film. TOTL is worth the watch.

"All men are rapists and dickheads" stephenwild comments and that is the only reason I wanted to write a review here. I have seen both series and found them both worth watching. I feel like I was not watching the same show as those who saw it portray ALL men as rapists and dickheads because I saw some really nice guys portrayed here. Actually, most of them were nice. A group of guys sitting around 'de 'grading women is something that takes place. It does not mean all men do. The brothel was run by BOTH genders remember! The brother, Mary's dad, the chief, the medical examiner - all good guys, one of them had actually found happiness with another good guy just like Mary's mom had with a woman. For me, the characters are flawed and realistic. In mini-series, there may not be room to go deep enough into the characters and of course, we have the Agatha-Christie-Murder-She- Wrote-effect, as I like to call it, at work here. Everyone is somehow involved in what is happening but perhaps that is why we hear about it. I like to watch things that are a little weird and not explained in detail and this show fulfils that for me.

I thought the first series of the Top of the Lake was a confused mess. I was surprised to see it return for a second series and this time they have Nicole Kidman as a guest star which is a real casting coup.

The action has moved from New Zealand where Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) uncovered a paedophile ring and shot a corrupt police officer.

Robin has come to Australia for a new start training recruits but it seems she has not got over the events of the first series nor got any counselling for it.

We see that the male recruits are sexist and juvenile leading Robin to lose her temper and overpower one of the new recruits.

The mystery which was well shot is that of a body of prostitute in a suitcase which is washed up on the beach. It is the only interesting part of the drama.

Even the appearance of Kidman as some kind of bohemian feminist lesbian is a bore.

Episode one was enough for me, after struggling through series one I will be bailing out without watching any further. Even my wife was disinterested and she liked Kidman's other series this year, Big Little Lies.

Looking back I have always found Jane Campion's work impenetrable. The only interesting thing about The Piano was the music.

What a shemozzle. Was hoping this season would be much better than last one but sadly no. So many unrealistic, ridiculous scenarios such as near the start, the giggling cops, then she is berated? Just stupid. Then the boring, bland acting of Moss and not even trying to be friendly to the tall policewoman, who finds her accommodation and offers her a cuppa, then next day points at her and yells "You, here!" Now, what is it with Jane Campian always including weird sexual stuff in all her work? I don't think I'll bother wasting my time watching another episode - It'll just drag on and on like last season. Disappointed :(

This is a little cryptic but I don't want to give anything away, just watch it.

Grim might be the most convenient word to describe this series. It is, however, anything but. Perhaps seedy would be the mood but the destination is a wider affirmation of motherhood in all forms. Motherhood also means resolution which a mini series such as Top of Lake takes full advantage of--a relief from abusive cliffhangers that make a mediocre TV show seem wonderful. The script is dense with double entendres that operate as both a source of suspense of unverified premonitions and of emotional nuance between caregivers, bodies, mothers and of course their children. Comedy also finds it's place thanks to the almost terrifying delicacy of Gwendoline Christie's performance. Visually, the series is indulgent: we see more than we want to see from hallucinations, to nightmares, to daydreams which miraculously, give nothing away. What is left is a handful of deep characters played by a group of actors that render human complication innate.

All this to say, how did we get to all these points when I thought I was watching a police procedural? Bravo!

Also what's with Elisabeth Moss and plot lines around babies?

I loved it. It's intense, recognizably human and beautifully acted and directed. Scenes such as a the deranged mother walking through traffic and Robin and Miranda taking turns to cry while the other stifles a drunken snicker and when we see Robin grin and boast she's an amazing detective to comfort Miranda will stay with me along with many others. Male characters are rarely kindly drawn, I get the sense they exist to illustrate specific points about types of toxic masculine identity and I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the shows creator has a uniform negative opinion of men, I think she's drawing our eye towards some very real stuff that happens all the time. Then again all the characters are deeply flawed, it's just the men seem to inflict their flaws on others instead of themselves. There is some tense and vivid violence, the type you feel. The plotting, I expect, will annoy some as it is more a period of time for the characters where their lives and disparate events become entangled and within this themes are explored, rather than the equally intricate but satisfyingly wrapped up linearity of season one.

