Do you know the feeling that every song is finished and new ones just pay tribute to the old ones? We sometimes get that feeling with TV series. But it doesn’t seem like a recycled storyline pays tribute to a classic, just a show we vaguely remember from years ago. A new Australian series on peacock immediately reminded us of something we had seen before. But is that bad?
DISRESPECTFUL: Stream or skip?
opening shot: A woman in a police uniform walks along the beach in Clump, Queensland. She looks at her watch and says “Shit”.
The essentials: When police officer Piper (Kylie Bracknell) rushes to an ongoing beach wedding in the tiny town of Clump, the local reverend begins the ceremony. However, when he asks if anyone minds, something grabs and attacks him and drags him into the sea. Apparently, this is the third time in two years that the town’s reverend has died of one cause or another. And now they have to figure out where to find another pastor.
In Chicago, Paulo (Colin Donnell), who works as an intermediary between organized crime families, meets with a rival family with money from Lorenzo (Steve Mouzakis), the other family’s boss, in compensation for the murder of the rival’s men Family. But when Lorenzo’s son arrives and starts shooting, Paulo grabs the money and leaves after hitting Lorenzo’s son on the head to stop the shooting.
Knowing that Lorenzo will now pursue him not only for the murder of his son but also for the money, Paulo tries to get as far away as possible. On his flight to Australia, he sits next to Reverend Mackenzie “Mack” Boyd (PJ Byrne), whose wife decided to leave him just before they moved to a new gig in Clump, Queensland. Mack talks Paulo’s ear off and then starts sobbing into his whiskey when they meet at the same hotel.
After telling Mack that there is no God, Paulo and the Reverend get drunk. Looking for a new life, Mack finds the money that somehow brought Paulo from Chicago to the other side of the world, grabs that and Paulo’s clothes and runs away.
Paulo, with nothing but Mack’s cassock, the old hearse the city dumped for him, and all his belongings in Clump, he has no choice but to pose as Mack in Clump. When he asks the receptionist how to get there, she tells him to keep the sea on his right and drive “three days.”
He has a major appearance in Clump, sleeping and sleepily banging on a utility pole right where the city’s Deputy Mayor Peter (Wayne Blair) has set up a welcoming committee. After mistaking the wrong reverend for the accident, Piper goes to his new home and rummages through Mack’s belongings. By the time he gets in touch with the actual Reverend, Mack is already living a whole new life.
What shows will it remind you of? Disrespectful is more or less the plot of the 2015-16 series impastor. However, there’s nothing to suggest it’s a remake.
Our opinion: We seem to remember liking it impastor when it aired, largely because it didn’t take itself seriously, set up a good story that was fascinating to watch, chill, and it had a good cast. We can say the same about Disrespectful. But because we’ve seen this story before, we wonder what’s new about this story.
The setting is different, of course, and the scenery is beautiful in the town of Clump, which is said to be in far north Queensland, which is in north-eastern Australia. It feels like there’s a differentiation, not just in the landscape but in the townsfolk as well. Clump is a small town that seems to do everything through collective decision-making, a la Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls.
As with any small town portrayed on TV, there’s no shortage of quirky characters, and we probably haven’t seen them all, but this aspect of the show certainly has potential, especially when Paulo is trying to figure out how to get by as a man of clothing if he does not believe in anything remotely religious or spiritual.
The other aspect of the story that might make it stand out is that Paulo needs to get the money back from Mack, and as we see in the first episode, Mack is already leaving his life as a godly reverend and dutiful husband to dust. When Paulo calls Mack to say he won’t get away with what he’s done, we realize Mack isn’t a one-off figure and that this seemingly mild-mannered reverend will confuse the seasoned criminal even more than the townsfolk and the gangsters who are after him. Hopefully this aspect will get more scope as the season progresses.
gender and skin: Nothing in the first episode.
farewell shot: Back in Chicago, Lorenzo’s wife says someone needs to find Paulo and kill him. Then we see Paulo looking out at the ocean trying to figure out what his next move is.
sleeping star: Tegan Stimson plays Daisy, who gets to stay at the Reverend’s house, and also discovers that the man who claims he’s Mackenzie Boyd is actually someone else. It will be interesting to see how she uses this information.
Most pilot line: “Where does it take you to be devoted to a God who doesn’t care about me,” Mack tells Paulo. We knew he wanted to say one more word, so why not? He wouldn’t be the first man made of the stuff to swear.
Our appeal: Stream it. There are enough interesting things Disrespectful watch a few more episodes. We’re hoping to see more of the city and Paulo’s nemesis Mack than the tired stuff about Paulo trying not to get killed by the mafia.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he doesn’t fool himself: He’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and elsewhere.