Territory, Netflix review: a soapy Shakespearean outback saga

How Aussie is the new Netflix series Territory? Sure, it’s set on a Northern Territory cattle farm bigger than Belgium; that’s pretty Aussie.

The series opens with a lot of sweeping shots of the landscape that could have come from a tourism commercial while we’re told that everything up north will try to kill you but people stick around for the ‘beauty’. Sounds Aussie enough. Then in the first ten minutes, someone gets torn apart and eaten alive by dingoes. Australia!

Across six one-hour episodes of prime export beef, Territory uses the settling of a modern-day industrial farming operation to play out the kind of story that used to be the territory (as it were) of trashy 80s mini-series, only today they’d rather you compared it to shows like Succession and Yellowstone.

Watch the Territory trailer

It’s a high-stakes saga of a family in turmoil, with all the expected plotting, scheming, back-biting and occasional passionate embracing. Oh, and lots of quad bikes and helicopters buzzing around.

Territory: mustering time

It’s mustering time at Marianne Station, owned and run by the Lawson family for five generations. This year they’ve brought in outside contractors in the form of nearby station owner Nolan Brannock (Clarence Ryan) and his team, and when top dog Dan Lawson (Jake Ryan) fails to show, his older brother Graham (Michael Dorman) and Graham’s wife Emily (Anna Torv) Lawson decide to start without him – despite the gruff demands of patriarch Colin (Robert Taylor) that they wait.

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It’s a good thing they didn’t, because Dan broke his leg and got eaten by dingoes, which has severely limited his ability to run things on the station for the foreseeable future. As Colin loathes Graham – a semi-dry drunk trying to get his life back on the rails – and doesn’t exactly rate Emily (due to her coming from a family of cattle rustlers), his focus shifts to Graham’s son Marshall (Sam Corlett).

Marshall’s spent his adult life running from the toxic Lawson legacy, stealing helicopters and hanging out with mates Rich (Sam Delich) and Sharnie (Kylah Day), but now the gates are open wide for his return. Trouble is, his stepsister Susie (Philippa Northeast) is also coming through the gates with her own ideas about getting ‘on the ground’ experience.

And this isn’t a great time for the Lawson family to be at each others’ throats (that’s the dingo’s job), what with having to deal with rival cattle barons, cattle rustlers, crime bosses, racial tensions, and a big brown land where pretty much everyone is either in love with money or someone they shouldn’t be.

Oh, and it’s looking increasingly likely that Dan was murdered.

Father against son, sibling against sibling, mate against mate: despite the dry and dusty setting this is pretty soapy stuff (the producers would prefer ‘Shakespearian’), which is in no way a bad thing. Shock twists and surprise reveals abound, spaced out by bar brawls, aerial views of the massive station, the occasional gunfight, and down-home wisdom like ‘you can’t help your character’ – usually delivered by someone just before they twist the knife.

Territory: face value

Thankfully, this series doesn’t expect us to take these self-absorbed characters at face value. Many of Colin’s problems stem from the fact he’s a racist, sexist bully proud of the fact his attitudes have barely moved beyond the 19th century; Indigenous issues get more of a look in than you might expect, with Nolan torn between the business side of running a station and mentoring youngster Dezi (Tyler Spencer).

Lurking outside the family are some fun villains, most notably the not-at-all-inspired by Gina Rinehardt billionaire mining magnate Sandra Kirby (Sara Wiseman). She’s vowed to destroy Colin and take over Marianne Station as part of a scheme so evil it’d make even a Scooby Doo villain think twice, and she’s got the local Indigenous leaders on side.

Operating on a slightly lower level is cattle baron Campbell Miller (Jay Ryan), whose shady past and dodgy present gives him a secret (and ongoing) connection with Emily. Speaking of which, her rustler brother Hank (Dan Wyllie) is good value too.

Director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) makes the whole thing look suitably widescreen, whether it’s the landscape or the old money wealth of the Lawsons. Together with creators Ben Davies and Timothy Lee, he’s created a highly watchable version of the outback that’s larger than life in a ‘print the legend’ fashion.

It’s a freewheeling place where anything can happen, especially with these conniving characters. The sense that there’s a surprise around every corner helps Territory come across as more than just another scheming family saga. We’ve all seen parents and kids turn on each other, but having one of them eaten alive by a pack of dingoes? Reckon that just might keep people watching.

Territory premieres on Netflix on 24 October 2024.