Review: Seasons 1-2 of Wanted, an Exciting Australian Series

Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewill in Wanted

Wanted is an action-packed series from Australia about two women who run for their lives while being chased by the police, drug dealers, and assorted bad guys. It stars Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewill as absolutely wonderful characters.

This review contains some spoilers for season 1 & 2. Season 3 will arrive on Netflix on December 13, 2018.

Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewill in Wanted

When we first meet Lola Buckley (Rebecca Gibney) and Chelsea Babbage (Geraldine Hakewill) they are strangers, waiting for a bus on a deserted street in Sydney. Suddenly all hell breaks loose. They are thrown into the trunk of a car and taken to a junkyard. Chelsea manages to phone the police, but when they arrive the cops shoot the kidnapper and try to shoot the two women.

Lola and Chelsea take the car and flee. They are pursued by a string of crooked cops led by Ray Stanton (Nicholas Bell). They are pursued by one honest cop Josh Levine (Stephen Peacocke) and a hired assassin named Boke (Mirko Grillini).

Every time someone dies while anywhere near Lola and Chelsea, they get blamed for it. There are so many characters with murder in their hearts running about. There’s a nationwide manhunt for Lola and Chelsea. It’s all over the TV. They are recognized everywhere.

The two women couldn’t be more different. As their backstories are revealed we learn that Lola is good at being on the run because she’s been doing it for years. Chelsea is an uptight accountant, but being in Lola’s company changes her in drastic ways that she can never go back from. For one thing, she loves the excitement and danger. She loves being with Lola. Neither of them have really had a good friend before, although their friendship develops in prickly and unpredictable ways.

Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewill in Wanted

The car they took was filled with millions of dollars and piles of drugs. The bad guys really want it back. They will kill anyone to get it. Lola and Chelsea run. They get found. They run again. They get found.

They lose the car and they get the car back. They lose each other and get each other back. They get arrested and escape. The killers catch up to them and they escape.

These two are determined to survive and prove their innocence. They do it with with such verve and grit. I really enjoyed them both but the older and wiser Lola was the character with depth. Her secrets were slow to come out but always interesting.

Chelsea didn’t have many secrets in her past, but she was building up a nice collection of them while running with Lola.

Rebecca Gibney and Geraldine Hakewill in Wanted

I loved the settings all over Australia, Thailand and New Zealand. So many different places and scenery – some lush, some dusty emptiness. Mountains, ocean, cane fields, desert, forest, tiny towns, Sydney. The scenery and sets were spectacular. It was photographed beautifully. I enjoyed the way the camera angles put you into scenes in an interesting way. One example: when Lola is trying to kick her way out of the trunk of the car, the camera focuses on the soles of her shoes as she kicks.

At the end of season 1, when they think they are relatively safe, the bad guy who has been directing everyone from behind the scenes, Morrison (Anthony Phelan) snatches Lola’s son David (Charles Cottier). In addition to the money and drugs, there’s a key fob from the duffle bag the money was in. Morrison wants the key in exchange for David.

We don’t often see thrillers featuring women. We could do with hundreds more.

To get David back to safety, Lola and Chelsea hit the road again in season 2. They go to Thailand after David. They go to New Zealand after whatever the key unlocks. They discover David owes $300,000 in gambling debts and a guy named Vincent (Felino Dolloso) is determined to collect it. Their troubles never end.

There were some funny scenes between Lola and Chelsea, but Vincent the baddie really made me smile when he paused to photograph the stunning mountain scenery as he chased David and Lola around New Zealand.

Lola and Chelsea meet up with Will (Dean O’Gorman), who is maybe a bad guy or maybe a good guy. He’s an interesting twist in the plot.

Everywhere they go and everything they do is dangerous and full of tension. We don’t often see thrillers featuring women. We could do with hundreds more. Lola and Chelsea are smart, cunning, gutsy women who win every encounter.

Wanted was created by Richard Bell and Rebecca Gibney from a character idea Gibney thought about for a long time. Rebecca Gibney is superb in this part. Kudos to Rebecca Gibney for taking the creative reins in her own hands to build a brilliant character for herself.

If you haven’t watched any of this series yet, I urge you to race through the first two seasons before season 3 begins. Or do it anyway, to review.

Whoever made the music choices deserves kudos also. Loved the music.

Among the male directors, there is one female director, Jennifer Leacey. She directed several episodes.

Wanted is currently streaming on Netflix as a Netflix Original. [Note: Since I wrote this review, Wanted has moved to Acorn TV.] Big thank you to my Twitter pal AngelaThompson for telling me about this great series. This is a teaser for season 1.

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30 thoughts on “Review: Seasons 1-2 of Wanted, an Exciting Australian Series”

      1. Marie Trimboli

        I thought the series was terrific. Too bad you didn’t enjoy it. You missed out imo

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  2. I just finished the first series I thought it was an excellent series so far was looking for more now to find series 2 enjoy

  3. I am enjoying the show via Netflix. Two seasons down, one to go. There is a certain suspension of belief in this show as there as so many plot hole, unlikely scenarios , and time frame impossibilities , but a good watch anyway.

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  5. The plot is similar to a movie I watched a few years ago. Two women on the run from someone. But this series is so much better.

  6. I often watch S1Plus 10m of E1 and then go to another title but WANTED hooked me in as soon as I began to watch. It is simple, clean of any exagiration, no flying car chases, gun shots galore and so much bull many movies try to entertain us with. I love the twists and my inability to guess what is coming up next.
    What I did not like was when Lola and Chelsea went to Bangkok to save David. David owned money. Lol seemed to have known this, why didn’t she square the debts David had. Guess she will do it later on, I am still in S2 but David could have been redeemed before they left to NZ and Vincent would not have killed David’s keeper and nearly cut David’s finger.

  7. S2 E6 26.30m Will with Cassey in Caravsn. Getting close. Will has a clean face. No I juries, no scars. He znd Csssey kiss and then thr makeup artist remembers that Will had scars on his face. And they painted s couple on.

  8. I’ve seen all 3 seasons and wish there was 4th through to at least 8th. It’s fun series from start to finish that I’ve watched at least four times now.

    I’ve seen Rebecca Gibney in other shows but Geraldine Hakewill is M.I.A.

    Where is she? RG said after Wanted that she never wanted to be separated from GH in future. I’m hpoing that’s true but still waiting for evidence. Their chemistry was a rare treat on so many levels. It was a joy to watch them interact. That for me was the best part though I agree Virginia, that there needs to be more action movies featuring women in lead roles.

    Women can add warmth to a situation that a man simply and physically cannot do. Plus, even animals respond to a woman (or girl’s) voice. It’s something that can’t be duplicated.

    Rebecca without Geraldine or vice versa is like a cake with no icing.

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