“The Aboriginal people of Australia are the longest surviving culture on earth with over 60,000 years of stories known as The Dreaming. The Dreaming is the spiritual realm that binds the past, present and future together. It is inhabited by incredible creatures and spirits.”
Before you go further just know that there’s some spoilers scattered about here.
As we get closer to the season finale the tension builds, secrets are brought to light, and Cleverman hits its stride. Slade has finally made a breakthrough with the serum he’s secretly derived from the Hairys and has made the decision to do another test. This one involves using it in conjunction with in vetro on his wife as he sees this as a way for them to successfully have a child. As charming as Slade has been, his motives turn quite sinister the more we see what his plans are. Add that to his secret connection with the Containment Authority along with ties to Matthews and you realize just how dangerous he is. But to put the cherry on top of the villain sundae he’s now offered Waruu a sizeable thirty million under the guise of altruism but it’s all a means to an end to get to Koen who he knows is the new Cleverman.
Koen has his hands full though due to the fact Ash has been murdered by McIntyre and now he, Blair, and Kora are on the run. So once again he seeks out Aunty Linda who further explains who exactly Kora is and that it’s up to Koen to send her back to her dimension. The only problem is he has no idea how to do that so Aunty Linda asks Waruu to help a brother out. The tension between the two is still as volatile as ever and Waruu manipulates the situation so that they seek out the Namorrodor that night. So in a scene familiar to when Uncle Jimmy called the creature the two set out to finally kill it. However they end up beating the crap out of each other when Koen realizes that this just might all be a trap.
This episode actually ends up being quite the turning point for young Koen in both his character and role as Cleverman. One event forces him to face up to his actions from the first episode and make some sort of amends. We first see a glimpse of it when he’s with Aunty Linda but the real breakdown for Koen comes later during a ceremony to save a young boy’s life. Hunter Page-Lochard brings the drama and tears as his character is brought full circle and looks to be finally accepting his role as Cleverman.
As enjoyable as Cleverman has been there was one character that just pretty much annoyed me every time he was on screen. That would be Koen’s best friend, Blair. It had nothing to do with Ryan Corr’s acting but Blair was just one of those guys that seemed way too happy and aloof to take anything seriously. Well, I take back almost everything I said about him because he definitely helped make this a great episode. From confronting Koen about sleeping with Ash to the silent frustration building underneath it was just great to see this side of Blair. Araluen (Tasma Walton) is still trap ti ped and being loaned out to Matthews for his sexual perversions but it looks as if she’s finally putting plans in motion to escape. If that happens finding her will be priority one because she’s been privy to the Minister of Immigration’s secret and illegal plans. Iain Glen’s Slade also continues to be a solid villain mainly because he feels he’s doing good in the long run. He’s trying to build a family and after the many years of disappointment and failed attempts he finally sees a way. Slade also wants to use his findings to “better” mankind and we all know the best villains see themselves as heroes in their own narrative.
So with one more episode left for this season it’ll be interesting to see how things are left when the cliffhanger hits. Good thing it was announced that we’ll be getting a second season of Cleverman!
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