User reviews

Was looking forward to watching this series and stuck with it, but only just.

The script, and subsequently the spoken language, feels like it was written for high school students. In fact, it could easily have been developed to supplement the Australian history component of the Australian Curriculum.

Not enough mystery and not enough explanation of the Chinese culture of the time. Although it was interesting that the PC brigade hadn't put their stamp all over it with the language used to describe the different cultures in the story. Some of the Australians were far too over the top and much of the swearing felt like a 15yo was at the core of the written dialog.

Knowing the series was filmed at Sovereign Hill should have meant authenticity. Unfortunately being filmed somewhere that is basically a theme park of sorts, visited by many Australians, made the series feel like it was filmed "at Sovereign Hill", meaning it felt like it was on a film set rather than natural.

Hopefully Australian productions will continue but with a bit more thought about the intended audience.

Enjoying the show and like seeing Australian history from a non white man point of view. It's a slow burn but keeping us intrigued. Acting is good and beautiful landscape.

One of the worst Australian series, Never heard sound as bad, even in english let alone subtitles. My wife and myself lasted 2 parts. What a waste of money and time.

Those who hated this would've benefited from watching the 'Making of' 16 minute feature first. This is a revisionist Western. They liken themselves to Deadwood, but it feels more like Hell on Wheels. If you're streaming, I recommend it for all viewers. It has no plot spoilers.

This production was cognizant (aware) of avoiding the Colonist view of the Chinese experience. It has all the things I enjoy in modern Westerns: diversity, strong roles for women, and it's Australian drama. From police procedurals to historical dramas like this, I prefer the quality of Australian and New Zealand productions.

The subtitles for Cantonese are few. So far, no pertinent information is only expressed in Cantonese. If you have reading challenges, please don't let this stop you.

Pardon my crudeness, but handsome Asian men and seeing Brainwave from the Star Girl series in a featured role make this worth watching at least ep 1 to decide for yourself.

I wanted to like this and looked forward to watching it but I lasted one and a half episodes before fast-forwarding to the end of the episode and giving up. It's too slow-moving with nothing to keep you watching. Either the script or the acting is bad, or both, I couldn't put my finger on it. Very disappointing.

I'm not sure why so many of the reviews for this show are so negative. It explored a point in Australian history from some interesting perspectives, the lead actor played the part of the man caught in the middle of everything well, and it had a plot with a few twists and turns. I enjoyed it.

I was looking forward the this series but have only watched the first episode and have given up on it. Some of he acting is amaturish and the storyline is poor.

I lasted 20 minutes!

The characters were boring, the dialogue mostly subtitled, the storyline didn't reveal itself and I was completely underwhelmed and thought delete, delete, delete! It's rare for me not to stick with it but I need to be hooked and reeled in. This just left me flailing and bored!

This was not quite what I expected, I guess something more deadly serious and lecture-y, but it was actually really engaging, funny a lot of the time, but also really tense. The characters are all interesting and act in ways that surprised. Reminds me quite a bit of Deadwood in a good way, which was a mix of serious and fun. Doesn't have the same American style dialogue, but had a kind of slightly theatrical vibe like Deadwood. Also: had to LOL at bad reviews and ratings. People complaining about the "sound" (ie Chinese accents), and complaining about having to read subtitles. I think there are a lot of people who just don't like Chinese point of view and just come on to attack what it stands for.

Was to be expected I suppose with all the hype in promotions.

After recording and binge watching in one sitting.

Within minutes I was feeling disappointment, the acting was lacking and although a lot of work was done with sets. Authenticity was seriously lacking with many out of period props, not to mention the poor choice of locations with many scenes shot in area not typical of the bush in that era.

The plot and story line being a muddling of believable, unbelievable and the totally didn't happen in that era. The script was written in the same manner very lacking.

Kudos for cinematography which was of exceptional quality and shot in a manner I very much appreciate.

Over all with better casting, directing this could have been something I would recommend and wanted to watch again but not this one, 5 Stars only and and that's low for something out of Oz for me.

An intriguing story, very watchable and gripping. I liked the incorporation of Western and hardboiled crime mystery elements in a setting I'd never seen before. It's a fresh perspective and a nuanced look at a part of history that often gets brushed over. Gorgeous visuals too.

It's no wonder Australian TV struggles to find an audience. The writing is appalling - adolescent, lacking in nuance, bland & hackney. The ratings for this show on SBS were terrible - and it's no wonder. The local industry needs to foster talent not just diversity - writers with an ear for how people actually speak. Awful.

Finally a show that represents the diverse stories that make up Australian history!

Acting is superb and it's a great slow burn!

Subtitles are not an issue for me. Everyone except our First Nations people have come to Australia from somewhere else at some point.

It's more unusual to me to expect that everything be in English. And I say this as someone whose first language is English.

Australians are not only white, English speaking people. As I said earlier this definition excludes the original owners of this land, the First Nations people.

Australians come from all over the world, speak many languages and come from many cultural heritages. It's about time we start opening our minds to this reality.

There are so few diverse faces and stories on TV. Telling these stories are so important to humanise the 'other' and help people understand that their story is not the only one that exists.

A story of loyalties and lust, how both can be turned against you, and how each can betray the other. Loyalty to family, brotherhood or regime, and lust for sex, riches, or fame. The series is slow to start but the intrigue builds from one episode to the next and the final episodes are gripping. I have some misgivings about the direction of Leonie Whyman in her role as the character Hettie, a woman of indigenous heritage who speaks in truncated sentences as though she is not well-versed in the language, yet Whyman delivers Hettie's script with a well-spoken accent - the words and the accent don't match. There is also the predictable, mollifying finale.

Women did not say s h i t in 1855 and men did not say s t u f f and probably not F bombs either

Why can't anyone write an authentic script?

Happens all the time.

Apart from this quibble am liking the series, I refuse to watch anything without subs now so not a problem at all for me. Like the lead guy, he's doing a fine job.

I really enjoyed this show. It's hard to really get into it all after only 4 episodes. Wish they'd pick it back up and continue it. I enjoyed the talk review episodes as well that detailed more in depth. This honestly deserves a 10...as anything that gives perspective outside the more well know history or traditions of things. The real world and life is always much different than that of pop culture. This show could really boom if it'd of been given the chance. There so many different areas along with the main story line in this. It'd be interesting to see what they would have done had they added the German immigration as well. The "wild West" definitely needs more shows about the other immigrants and not just the English. I like how they added the Scottish, Irish, be nice to see some native Americans and their struggle between their old ways vs their new changed wild West states of being and thinking.

Good show, lots of potential...should have continued.