After enjoying season 1 so much, my wife and I were dying to see the second series. I, or I should say my wife and I, can be brief about our conclusion. It is obvious Mrs. Campion wanted to show us the different angles to the male race. Or to put it differently, how different men react to women. We are puzzled. Sexual exploitation? Broken relationships? Surrogate mothers? Sex workers? Nerds discussing women the entire day? Male chauvinism and manipulation? It's all there and much more. But to put all this in six episodes was simply too much. Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss), a deeply complex character, is therefore at the center of all the action. As a crime/detective story this is simply one of the worst plots I have seen to date. Especially, the beach scene in episode 6. Why did she know this? Why did no one pick up the box? And why is Griffin's daughter center-stage? Why show us the Miranda character? What use does she have? And why did she also have to be pregnant? And what use does this horny detective have? The acting was excellent that kept us watching, and of course the expectation that at the end we would see IT. But No this was very disappointing.

Message to the BBC - stop wasting my money and millions of other taxpayers money on this slow, boring, long winded, out and out sexist rubbish. If it came out that Jane Campion had orchestrated the "women's revolt" within the BBC on equal pay it would come as no surprise. Top of the Lake is less of a crime drama than a vilification of, believe it or not Jane, not the average man as you seem to think. Strangely enough you do make a good go at the glorification of the feminist though. Now why is that not out and out sexist? Would a male writer have gotten away with this? Doubt it.....

Usual PC propaganda. To be expected from the BBC. But it's across all channels. In the UK at the moment all the cop dramas star women and all the men are morons. And now we have a woman Doctor in Doctor Who. This is sexist garbage that would be vilified were the genders reversed. The BBC is a left wing organisation and this sort of crap is to be expected from them, but all the other channels are following suit. Duh! Why do you think ratings are down (especially among male viewers)?

I really liked Top of the Lake, Season 1. Not a single word, dialogue, character or scene were out of place. A fascinating story and superb acting. So how out of such perfection a trashy season 2 could be born? It seems like everything in season 2 is absurdous, forced, fake and ridiculous. Acting, dialogues, characters, scenes and the story itself. Nicole Kidman was a miscast, she is too known, overexposed, to relate to her movie character; besides, her make up and acting were atrocious. Simply unbelievable.

There are many series with great pilots that descend into complete wastes of time from the second or third episode in, but to me what is worse is when a series starts and builds well succeeding in hooking you only to turn silly just before the finale. This is the case with this follow up to the original series. Characters dissolve, plot threads come to nothing and trivial messages clutter the main story line. Anyone who has not seen it would do better to look out the two series of 'Happy Valley' which successfully mixes intimate personal drama with a wider story arch. The stand out performance in 'China Girl' is that of David Dencik as the radical pimp 'Puss',convincingly sinister and hypnotically persuasive. There are no other particularly well rounded characters apart from the sullen lead Robin Griffin (Elizabeth Moss)whose history over shadows the plot. The plot itself tries to support a mishmash of messages, some trivial, others very important whilst weaving a thin thread of mystery. Many characters are unnecessary and unbelievable. What is the point of Gwendoline Christie's sketchy character as Robin's sidekick really? The reappearance of the villain from series one was unnecessary proving that not only was he a child molester but is also a nose biter!The final episode's closure of the investigation was almost laughable.Would have made a decent one off film if trimmed of cartooned male characters and baggage from previous story.

Just finished watching TOTL China Girl and I'm shocked it's rated as high as it is. My wife and I both thought it was badly written, marginally acted, and massively confusing. We watch a lot of movies and we're fully engaged when we're watching them, yet I found myself constantly rewinding because we didn't understand what was going on. All in all a pretty weak movie.

