The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie Review

Small Town Blues (and Bloody Reds)

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 13, 2017

Bodies continue to drop in Brokenwood, the idyllic New Zealand country town with the highest per capita murder rate in the civilized world. In the third outing of the Kiwi police procedural, The Brokenwood Mysteries, the challenges facing Det. Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and his loyal sidekicks, Det. Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) and Constable Sam Breen (Nic Sampson), remain as daunting as ever, with Brokenwood's populace concocting ever more convoluted schemes to kill each other. Fortunately, the town's constabulary continues to enjoy the services of Dr. Gina Kadinsky (Cristina Ionda), the mordantly supercilious Russian medical examiner from whom no forensic secret can remain hidden for long. Shepherd's Maori friend and jack-of-all-trades, Jared Morehu (Pana Hema Taylor), also remains a permanent fixture and, in Series 3, an inexhaustible source of red herrings.

One of the many canny decisions made by Brokenwood's head writer, Tim Balme, is to people the show with recurring characters, thereby reinforcing the sense of a small community where one would expect run into the same people on a regular basis. Series 3 is full of returnees. The town's slipperiest attorney from Series 2, Dennis Buchanan (Shane Cortese), represents persons of interest in several episodes. The proprietor of the local pub memorably named "Frog & Cheetah", Ray Neilson (Jason Hoyte), plays a key role in one case and hovers on the fringe of another. Local chemist Neil Bloom (Phil Peleton), who has appeared in both of the prior seasons, returns in Episode 4, "A Merry Bloody Christmas", where he continues to behave in a manner guaranteed to prompt suspicion. The local Anglican priest, Rev. Lucas Greene (Roy Ward), presides over a funeral in Episode 2, "Over Her Dead Body", that's unlike anything the town has ever seen. The hapless auto mechanic with the unfortunate nickname of "Frodo" (Karl Willetts), pops up in Episode 3, "The Killing Machine", which involves classic cars and the enthusiasts who own them. Mrs. Marlowe (Elizabeth McRae), the cheerful elderly spinster who sees deviant sexuality behind every shrub and picket fence, remains an eager onlooker, appearing in all four episodes. New to Brokenwood this year is Jared's Aunt Tina (Nicola Kawana), an intriguing presence of whom I hope we see more.

After its initial run on New Zealand's Prime network, Series 3 of Brokenwood has been brought to America by Acorn Media, first airing on Acorn TV and now joining the first two series on Blu-ray.

The following episode summaries are reproduced (with minor edits and additions) from Brokenwood's official website:

The Black Widower (disc 1) Oct. 30, 2016

The Frog & Cheetah's publican, Ray Neilson, has branched into tourism with his "Lord of the Ringz Tours" tailored to non-English speaking tourists who aren't likely to spot the "z" in "Ringz", signaling that the tour isn't about that Lord of the Rings. (All of the tour's attraction names are similarly fudged.) But when Ray's wife, Debbie, is discovered dead under a giant foam spider in a supposed film location of Mirklewood, things get "mirky"—especially when Debbie's cause of death is revealed to be from New Zealand's only native venomous spider, the Katipo. But how did one spider administer ten times the lethal dose?

Things don't look good for Ray or the nearby arachnologist, Chandra Singh. But then as Shepherd and his team investigate other local tourism operators, they find none of them are particularly sad about Debbie's demise. Her back room deals with the council have seen her competitors banned from the coveted Brokenwood forest. Was her death karma or revenge?

Over Her Dead Body (disc 1) Nov. 6, 2016

Brokenwood is in mourning as beloved local poet Declan O'Grady is being eulogized at St Judas Church after being struck down by cancer. But things go from bad to worse when his coffin accidentally falls from the hearse revealing that the corpse inside is not Declan but a young woman identifiable only by a notable scarlet tattoo.

