First off, for anyone who actually read and enjoyed these, thank you so much! And for those of you who did, I also want to apologize for this taking so long. It was a combination of a variety of things I just couldn't help and things I totally could have helped. But, either way, there's no excuse for it. So, without going on too much about it, thank you again for reading and taking this journey with me and now let's finish it!
"Episode 6"
With one hour to go in the series, "Episode 6" ends with answers finally beginning to be revealed. However, the more that is uncovered, the more disturbing things get. Robin has some of her brother's hacker friends investigate Bob Platt's (the guy that Matt and his boys murdered at the beginning of the series) computer and they end up discovering a zip file filled with something that seems horrific. Though, in typical Top of the Lake editing, we aren't shown very much, what we do get to see looks like so weird cross between a sex party and a murder scene. The photos are grainy, things just out of frame. The only thing recognizable is Mr. Platt and the stag's head that's been ever-present throughout the series. It's just like the one in Matt's dining room, and the one that was at the school dance that Robin was at before she was sexually assaulted, and it's like the one in Al's office. "They're pretty popular," says Al, "They're pretty much everywhere." True enough, Al. But what else is common around Laketop?
While we're on the subject, I've pretty much been quietly disgusted with Al since that night Robin got too drunk at his place and woke up in only Al's shirt and her panties. And the more he proclaims his innocence that night, the guiltier he seems. It also doesn't redeem him that he again brings it up out of nowhere and as the segue into asking Robin for another date. "Hey, so I didn't rape you that one night when I totally could have. Do you want to get dinner or something?" Throughout the run of the series, Al has always had this latent sociopathy that is eerily similar to Matt Mitcham. Not surprising then, that in this episode we see Al ambush Robin - taking her out on his boat only to have Matt appear from below deck like some Bond super villain. Al refuses to take Robin to shore even after she demands he do so. It's another feeble and sad attempt at reestablishing dominance and masculinity by the two characters we've seen be most emasculated up to this point. Matt has something to tell Robin and he and Al are going to make sure she hears it no matter how much she protests.
And from here we turn to one of the only two decent men in this series (excluding all minor characters only seen once or twice) - Johnno Mitcham. Though it's true that he's never concretely voiced that he had nothing to do with Robin's rape those many years ago, his actions in this episode are truly heroic. When Matt and Al have Robin trapped on Al's boat, it's Johnno who comes to her rescue. He also tries to find the man who shoots (a "warning shot") at Robin and tries to find Tui before Matt's hired hunters can find her. Not only are all of these things incredibly brave, in rescuing Robin he is also blatantly challenging Matt to his face, declaring his allegiance to Robin and against his father's tyranny. It may be a little strange or against the series' themes to have a man swoop in and save Robin, knight-in-shining-armor style. But the series has already well established their relationship as one of equals and this never feels like anything other than one person saving the person they love.
This is where things get a little strange. Because Robin's motivations in this episode are really perplexing. First, we find out she's been looking with great suspicion into Al's finances (see: expensive lake-side mansion and nice boat). But then she just completely buys his whole story about Matt having a confession to give to her, and only her, up at his compound. It's clear that Al and Matt have some kind of relationship with one another or a business arrangement at the very least. It's clear to the audience, it was clear to Bob Platt and it's clear to Robin. But she still decides to go ahead with it. There's something clearly rotten in the town of Laketop and Robin seems on the verge of cracking it. It's just seems odd to me that she'd just run into the mouth of the beast without much of a contingency plan. Perhaps it's just a product of her all-encompassing drive to find Tui and bring down Matt Mitcham.
On that note, we fill in a bit more of the puzzle this episode. Jamie didn't use that Rohypnol found on him to rape anyone (though it still pervades over things and I can't help but think back again to that night at Al's place where Robin got inexplicably drunk off not too much wine). Johnno explains the drug being in Jamie's bag away as kids experimenting in what is another instance of feminist charged dialogue seemingly only kept in because it is charged with feminism. However, as it turns out, Jamie is not the father of Tui's child. Unfortunately, we only discover this after Jamie has been chased to his death by Matt's hunters. Finally we are given a concrete answer and we can take no comfort in the resolution.
But the scene is as breathtaking as it devastating. Matt's hunters happen upon Tui and Jamie's shack and ring Tui's alarm bell. Without hesitation and with zero qualms, Tui immediately opens fire on the men, shooting dangerously close to them in an attempting to scare them away. But the kids abandon their shelter, the blue hooded figure we've come to know firing at the men while the white coat scampers up the hill. Johnno and Robin hear the gun shots and Johnno races up the hill towards them, sending Robin to follow around the river. Top of the Lake is at it's best when it's just people interacting with the awe-inspiring visuals of New Zealand. And here, as everyone is rushing to reach each other at the top of the mountain, there is a beautiful magnificence to it all. And then Tui slips and falls, first sliding down the side of the mountain and then plummeting off the ledge. The camera then cuts to Robin as she see the small figure in the white coat falling, almost in slow motion, until it comes violently to a halt in front of her. It's a moment that leaves you speechless. And when it is revealed that Jamie and Tui switched jackets so that he could lead the hunters away from her, and that he died protecting her, it becomes an incredibly touching and heartbreaking display of love.