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

I loved the Piano, I really really liked Season One of Top Of the Lake. But Campion lays a giant turd here. This has something for everyone to root against: a cast of characters that are hateful, mean and shallow caricatures (the sexist male colleagues who are both mean AND stupid!, the neurotic women who can't have their own kids and are birth obsessed! an uber-bad german guy with bad teeth and greasy hair!); a turgid ooze of plot that spreads wherever it needs to go without rhyme or reason, and color palette and cinematic design that is boring and cliche. How many overhead shots of Bondi Beach does she need? I imagine there's 15 minutes of the same shot, over and over again throughout all 6 horribly long episodes.

Senseless example: Robin is in a building getting ready to give some testimony against the bad guy in season 1, her old boss, now in a wheelchair, and he somehow happens to wheel his wheelchair over across to the room where she is, a long way way from where he was and out of his sight line, where he somehow also manages to lock the door, wheel around to her, and stand up, which apparently takes a tremendous amount of effort as we watch him shaking and wobbling. Once wobbling and standing he takes out his penis, and then almost succeeds at strangling her. That makes zero sense, it's just silly and stupid.

Senseless example two: bad guy Puss beats on a woman in an airport on the jetway and no one arrests him or takes him off the plane. With all of those security cameras? Really?

Senseless example three: there is a shooting in the brothel, and a bunch of unnecessary complications involving a hidden body that just cause confusion and don't add anything to the story.

Senseless example four: why would a bad guy hide on Bondi Beach under the sand with a beer twelve pack on his head for hours? He'd bake or get heat stroke. That's a stupid hiding place.

Campion also makes it really hard to root for anyone at all. Main character Robin just doesn't feel three dimensional enough to root for, all the men are fucked up chauvinist pigs with violent tendencies who like rape jokes, Mary, Robin's daughter, is a bratty neurotic that I just kept wanting to ground or slap. The only characters who feel real, at least to me, are the Thai sex workers, who have few lines but deliver them with weary insouciance.

I kept thinking, 'but, it's Campion, maybe it will get better,' so, I watched the entire thing. But, nope. This is the worst thing I've seen in years.

I pretty much liked season 1 so couldn't wait to see what they would come up with in season 2. I was in for a surprise....horrible performance by normally good actors. Nicole Kidman was just horrific, in general all the acting was greatly exaggerated, quite painful to watch. The story itself left little surprise, there was virtually no moment I'd say "wow, I didn't expect that to happen!" The reactions of the characters within the storyline were really weird/unnatural....many things just didn't add up, made no sense, were irrelevant. (f.ex. Pyke telling Mary he is her father outside the school after which she takes off with Puss, jaysus, normal father's reaction would be "what the hell girl, what do you think you're doing" followed by breaking Puss's nose, instead Pyke is a weak link, really). Overall, a huge disappointment.

I didn't like season two at all. Not because of the acting: it's brilliant. Not because of the scenery, or the filming , or the light etc. All of these are as for the first season, very VERY. I even think, on the contrary of other comments, that the way the guys behave when rating the girls is pretty close to reality, especially in some IT environment (where I used to work for over 20 years). But certainly not true for all men. By the way, does it really have to be that all men are disgusting and irresponsible? Not just men, but institutions as well. If I understand correctly in one or two references to the previous season, we learn that the detective who was a part of the pedophile ring might not be held responsible for it because (not written SPOILER)? Why do we have to come back on something which closed the previous chapter with question marks, allowing interpretation and some hope? On such a dark way? As for the second season, her whole private life ends up being totally mixed up with the inquiry, with her past, her present, her future, and never any ray of light. She never ceases to meet up with the biggest obstacles, both personal and professional, one after the other, she is the only true heroin of the story, modest, courageous, humble, strong, silent, deep, blah, blah, blah boring, boring. Too bad that this emphasis on her didn't allow a true insight into human trafficking, and the multiple very complex layers surrounding this sordid reality.