Mike, Kristin and Breen set about unraveling a strange set of circumstances. The last to see Declan's body was the hapless funeral director, Warren Bugle, who leads them back to Wadsworth Manor, where mysterious events occurred the night before. Multiple clues lead the detectives to suspect that they've stumbled onto the live-action version of a famous murder-solving board game.

The Killing Machine (disc 2) Nov. 13, 2016

The annual Riverstone Beach Hop brings classic car enthusiasts together from far and wide to celebrate everything petrol-powered and chrome-plated. But on the morning of the event, Charlie Baxter, the Chairman of the Classic Car Restoration Society, is found dead next to his beloved El Dorado with a lungful of gasoline. Was this a petrol siphoning accident or something more deliberate? And does it have anything to do with the unidentified dead body found in Charlie's garage the day before?

The last person to see Charlie alive may have been Jared Morehu's best mate, Greg McQueen, who has just pulled into town driving a hot rod called "The Killing Machine", with Jared's ex-girlfriend riding shotgun.

A Merry Bloody Christmas (disc 2) Nov. 20, 2016

With December approaching, Brokenwood is brimming with Christmas spirit—that is, until a gruesome sight confronts Mike and his team: Santa Claus with his throat slit. Or, as Mike insists, "not Santa, but a man dressed in a Santa suit".

The man is in fact the much-loved local Mayor, Evan Whitestone, who dresses as Santa every year for the Christmas parade. But with local elections looming, attention turns to his four rivals for the mayoral chains. And why has Jared suddenly vanished, missing out on the festivities despite the labors of his Aunt Nicola to sew him the ultimate elf costume?

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Brokenwood Mysteries continues to be shot digitally by the same pair of cinematographers responsible for Series 1 and 2, Marty Smith and Rewa Harre. Acorn Media's two 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-rays for the third series are comparable to the previous discs, with a clean and noiseless image, sharp focus and plenty of fine detail. The show continues to take advantage of the verdant New Zealand countryside, especially Episode 1, "The Black Widower", which showcases the nearby forest. The visual balance of apparently pristine open spaces with the intrusions of civilization remains an essential element of Brokenwood's aesthetic.

Dr. Gina's morgue has retained the more clinical, less ghoulish lighting established in Series 2. Night scenes occur less frequently in Series 3, but when they appear, they continue to feature deep blacks. The bitrate on these four episodes clocks in slightly below the higher average established in Series 2, specifically 26.002 Mbps.

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The soundtrack for Series 3 of Brokenwood Mysteries continues the show's love affair with country music, with each episode featuring multiple credits for songs by New Zealand singer-songwriter Delaney Davidson, Canadian transplant Tami Neilson and assorted other artists. Composer Joel Haines, who scored Series 1, returns after his Series 2 absence. All of the gentle country sounds are soulfully rendered in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The remainder of the sound mix is comparable to that of the previous two series.

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes Featurette (1080p; 1.78:1; 5:28): This short promotional featurette includes interviews with Rea, Sutherland and Sampson, who reflect on their characters and the evolution of the show since Series 1.



• Interview with Writer Tim Balme (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:10): Balme discusses the appeal of the show and the challenge of creating new mysteries for the team to solve. The inspiration for "Over Her Dead Body" came to him while he was attending a funeral where the organist reminded him of Brokenwood's Mrs. Marlowe. He also reveals how the character of Breen evolved from a "one-line extra" in the pilot to a key cast member.



• Photo Gallery (1080p; various; 1:00): A slide show of behind-the-scenes photos.



• Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn TV, 800 Words and Capital, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 3 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A recurrent theme in the extras is how the lead characters have become more comfortable with each other, even as the actors portraying them have traced the same arc, so that both the Brokenwood constabulary and the Brokenwood production are able to function more cohesively. Viewer response remains strong enough that NZ on Air, the independent broadcast funding agency, has already approved a fourth series, which should air later this year. The slaughter may continue, but Shepherd et al. will remain on hand to ensure that justice prevails—with wit, country music and a glass of wine. Highly recommended.