Yet, interestingly enough, it's revealed in the final moments that Jamie wasn't even romantically interested or involved with Tui. He was gay. And while his mother calls gay "a dangerous word" around Laketop, the creators of Top of the Lake have spent the past six episodes completly altering the gender structure of this world. Like I spent most of one of these reviews talking about, most of the men in this series have been emasculated in one way or another and most of the women have taken on roles of strength and independence. Likewise, when Jamie and Tui are threatened, what happens? Jamie wants to run away while Tui wants to stay and fight. It is worth noting, however, that in a sweet, earlier scene where some of Jamie and Tui's friends come to celebrate her birthday, there are no power structures or latent violence. These kids aren't following Laketop's unwritten rules that dictate a society run on a cycle of violence. It's a small glimpse of hope in an otherwise greatly depressing episode.
"Episode 7"
For a while, that hope continues in "Episode 7." Which is saying a lot when it's revealed early on that the man (Johnno) that Robin's been sleeping with is actually her half-brother! It's not exactly surprising more than it is inevitable. As I had been speculating through the past few episodes, all the parallels between Robin and Matt that the show has been implicitly laying down and then the blatant problem Robin's mother has with her seeing Johnno Mitcham all added up to a large sign blinking "WARNING" as Robin went to see Matt at the beginning of the episode. GJ is always talking about listening to the body and how the body has "tremendous intelligence," but to be frank, the body has pretty much screwed everyone in this series. Yet before Johnno and Robin have much time to figure out how to handle this bombshell, they're racing Matt to find Tui. Matt finds Tui first, sleeping with her new born in a tent. He then proceeds to steal the baby and run off. It's not clear whether or not he's in denial that this is Tui's child ("Kids don't have kids," he states) or if just doesn't think it's physically possible for someone so young to carry a baby to term. Either way, he points the rifle he took with him at the baby and Johnno points his gun at Matt. And then Tui shoots both of them, hissing like someone who has lost complete grip with reality. But then Robin takes Tui in her arms and says everything is going to be okay. And for a moment you actually believe her and Paradise seems more than just a name.
Then we find find out, "Oh, yeah. Al, Bob Platt and their buddies are actually part of some weird drug/child-molestation ring." Of course they are. The barista youth rehabilitation program, the pizza parties, the Rohypnol, it's all so painfully obvious that Robin figures it out just by staring at the program's graduation photos like some Kiwi Sherlock Holmes. Of course she rushes over to Al's mansion. Of course he stumble out drunkenly, his shirt inside-out. Of course he harasses her and tries to kiss and fondle her. And of course she shoots him. Like the revelation that Matt is actually Robin's father, it was inevitable that something like this was going on. It's just fortunate that of the two things Robin brings with her - a pistol and a camera phone - she only has to use the latter. (You know, except on Al.) These kids only seem to have been drugged, with nothing more nefarious having taken place.
I understand why this had to happen. I get what Jane Campion and her team are doing, tying all the series' themes into this final gut-punch. Violence begets violence, and Al and his deplorable friends are passing their violence onto the next generation. Patriarchy is the ruling institution in Laketop, New Zealand. It was present at Matt's compound and it's present in the police station and in the badge Al carries. And the only way to stop this violent institution is, regrettably, with more violence. Tui shoots and kills Matt and tags and wounds Johnno. Robin has punched, slapped and stabbed men, and she shoots Al in the chest and presumably kills him. It's an incredibly harrowing and disturbing situation the women of Laketop are put in, but the bravest of them choose to fight back by any means necessary.
I'm just not sure it was done right. Yes, the ending at Al's mansion feels inevitable, sure. But the way it's done is a complete blindside. I was convinced the episode was ending with Robin looking at the photos of the children of Laketop, some she was able to help, many others she was unable to save. But the way the creators decided to usurp that moment felt less organic and more "Gotcha!! It's not over yet!" They even rack-focused in. The only thing missing was a "DUN! DUN! DUNNNNNNNN!" The skill with which the sequence at the mansion was done helped mitigate some of my apprehensions, but my original thoughts still bother me and I wonder if this was more a product of obstinate determinism to deliver the show's message and less of trying to make the best ending possible for the show.
Yet, despite all that, this final episode seems primarily interested in the running familial themes of the series - in this case, incest and surrogate families. The DNA tests come back with proof that Robin is indeed Matt's daughter. But surprise, Johnno isn't! It's a bit too convenient and lets what could have been a really interesting (however disgusting) plot and thematic development fall by the wayside. Admittedly, though, this could have been a product of having to end the series more than a story issue. Al also tells Robin and Johnno that Matt is the father of Tui's baby, but the events at the end of the episode complicate that. Plus there's the whole issue of Matt's impotency that we see earlier in the series. Most importantly, though, Johnno and Robin become like mom and dad to Tui and Tui's newborn. Just like the man who raised Robin as his own, Robin and Johnno and, to a lesser degree, Tui are choosing who their family will be. It's another small consolation in an otherwise win less circumstance.
And as we finish this tale, we go back to where it all started - Robin standing in the lake, trying to wash Al's blood off of her shirt. It's a bit of a heavy-handed metaphor (even more so with such a strong feminist bent), but it's also subtly complex. Like her assault many years before, this is another greatly traumatic moment that will color Robin's life for years to come. In a broader sense, too, things in Laketop still don't feel right. Yes, Matt's dead and Al's dead and Bob Platt's dead. But their countless friends and relatives are still alive and well and so is the corruption that is eating away at the town's most important institutions. Tui too is irrevocably damaged and despite her disdain for her father, she seems to be exhibiting both some of his characteristics and the characteristics of an adolescent when it comes to her crying infant. Hell, even GJ, the strong, almost mythic sage is getting out of dodge, "I gotta get away from all these crazy bitches."
The poison that runs through Laketop is not gone. It's in the blood. And that blood isn't so easy to wash out.
