Top of The Lake (**** out of ****)

Top of The Lake is transcendent it's story telling of a typical police mystery story. No emotion to big or to small in this series. Everyhting flows at such a natural pace and relies much rather on the emotional implications of an event rather than just throwing a big twist for shocks and gasps. Ther series leaves out overdone cliches and reworks others. A hauntingly beautiful story about child abuse, sexual assualt, incest, and cromes against women. Top of the Lake doesn't take these issues lightly and deals with them with maturity. It's some of the most compelling series  in this "Golden Age of Televesion".

Robert Griffith (Elizabeth Moss) has returned home to New Zealand as her mother's (Robyn Nevin) illness is progressing to a point of no return. While there she receives a call from her old department asking for aid in a crime. A young girl Tui (Jacqueline Joe) one morning rides her bike out to a large lake, walks into it and attempts to freeze her self to death. The next day she disappears. What follows is a wide search for this girl and the people responsible for her strife. Tui's father Matt (Peter Mullan), a leader in the area's criminal world  will make this search far more complicated. There is also a group of women seeking refuge and enlightenment lead by the mysterious GJ (Holly Hunter) that will play a role in the fates to come.

It's a long story that so rarely goes off track and if it does it knows how to use those elements to its advantage. It's a fierce feminist work that yet works spectacularly as entertainment. There are issues here that plague the world over and director Jane Campion deals with it in a responsible fashion. A engrossing mystery filled with true character development make it rewarding. Elizabeth Moss leads the terrific cast, but she gives a tour de force performance. It's a work that I can honestly say was a privilege to watch.

**** out of ****
note: this is a mini series originally aired on Sundance and now available on Netflix Streaming. The nature of the series is that it is continous with every episode blending into the next. It feels like a long movie he anything else