In Episode 5, “The Call of the Wild,” Aziz’s departure is imminent and everyone is worried about what he will report about the district’s sick sheep. When Kate invites the Iraqi scientist to lunch to set up a strategy for containing the truth, Jill’s dad and brother (who want Jill to move back to the city to work at the family business) arrive for an unexpected visit, as does the itinerant sheep drover (who wants Jill to go walkabout with him) from the first episode. The afternoon proceeds awkwardly until a feral dog pack decimates a local goat herd and the entire lunch crowd must work together to save the wounded animals.
The final episode, “The Soldier’s Choice,” finds Jill calling in some favors and breaking some rules as she tries to both treat Paringa’s sheep from the rampant disease and save Kate’s practice from a greedy blackmailer.
I’ve never thought very much of Rachel Ward as an actress, but she does well here, letting occasional glimpses of humanity shine through the cracks in her tough exterior. She also looks fantastic and rocks that Aussie shepherd’s hat. Australian Victoria Thaine gets better and better as the episodes go on, steely resolve peeking out from innocent eyes. The music is gorgeous, reminiscent of the themes from Deadwood; the blues/roots band are the Audreys from South Australia. The real star of Rain Shadow, however, is the landscape: sere, sunburned hills in every shade of red, yellow and brown, sprinkled with dry washes and thirsty trees, rolling up to pale dry skies – and in the distance, out of the rain shadow, green mountains sucking the rain from the clouds.
The DVD extras are slim: a Rachel Ward biography/filmography; a snippet about the Audreys; and a “behind the scenes featurette” that is largely scenes from various episodes and short interviews with cast and crew.
I had never heard of this series and greedily devoured the all-too-few episodes. Luckily, Rain Shadow has been picked up by Australian television for a second season so there is more drama in Paringa yet to come – maybe it will even rain. In the meantime, I highly recommend that U.S. viewers pick up the Series 1 DVDs when they are released here in the States on October 21, 2008.
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