In the middle of the night, Puss (David Dencik) picks up Mary (Alice Englert). In the morning, Pyke (Ewen Leslie) visits Robin (Elisabeth Moss) and learns about his daughter’s whereabouts. It seems he has a panic attack of sorts. Then, Brett (Lincoln Vickery) meets up with Robin and Miranda (Gwendoline Christie) at the morgue. The detectives use Brett’s recollection of Cinnamon’s body to identify her. Stally (Christiaan Van Vuuren) gives the boy a hard time. Brett tries to snap a picture of the body. He is escorted out promptly. Stally tries to flirt with Robin, but she does her best to ignore him. At home, Brett plays video games and hallucinates that he is sleeping with Cinnamon.

Adrian (Clayton Jacobson) pulls Robin and Miranda aside. Adrian tries to calm Miranda’s nerves about their baby. When Robin leaves, she spots Adrian’s wife in the office. Robin asks her about her son. The woman admits her son doesn’t have a panda teddy bear. Miranda belittles Robin, while driving to the clinic. Miranda rushes inside and harasses Pixie. The woman insists she doesn’t recognize Cinnamon’s picture. Robin and Miranda are escorted out after Miranda causes a scene. The couple drives to the ocean and argue. Then, Miranda reveals she isn’t pregnant at all. After removing the fake stomach, she admits to using a surrogate. Brett meets up with his loser friends at the café. We see that he is wearing a GoPro. His reason for the visit is unknown. Pixie gets in touch with Robin and agrees to arrange a meeting with some of the couples.

Then, Robin and Miranda get drunk together. At the brothel, Mary watches as one of the girls is set to leave for a holiday. They kiss and agree to go to Thailand together when the girl returns. Mary pleads with the girl not to go to Canberra like Cinnamon. Puss and his buddy take the girl to a lockup. Mary watches as the group enters a storage lockup. Mary asks Puss what is going on inside. Then, she asks him about Cinnamon. He sends her away moments later. The couple’s arrive at Pixie’s place. However, Pixie isn’t answering the door. It appears she has killed herself on the bed. Robin tells the group that the meeting has been cancelled, while Miranda gets a letter from the deceased. Robin and Adrian talk about the dummy on the bed and whether or not they should leave it. Then, Robin and Miranda sit down with a couple.

The couple speaks about their experience with the surrogate. They show Robin a picture of the girl. It just happens to be Cinnamon. They learn about the woman’s death and also admit they want to give their child a proper funeral. When Robin returns home, she is confronted by Puss. She is accused of ignoring Cinnamon’s case, due to her nationality. Robin is asked when she is going to start doing her job. He makes a comment about a suitcase and tells Robin that the girl’s name was Pathma. Meanwhile, Julia (Nicole Kidman) argues with Pyke. Robin enters and she joins the argument as well. This goes on forever, before Julia leaves. Then, Robin and Pyke share wine. Robin is allowed to visit Mary’s room. There, she finds a negative pregnancy test. Then, the couple heads to Mary’s school. Puss is there. Pyke gets into a brief argument with him, but Puss leaves with Mary anyway.

Also, during this time Puss tries to make some type of film with poor villagers and babies. Robin and Pyke return home for more alcohol. Then, they head to the bedroom for sex. Meanwhile, Brett gets on a bus and tells a local woman to watch the News Hours that night. He enters the brothel with a shotgun and begins looking for Puss. Puss emerges and shoves Mary out of the elevator. Then, the gun is fired and the episode ends.

 

Top of the Lake Review

Top of the Lake’s second season has been horrible. There is really no way to spin it. It was clear early into the episode that Brett was going to take matters into his own hands. On top of that, the series is trying to hard to be shocking. It has only succeeded in being shockingly bad. Sure, we get to see boobs and bums, but the story is horrendous. The characters this season are obnoxious and terribly unlikeable. Even Robin is an annoyance. Yet, the writers continue to focus on their relationships and the overdramatic nonsense outside of the investigation.

The laughable parenting from Pyke and Julia sure doesn’t help matters either. It is ridiculous to believe the parents would’ve never found the pregnancy test. Throw in the borderline pedophile obsession of the writers and the fact that nothing significant has happened this season and you’ve got a total and complete disaster. That describes Top of the Lake’s second season perfectly.

This episode was another steaming pile of doggy doo. A 2 out of 10 is deserved. Catch up with previous recaps of Top of the Lake now!