As the episode opens, an exhausted Dr. Patrick Haber (Francis Greenslade nearly loses control of his vehicle. Once the vehicle is stopped, he stares at a High Country post card addressed to him at 89 Reynolds Place. The next day, Sergeant Andrea Whitford (Leah Purcell) finds Patrick’s abandoned vehicle on the side of the road with the driver’s door open. A closer look, she sees the keys on the console and his wallet. Making her way down a steep embankment, she repeatedly yells for him when a strange noise grabs her attention. Her foot slips, sending her further down the embankment. When she regains her footing, a forestry officer (Will Greenway) calls down from the road to offer assistance. Declining, she starts back toward her vehicle. He warns her that the country is fairly rugged. Grabbing Patrick’s wallet and keys, she leaves the agent putting up traffic cones.

While cleaning out his office, Sam Dryson (Ian McElhinney) puts an open case file of a young boy in with his things. He tells Andrea that Brett Sweet (Luke McKenzie) wanted to take over his position as the police sergeant. He reminds her that she is an outsider like he was 50 years ago when he landed there from Ireland. Senior Constable Pauline Burns (Eleanor Webster) and a cop (Ronn Kurtz) find the Haber home unlocked. Sam tells Scooter (Syd Brisbane) where to pick up Patrick’s vehicle. Tammy Samson (Leah Vandenberg) assures Andrea that she will love it there. Jean Grierson’s missing person’s poster captures Andrea’s attention. Pauline discovers a woman’s body behind the Haber house.

Patrick is named a suspect in his wife and two sons’ murders. Senior Sergeant Cripps (Nicholas Bell) organizes a search party to look for Patrick. He is sure Patrick is traveling northeast on foot but former forestry officer, Owen Cooper (Aaron Pedersen) suggests otherwise. Sam assures Cripps that Owen knows the area better than anyone. Not convinced, Cripps sticks with his plan to drive the search party northeast. As the search party makes their way through the woods, Andrea comes to a clearing with a breathtaking view. Cripps suspends the search party until tomorrow morning but Air Wing will search throughout the night utilizing FLIR.

Helen Hartley (Sara Wiseman) finds Andrea talking to her horse, Archie. They see Air Wing in the distance search for Patrick. Over dinner, Helen informs Andrea of her plan to hand out flyers in Mansfield. Kirra (Pez Warner) complains about her day which started out with a slaughtered sheep. Helen claims Grant believes wild dogs attacked the sheep. When Kirra learns they are having sheep for dinner, she vows to become a vegetarian and abruptly leaves the table. Andrea gets up but Helen reminds her that they disrupted Kirra’s life when they moved there. Andrea expresses her desire to keep them safe from Leigh Schaefer. Helen says he is in jail. Andrea admits to being more concerned about Leigh’s father. Later, Andrea is startled awake by a nightmare when she hears gunfire Removing a gun from the safe, Andrea takes a look around. A red light can be seen in the distance behind her. She finds a beheaded animal lying on the ground. A truck starts and its fog lights come on. She orders the occupants to get out but the truck races toward her. She has just enough time to get off the roadway when the truck speeds past her.

Andrea tells Sam about last night’s incident. He suggests Nash Mason (Nathaniel Dean) and Liam Mason (Jame Timony) are responsible because they are known to “ringbark.” He assures her that they have no concern for the law. She says they are probably comfortable in knowing they will get away with it. Damien Starc claims to have had a vision that showed Patrick near water. Looking back to see Brett laughing, she asks if they are friends. He says no. Cripps removes Andrea from the search party to organize supplies. En route to Brokenridge, she veers onto Old Sawmill Road to visit the Mason house. A dog, Trudy tries to attack her. She threatens to shoot it until Liam reluctantly calls it off. He escorts her into the barn where Nash is butchering a sheep. Nash claims Bryan Harris (Geoff Morrell) pays them in sheep. Holding up a ski mask, she explains what ringbarking is and says their truck is lacking an “arse.” They laugh.

Brokenridge – Sam suspects Patrick’s body will never be found. Andrea says Michael Novak went missing a year ago on Timbertop and a hiker, Jean Grierson vanished on the Buller to Stirling Trail four months ago. He refers to Jean and Michael as city folk but she believes it is a “pattern.” Bryan announces a retirement party of Sam who he claims to respect but does not always agree with. Sam gives a short speech. Later, a man watching from behind a tree. Kirra leaves to find a signal when Helen receives a call about a job. Owen tells Andrea that Cripps took him off the search party. She asks if he believes Cripps is searching in the wrong direction. He says it does not matter what he thinks before explaining his tour operation. Kirra and Ben Cooper are talking when Finn McKenzie (Stacy Clausen) calls Ben a “gimp.” Kirra calls him a “dick.” Ben says her mom is Sergeant Whitford. She calls him a “redneck stoner” before guzzling his bogan which later makes her sick. She tells Helen that she would rather be dead than stay there.

Andrea reviews Jean Grierson’s missing person’s case file when a distressed Damien arrives with a sketch and insists she take him serious. He claims to have saw a black horse, and a cave, or open grave. She vows to look into it which gives him some relief. Later, she shows the sketch to Sam. He says five years ago when Luke Samson disappeared, Damien, a then school teacher, said he is in a pit near a windmill with a cloth wrapped around his face. Sam admits to ignoring him until Luke was found a month later, wearing a blindfold in a mineshaft near a windmill. The DPP refused to charge Damien without physical evidence. He suggests it was a thrill killing. He shows her a room filled with evidence collected over the course of his investigation into Luke’s murder. He vows to fulfill his promise to Tammy and find Luke’s killer.

Helen meets with Rose (Linda Cropper) at The Farm about a bookkeeping job. Hearing a commotion outside, she rushes out to see a man pulling a pregnant women to his car. Armed, Rose orders him to let her go before firing a shot into the air. The man speeds out of the driveway. Rose tells Helen that he is her niece’s ex.

Sam pays Damien an unexpected visit. He warns him that he will pay for killing Luke. Elsewhere, Andrea is distracted while Helen explains what happened at The Farm. The next morning, Andrea rides Archie out to a campsite where campers (Blair Ippolito, Donal Reid) claim a wild animal took their food. She tells Reza that Owen believes Patrick is traveling in the same direction. Traveling west on horseback, they find a pair of men’s boots. After they split up, she hears gunfire and calls out to Reza on the radio but he does not respond. She finds him lying on the ground after a brief struggle when his gun discharged. While canvasing the nearby area, she finds Patrick with Reza’s firearm. He confesses to killing his family and shoots himself. Later, the crime scene is processed. She rides Archie an area where the river divides like in Damien’s sketch. She rides out to Black Horse Trail where she finds what appears to be a body (no body is shown in the footage). The episode ends.

 

High Country Review

The story is similar to that of Joe Pickett. An outsider is hired to replace a respected police sergeant with a 50-year tenure. Weak writing coupled with poor editing and stereotypical hogwash.

The story is cliché to no end, a major disappointment. The script appears to have been written with AI. Some of the dialogue is incompressible as if it was spun.

Whose hair-brained idea was it to shoot a scene through a car window? Only skilled videographers with excellent equipment can pull this off. The video quality is poor especially in dark scene.

 

The episode deserves a 4.5 out of 10. Get more High Country recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by donating. Learn how advertising with us can help build your brand awareness. Join our newly established forum to discuss the show and other new releases.