Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
What would you do if the undead started inexplicably coming back to life? That’s the reality Netflix’s newest global acquisition, Glitch, proposes. The supernatural drama watches as a great vaguely creepy binge for anyone who wants to get into the Halloween mood without going full horror.
At its core, the Australian drama is a character-driven mystery. Glitch focuses on Yoorana, a small Australian town that has its peace and quiet ruined when six people emerge from the dead. The dead in Glitch aren’t zombies. They’re completely healthy people who have no memory of dying, which is a somewhat creepier concept than a host of undead, sub-human monsters. The series focuses on Sergeant James Hayes (Patrick Brammall), a police officer who has to deal with the repercussions of his late wife Kate (Emma Booth) coming back to life. It’s a sad plot that will make you keep on pressing play so you can finally understand why and how these people came back to life. It’s also a concept that’s been played with before.
Thematically, Glitch is most similar to the 2012 French series Les Revenants (The Returned) and the 2015 American adaptation, The Returned. All three shows focus on a small group of people whose lives are destroyed when the dead mysteriously re-emerge unharmed. Out of the three, Les Revenants explores the concept best with a mixture of beauty and gravity about the fine line between life and death to make a haunting series. However, there is certainly something to be said for Glitch’s undeniably Australian take on the concept.
There’s a cool if vaguely unbelieving tone to the series that can only be described as Australian. When Sergeant Hayes and Dr. Elishia McKellar (Genevieve O’Reilly) initially find the six resurrected people, Hayes shrugs off their mud-caked appearances, guessing that they were either on an all-night bender or that they’re involved in some sort of cult. It takes a while for both Hayes and Dr. McKellar to realize their patients are undead — even when all of them appear covered in dirt in the middle of a graveyard and Hayes’ wife is staring directly at him — because that conclusion is so grotesquely unbelievable. Even when Hayes accepts this new reality, he does so in a shell-shocked overly nice way. Seeing Hayes lay in the grass with his newly resurrected wife is an odd moment, but it’s one that feels strangely believable. If someone you loved came back from the dead, would you be more likely to have a tear-streaked panic attack or would you numbly and hopefully start to accept it?
This sort of numbness in the face of dark oddities has been a tone that’s persisted throughout much of Australian television, especially its comedies. Wilfred, Summer Heights High, and Please Like Me all play with those same notes of exhausted acceptance. It’s a reaction that feels surprisingly authentic despite these shows’ insane premises and characters.
More than anything else Glitch proves that the aloof tone of critically-acclaimed Australian comedies can work in a dramatic setting. Glitch premiered on ABC1 in 2015 and was awarded Australia’s two highest accolades for best drama. Netflix holds the exclusive global distribution rights for Season One, and the streaming service will be co-producing Season Two, which is set to be released some time in 2017. Glitch isn’t the best execution of the hyper-specific genre of small town people rising from the dead, but it is an addicting watch. Also, with six one-hour episodes, it’s a low binge investment. If you’re looking for a quick, low-commitment, and mildly creepy mystery to obsess over this week, Glitch has your back.
