Missing girls, seances and the supernatural: This Australian murder mystery has it all
Opening with a flashback to a teen seance in an abandoned shack that quickly spins out of control, this Australian mystery comes on strong. There are signs of possession, ominous nightmares and a nerve-jangling score. 'Let me out!' demands an unseen presence at the seance, and the show has the same desire. Playing Gracie Darling wants to take the small-town murder mystery, where the crime of a previous era seeps to the surface, and use the supernatural to bend the genre's conventions.
We should appreciate that seditious intent. Without it, this limited series could be overly familiar. The seance's convenor in 1997, 14-year-old Gracie Darling (Kristina Bogic), was never seen again, leaving her best friend, Joni Grey (Eloise Rothfield), traumatised. Cut to today and mother of two Joni (Morgana O'Reilly), now a child psychologist, is drawn to her coastal hometown, where Gracie's niece, Frankie, is now the face on missing posters. It is, as on so many other shows, happening again.
The show's creator, Miranda Nation, previously made the 2018 independent feature Undertow, and her work examines how female perception can be a source of strength and vulnerability. Once Joni starts making enquiries, at the request of local police officer Jay Rajeswaran (Rudi Dharmalingam), who was also present on the fateful 1997 night, her empathy and expertise encounter supernatural portents, not least recurring sightings of the secret symbol she and Gracie created as teenagers. Every flashback adds to the unease.
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Nation has her own take on the procedural. Joni and Jay are sidelined by barely seen homicide detectives, so their unofficial search unfolds in family visits and difficult reunions. Joni's understanding is stretched by the presence of her mother, the flinty Pattie (Harriet Walter), and her two daughters. Conversations between teenagers, including Jay's daughter Raffy (Saiesha Sundaralingam) and Joni's Mina (Chloe Brink), illuminate their parents. Suspects of various kinds dot the narrative, including the friction of Joni possibly being compromised in some way.
Director Jonathan Brough (Bay of Fires) accentuates all this without initially tipping over into pure horror. Only the first three of six episodes were provided for review, so it's unclear how Playing Gracie Darling resolves what is a pungent, occasionally blunt, set-up. Certainly, with its dark forest canopy and a sense that past crimes and otherworldly incursions are one and alike, the show taps into a lineage that spans Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Kettering Incident. 'Can you feel it?' are the very first words spoken, and the answer is a clear yes.
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