‘Cleverman’ Recap: Fighting Fire With Fire

You know it’s a particularly outstanding week of Cleverman when even Blair has a good episode. Well, not good, per se, but if he ever has a better moment than introducing a whiskey box containing the burnt-away remains of his girlfriend with the words “This is Ash”, all will be forgiven.

The final scene of episode four left a few things unclear. It wasn’t entirely obvious what happened to Ash, for one thing; it was a little bit of a shock to see not much more than her outline on the bar floor. And McIntyre, for another, is extremely not dead. He is, in fact, walking around the CA holding a bit of gauze to his exit wound and wincing, and for a guy who apparently has terrifying extralegal powers at his disposal, he doesn’t seem that keen to have Koen and Blair dragged in to keep them out of the way. Koen, as the Cleverman, is a necessary part of whatever McIntyre and Slade are trying to achieve; but Blair, who actually pulled the trigger on McIntyre, is quite disposable, both to the CA and to the plot.

It’s also not 100 percent obvious who’s in charge out of the McIntyre, Slade and Matthews axis. Matthews is probably on the bottom rung of that particular stepladder of villainy – although hey, it wouldn’t be a story set in Sydney unless there was some shady property deal that required the removal of “undesirable” types from a desirable area. Matthews actually uses the word “cleansed”, which is, you know, a good sign. Add him to the list of people for Araluen to cattle-prod.

And McIntyre and Slade are clearly trying to create some kind of Hairy-based mega-steroid – but while McIntyre is unambiguously evil, Slade is either delusionally desperate for An Heir or a complete sociopath. Nothing like implanting your sweet, oblivious wife with highly experimental medical technology that was killing backpackers a week ago. Frances O’Connor is so adorable – has anyone ever been that excited about throwing up? – and as she doesn’t seem that worried about the fact that her embryo is growing at literally twice the normal rate, we probably should be worried for her. Accelerated pregnancy plotlines, from Twilight to Fringe, rarely manage to avoid descending into full-on body horror.

At least we know now that Koen’s not in any danger. It seemed for a moment that Djukara, having recognised him as the one who sold his family out and thus caused Jirra’s death (and guiltily stewing over Latani’s assertion last week that his own temper was the catalyst), would stop short of actually shooting our protagonist, even when a despondent Koen urged him to.

So it’s a nice “holy shit” moment when he actually does, and none of this flesh-wound equivocation: Koen’s shot right through the neck and head, and falls to the ground in fulfilment of the vision he mentioned to Waruu. Of course, he heals up again straight away – but we weren’t reminded about that power last week and we’re still not sure entirely how much damage he can take, so there’s a slightly longer moment of tension than there might have been otherwise. And there’s a nice ambiguity in the moment when Djukara sees him later, resigned in the face of his would-be killer’s shock: “I know, right?”

Fans on Twitter went nuts over that smoking ceremony scene, and it was powerfully lovely, with Mailman’s gentle soundtrack (an adaptation of the Gumbaynggirr chorus from Emma Donovan’s ‘Lullaby’) and Hunter Page-Lochard selling the hell out of Koen’s rush of guilt and anguish – but the highlight was actually the fireside fistfight between the brothers. Not only was their confrontation well overdue, but the way it devolved from an aggressive but still vaguely fraternal wrestling match into a really vicious beating was neatly chilling.

Sitting by the fire, discussing how to beat the Namorrodor (according to the stories, the beast is attracted to the smell of meat being cooked after sunset), Koen and Waruu were starting to look like they might be able to combine the former’s powers and the latter’s knowledge and commitment into a passable Cleverman – but it’s quickly obvious there’s still far too much bad blood, and there was even before Jimmy chose Koen over the elder brother.

And while this show has been beautifully shot from the beginning, last night’s was the best-looking episode yet. The fight scene is thoughtfully staged – their confrontation could have happened in Waruu’s living room or outside the Zone flats, but instead they are surrounded by sand, water and fire as they try to summon an elemental force, the city a blurred string of light in the distance. They literally fight with fire, and are soon framed in smoke.

 

It’s no coincidence that Koen is wreathed in smoke again later as he finally accepts both his guilt over Jirra’s death (and perhaps Ash’s as well) and his spiritual role – after two failed attempts at using his powers, he manages to put Jirra’s spirit to rest and help Maliyan’s son at the same time. While it doesn’t make up for his previous betrayals, the fact that his first proper actions as a willing Cleverman are about helping Hairies (which as Waruu points out, is half the point of killing the Namorrodor) suggest that Koen’s arc is starting to bend vaguely in the direction of the heroic.

And it seems Waruu’s is heading in the opposite direction. On first viewing I thought Koen’s theory that Waruu was hoping the Namorrodor would kill him was a bit of an overreaction, but the official episode synopsis confirms this interpretation. Perhaps it’s naive to think that, even after the finger-ripping and the neck-snapping, actively trying to engineer his brother’s death would have been a bridge too far for Waruu, who seems to genuinely want rights and safety for Hairies and his people at least as much as he wants to be Cleverman.

But now Nerida’s finally snapped and banished him from the family home, he’s increasingly A Man With Nothing To Lose. As we’ve observed on the national stage in recent years, the people who want to be leaders a little too much often don’t make the best decisions once they get a little power – it’s starting to look like Jimmy made the right choice after all.

So there has been fire and blood, and next week, wint- – uh, war is coming. The shot in the preview of Waruu yelling about “taking back what’s ours” while brandishing the nulla nulla may not bode well – it’s unlikely he’s just talking about real estate.

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