Dead Lucky stars Rachel Griffiths in a police drama set in Sydney, Australia. It’s a story of only 4 episodes. It manages to cram a lot of story in those 4 episodes with subplots, multiple characters and suspects, and small but interesting relationship side dramas. This series, created and written by Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt, is one of the most densely written things I’ve seen in a while with not a second wasted.
Dead Lucky starts 6 months after Grace (Rachel Griffiths), a homicide detective, is dealing with the aftermath of losing one of her officers while he was under her command. Many of her colleagues blame her for his death.
Australian police senior detectives take on trainees. The two under consideration to ride with Grace were Charlie (Yoson An) and Anna (Anna Samson). Anna was the wife of the cop who died 6 months ago. Charlie got the job. I thought Charlie was really smart and had the makings of a great detective, but Grace was not the kind of person who gave out praise.
A convenience store was robbed by a man with the M.O. of Carey Baxter (Ian Meadows). He was a serial killer involved in many crimes – including the bothersome death to Grace’s partner from six months ago.
Grace and Charlie were keen to catch him.
The store clerk who was traumatized by having a gun shoved in his face was Mani (Mojean Aria). Normally a character like Mani would disappear once the story got going, but that’s not the case here. He and his girlfriend, Bo-Lin (Xana Tang), were students living in a shared home with Eduardo (Aldo Mignone), Mary (Sarah Torrence), and Jess (Tessa de Josselin).
First Bo-Lin got entangled in the case by trying to get Mani his back pay from the store owners. When someone was killed in the process, Mani stuck himself into the middle of everything. He created problems for the police and put several people in danger by running his own search for the missing Bo-Lin and the original killer.
Leah (Sara West) is Carey Baxter’s sister. A lot of the search for her brother happens with her. There’s also the mom of a young child, some money launderers, Charlie’s relationship with his parents, and Grace’s relationship with her ex, Matt (Matt Nabel).
Lots going on, right? I liked how that kept things moving, offered lots of characters to use for surprises and twists in the case, and included some development for the main characters.
Grace actually had a cool head and was quick on her feet in a dangerous situation. But her supervisor wanted her out and forced her into anger management therapy. That provided a tiny bit of comic relief in this mostly serious drama.
The actors were all well chosen for their roles, the settings around Sydney looked gritty and real with a few views of the Opera House thrown in for the recognition factor. The direction by David Caesar worked perfectly with this fast paced drama. In short, it was a well done police procedural and a good watch. Acorn TV, AMC+, Prime Video, and several other streamers have it available now.
If you watch Dead Lucky, please share what you thought of it in the comments.