Most everyone was shown with serious personal values' issues. Many were educated & in a position of authority which made it even worse. A lot of fixation on who is having sex w/whom; some were misguided such as authority figures w/employees; others w/someone already married. A lot of poor character values especially male views of women (even cop boss Adrian & fellow detective Stally). A lot of smoking & drinking & breakdowns over personal problems. Acting by all seemed really rote, over-staged, artificial. A lot of laughable improbabilities such as detective Robin's long estranged daughter working in the brothel under investigation. Called China Girl, but most of the brothel workers were Thai (not sure what that tells us). Done before plot of female found in suitcase floating near a beach. Who is she, who did it? Drags on as most of the time is spent on little subplot antagonisms between characters. (Note: Site is same Bondi beach as in Aussie veterinarian tele shows.)

Season 1 was dark and unusual. The cinematography on point, crisp and clear. It drew one in with it's terrible beauty. The characters well written and enigmatic.

Season 2 is completely opposite. There are so many cliches it becomes a bumbling mess. I feel like they shouldn't even have bothered.

I can hardly wait for Season 3. Yawn.. IF there is one after this.

I've seen a lot of negative reviews of this which seem to centre on the slow pace and the perceived heavy-handed moralising, as well as the slight hopelessness of the main character.

But to my eyes, this is what makes the drama so compelling. Jane Campion has crafted a really powerful thriller by letting the story unfold gradually and making her characters, particularly her female characters, three dimensional, flawed and yet still fitting familiar tropes. So instead of the hard-bitten alcoholic male detective with a history of violence and failed relationships, we have a traumatised survivor of a female detective doing a superb job in incredibly difficult circumstances, with a murky and difficult history to cope with every day. Instead of the newbie eager male protagonist, we have a tall, gorgeous, geeky, emotional wreck played by Gwedoline Christie whose position draws you into the undercurrents of the story well.

Nicole Kidman was a bit wasted here as a cipher character - the lesbian adoptive mother of one of the main characters - I have a hunch she did it as a favour to Campion rather than for the challenge of her character. Enough plot twists and tension to satisfy the detective drama geeks, and enough complex and believable characterisations to make this intensely watchable and engaging.

The themes are dark - prostitution, surrogacy, murder, rape - and it is a bit tokenistic on the Asian and male characters who are ciphers to drive the plot rather than rounded individuals. But this is still well crafted drama than more than passes the Bechtel test.

Well,Miss Campion has certainly pushed plenty of buttons with "China Girl".Mostly male ones I would suspect because as a gender they are treated rather harshly in this the second in the "Top of the lake" series. Personally as an elderly male I did not take offence as a repellent rapist cop in a wheelchair was beaten half to death by the female detective or that the young men in the Internet Café spending their time rating prostitutes on their computers were portrayed as sexist buffoons in need of serious adjustment. Nor that the appalling "Puss" was a man whose views on women a Regency Buck might have considered extreme. Men like this do exist - Miss Campion hasn't made them up. Possibly White Australian Society and it's development from the male - dominated Convict Fathers has encouraged these extreme attitudes. Perhaps Miss Campion was merely trying to "Claim back the night",as it were. I feel no more qualified than the average man to comment knowledgeably on the sensitive subject of motherhood,let alone surrogate motherhood with all its obvious mental and emotional pitfalls,and as a good proportion of this series is concerned with these two subjects which are a minefield for men to approach at their peril,I feel somewhat unqualified to comment on that aspect of "China Girl". A girl goes missing from a Sidney brothel and her remains are washed up in a suitcase on Bondi Beach.So far,so "Home and Away",as it were. Where it goes from there is dark and convoluted indeed. But brilliantly done with outstanding performances all round. It deserves to win some TV award but probably won't where ten - a - penny British detective mysteries seem to proliferate every year. Believe me,none of those mentioned elsewhere in these reviews can hold a candle to this brilliantly conceived and executed masterpiece. It's also educative:-"Reverse Cowgirl"?Who knew? If Australian men think that's all women are any good for they deserve everything Miss Campion has thrown at them.