Top 35 Shows of 2013: No 28 Top Of The Lake

Who was the man who did this to you? No one

Top Of The Lake was a haunting mini-series. It was perfectly acted and beautifully filmed but that I have trouble recommending because of the grim subject matter. At its most basic it is a mystery, who raped the young Tui and who is the father of her unborn child? But there is something much more sinister than even the rape of a young girl rather there is a darkness in the community and once Robin (played brilliantly by Elisabeth Moss) uncovers the truth well it leaves you really unsettled.

This isn’t just about the one terrible act that happened to Tui, it is about the nightmare Robin faced as a teenager, it is about the patriarchal society both Tui and Robin live in. The ending left me feeling sick because the more I thought about what has happened the more I realised just how much the town and its people had covered things up or looked the other way. More chilling than any horror series I watched this year.

There was an entire subplot involving Holly Hunter’s all female hippy commune which didn’t go far story wise but it did add in another element of what it means to be a woman in a man’s world and how for all her mysterious words of wisdom GJ the only way things can change is for someone to challenge what is happening all around them.

Favourite Episodes: Six / Seven