As the opening episode of Dark City The Cleaner begins, the narrator talks about New Zealand and Christchurch. Joe Middleton (Cohen Holloway) says he grew up there and calls it home. When he goes inside, he hears Angela singing in the shower. Joe sees a newspaper headline about the Christchurch carver. Four women are dead over the last two years and the police are scratching their heads. The house’s occupant is shocked to find him in her bed. She asks who he is. Joe admits the house isn’t his. Joe says he met Angela at the supermarket when she smiled at him. She was actually smiling at someone else. He’s been hooked ever since.

Joe cleans the vehicle house and leaves. He returns to his apartment where he rambles about his goldfish. Evelyn Middleton (Elizabeth Hawthorne) leaves multiple messages asking where he is. After he showers, he gets more messages from her. As he leaves, Joe admits he kills for himself. He likes women and he likes doing things to them that they won’t let him do. Joe thinks he might be doing the world a favor. In a flashback, Joe threatens to hurt Angela’s cat. He admits he hurt the cat while throwing away evidence in his mom’s garbage cans. Evelyn complains about him being late before slapping him in the face. The police investigate Angela’s murder and take pictures of the crime scene. An apple core is pulled from the victim’s throat.

DI Carl Schroder (Robbie Magasiva) is told they’ve found another victim in the car outside. Outside, Carl admits to DSS Robert Calhoun (David de Lautour) that it’s looking like the carver. The victim is Martha Harris and the car belonged to her. It appears she has been shot. Carl seems concerned that the carver has a gun now. Evelyn and Joe sit down for dinner. Later, Joe hears a news report about the carver. He steals a puzzle piece from his mother. The police believe he has killed six, but there is another victim they haven’t found yet. Evelyn asks him when he’s going to find someone and whether he’s looking for men. Joe insists he isn’t gay. The next day, Joe begins his first day without Angela.

He begins looking at other women, including one selling flowers. Joe goes to the police station and enters the cleaning supplies room. He explains he started working there when he killed a guy. He made Dan or Don disappear before applying for his job. Joe has every piece of evidence at his fingertips. He enters the room with Carl and begins talking about him. Joe thinks it’s cool seeing them piece his work together. A man, DS Brian Travers (Jordan Mooney), throws coffee at Joe before Sally Galletly (Dea Doglione) comes over to check on him. Joe explains Sally is always trying to get him into bed. He tells her that Travers was just joking. Sally tells him that it isn’t right. She gives him a sandwich and suggests having lunch together, but Joe has a date with a florist.

Joe begins watching the florist, Laura (Genevieve Kent), every day. He breaks into her home at one point. At work, he finds out that there is likely something new to report. Joe overhears them talking about a new murder. Although they’re blaming him for it, he isn’t responsible. Sally interrupts to give him another sandwich. She thinks he is upset about something. Sally gives Joe her number in case he needs to talk to someone. Joe watches as Daniela’s husband is brought into the police station for questioning. He goes into the room and looks at the newest evidence. Joe questions whether Daniela Walker was killed by her husband. Carl storms into the room so Joe has to stop looking at the files. He overhears Carl telling DSS Rebecca Kent (Hannah Marshall) that he knew the victim and her husband.

After listening to them, Joe suspects it wasn’t the husband. Rebecca and Carl talk about the apple which was untouched. They wonder if someone was trying to pin this on the carver. Carl asks Joe not to sneak up on him like that. Joe wishes his good luck. Carl insists they’ll get him, but Joe says he’s getting him first. He takes the evidence. Joe looks through the evidence photos and decides he needs to get into the house. He finds police outside the house and realizes that’s going to be difficult. At home, Joe gets another message from his mother who says she has something urgent to tell him. Once he meets her, Evelyn reveals Gregory is getting married. She tells him she was missing a piece of the jigsaw puzzle so she called the manufacturer.

She searched the garbage and found the keys he threw away. Evelyn intends to hand them over to the police. Joe claims they’re his from work and he’s been looking for them. Evelyn gives them to Joe and calls him hopeless. Joe cleans them and puts them in a plastic bag. He finds rat poison under the sink. It looks like he is using it to poison his mom’s coffee. She drinks it and tells him he makes terrible coffee. On the bus, Joe thinks about his life without his mother. He stops the bus and pays the driver 20 bucks to wait for him. Joe finds an injured cat in the roadway. He puts it in a garbage bag and takes it with him to the bus. The driver offers to take him to an all-night vet for 20 bucks.

Joe waits at the vet while the cat is treated. Later, he is told the cat is stable, but she’ll need an operation and she’ll have to stay with them for a few days. He exchanges information with the vet, Jennifer, and begins obsessing about her. Later, Joe goes to the store to buy fish and cat food. Melissa Flowers (Chelsie Preston Crayford) shows up behind him. Melissa helps him pick out cat food. Outside, Joe takes the handgun out of his briefcase before Melissa comes outside. She heard about the cat and says she is catching the bus. They wait on the bus together. Melissa learns where he works and asks about the carver investigation. She reveals she is a journalist. On the bus, they talk about serial killers.

Joe agrees to walk her home and even lets her use his coat. He tells her that he carries the gun as a precaution. They walk down a dark street together. Joe thinks this is going to be easy until Melissa grabs the gun and points it at him. She makes him open his briefcase. Then, Joe is forced to remove his pants and underwear. Melissa knows who he is and what he does. She gives him handcuffs so he can cuff himself to an old vehicle. Melissa takes his knife and climbs on top of him before cutting his chest. Joe asks what she wants. Melissa says they should find out.

 

Dark City The Cleaner Review

The opening episode of Dark City The Cleaner is an interesting take on the serial killer genre with lots of originality. The series can be compared to Dexter although there are drastic differences. The believability of Dark City doesn’t need to be questioned since it isn’t even trying to walk a straight line. Instead, it is attempting to be awkward and humorous although that only works sporadically.

The narration is a bit over-the-top and overdone. At times, Joe seemed to be rambling to himself because the narration went on a bit too long. As previously mentioned, Dark City The Cleaner is not a series to be taken seriously since it’s too far out there. The opening episode wasn’t particularly gripping so there is hope that it’ll be one of the weakest episodes of the season.

This is probably going to be a show that people will either love or hate. This was a decent episode that did enough to warrant another episode or two, but there isn’t enough here to make the show special either. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Dark City The Cleaner are available on Reel Mockery here. Learn more about advertising with us here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Discuss this show with friends at the Reel Mockery Forum.