As the opening episode of Far North begins, Heather (Robyn Malcolm) teaches a class at a local swimming pool. She talks to the women about their evenings while keeping them active in the pool. Gangsters on a boat throw a wrapped body into the water. A woman follows Heather out to see if everything is fine. Heather believes it is since they think it’s over. On her way home, she passes a group of men in a car. When she goes inside, Ed (Temuera Morrison) tells her the car has been sitting there for a while. Heather wonders if they’re there for them and whether Cai sent them.

Later that night, Heather wakes up Ed when the neighbor goes outside with a baseball bat to confront the men in the car. The neighbor managed to get rid of them. As the guys drive away, one of them says Cai told them they were old, small people. Ed suggests the drug lords will think twice about messing with the Far North again. Heather will drop off some smoked marlin to the neighbor to say thank you. In Auckland, a man tells his partner that they’ve got this because he has Blaze (Fay Tofilau) on it. As for Mack (John-Paul Foliaki), he will be their 2IC up there. Louie (Villa Junior Lemanu) is going to be their driver. Stevie is their fixer and Gravel (Albert Mateni) is an entrepreneur.

In Guangdong, China, a man watches the operation as well as cat videos. He has phones for different countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the US, and others. Jin (Xiao Hu) picks up a woman and promises to keep her out of trouble. When Jin checks on the baby, she is told the treatment is expensive. Before leaving, the girl tells her mother it is only for 25 days. They meet Zhang who is hanging bags loaded into the back of a van. He confirms the other boat teams have left. Jin and the others get in the back before Ling (Louise Jiang) introduces herself. Hui (Nikita Tu-Bryant) and Bi (Xana Tang) reveal their names. Ling asks them about Zhang who she describes as crippled. Jin tells her that he threw a bunch of drugs away thinking he was being approached by the DEA.

It is hard to walk when you’ve had the soles of your feet blowtorched by Cai. Once they arrive, they’re told to get the bags into the hold. This is their first order to New Zealand so Tse is relying on Jin to get it done without a hitch. Gravel and the others are told about The Company which ships drugs all around the world. They’re so good the cops have never heard of them. Thugga goes through the details of the plan with them. Ling gets sick on the boat. While she lies down, Jin gets a call from Cai and tells him everything is good. Hui and Bi talk about God downstairs. Jin joins them and talks about her girlfriend who has been with her for a few months. She made her see the light, but she still needs to get her husband out of the way.

They complain about the food and Ling for burning the rice. The others talk about Ling sleeping in the nets. Gravel tells Stevie about all the stuff they got from Thugga (Mosa Alipate Latailakepa). Louie is worried about paying the toll. He is concerned about the job because it feels different. Louie admits he lost some of the money already. They reach Kaitaia. Stevie goes into a motel to book rooms using a false name. Ed and Heather walk on the beach and find Toby lying down. They decide to carry him home. Off the coast of Ahipara, Jin and the women get closer to their destination. Once they finish, Jin says she’ll tell Cai. When she calls Cai, he tells her they’ll be waiting for her at the meeting point.

Thugga calls Blaze to say he got a weird message from the overseas fishing contact. Cai contacts him back to say they’ll be at the beach in four hours. When Ling and the others try the small boat, they find that it is having problems. Cai learns and immediately worries that they won’t arrive in time. He tells them they have two days. Tse gets a call from Cai who says there might be a delay with the New Zealand delivery. Thugga’s men walk on the beach while waiting for the delivery to arrive. They are informed that the weather is too bad for the boat so the delivery is off. Heather speaks to her neighbor, Huggins (Aaron Cortesi), about Toby not doing too well.

He tells her about infrared therapy which is what his mom used. The next day, Ed and Heather take their boat out. Louie and Mack hire a generator and leave in a camper. Ed arrives once they’re gone and learns that they couldn’t even take the generator. He tells Justine (Karen O’Leary) he is thinking about buying one of the lamps. Jin and the girls have been at sea for 14 days before they finally get the boat running. However, it stops again. Jin calls Cai and tells him what happened again. He doesn’t want to have to tell Tse that they’re failing. While working on the equipment, Bi gets injured. Ling ends up pouring out a lot of their fresh water to help her.

Louie tells the other guys why he is in. Stevie says he wants to start a winery. Louie goes inside where he calls Carmen. He hears the others talking about him and doesn’t call. Louie goes to a payphone where he calls Carmen and tells them they’ve been mucking around. She tells him Jayden misses his dad. Louie says he misses him. He learns he is having a girl. When a police car passes, Louie quickly ends the call. In the morning, the receptionist comes to tell him the generator needs to be picked up. When they get it, Stevie has stomach issues and has to use Justine’s bathroom. After 21 days at sea, Bi still can’t get the boat running. They’re getting low on food and water. The others complain about Ling’s coking and the fact that she wasted water.

After Ling storms off, Jin says Cai will send help. They just have to ration, deliver, and head home. She makes it clear they cannot head home until they’ve delivered the goods. Hui reminds her that they don’t care about them. Jin says they should vote on it. Jin and Bi agree to wait. Jin calls Cai to tell him the motor is busted. He has told Tse they haven’t delivered because of the weather so they’re going to need someone’s head on a block. Jin tells him she’ll get a pedicure so her feet will look pretty, but she won’t let him touch her crew. Cai warns her that she is in debt for the price of the rescue mission. She can forget about the retirement she has been talking about.

Louie admits it feels weird so he just wants to go home. Stevie tells him they’re bringing in 500 kilos worth about half a billion on the street. He says they’ve won the lotto. Ed and Heather treat Toby using an infrared light.

 

Far North Review

The opening episode of Far North created an interesting premise based on a true story. The cast is reliable with the performances adding authenticity to an unbelievable script. Heather and Ed find themselves caught up in a drug-smuggling operation run by incompetent gangsters. The story has potential and it helps that it is based on a true story, but the first episode did very little to sufficiently explain what is actually going on.

It will take a while for viewers to familiarize themselves with the characters because there are many and the show doesn’t do a great job of distinguishing them from one another. Far North doesn’t provide a straightforward, competent retelling of the events like Underbelly did many years ago. Instead, the series has a bit of quirkiness to most scenes that may be off-putting to some viewers.

It is hard to say whether the series will do the story justice although the first episode didn’t make a great impression. As the show moves more into the details of the operation and Ed and Heather’s involvement, it may get more interesting though. The story alone should be enough to carry it to the finish line.

The opening episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Far North are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.