Territory is a sprawling modern day Western soap opera of an adventure set in far northern Australia on the Marianne Station, “the largest cattle station in the world.” The cowboys in this remote dryland are as likely to ride a four wheeler or a helicopter as a horse.
Territory tells the story of the Lawson dynasty, who have held on to the Marianne Station for generations. But now the family is fragmenting and in danger of losing their station.
The Lawsons and their enemies
The family patriarch is Colin Lawson (Robert Taylor). He wanted his favorite son Ben to take over the station, but Ben died in the very beginning scene. This scene was gruesome and frightening, but don’t give up because the rest of the series isn’t that bad.
Ben’s older brother Graham (Michael Dorman) was a useless drunk who thought sure he deserved to run the station. Graham was married to Emily (Anna Torv). Emily had been in the family for 20 years, but Colin Lawson didn’t trust her yet because her family were cattle thieves. Graham and Emily had a daughter Susie (Philippa Northeast) who was smart and could have run the station, and an estranged son Marshall (Sam Corlett) was was off running with some bad characters.
Everyone else in the story was scheming in one way or another to get hold of the land the Lawsons used.
Emily’s brother, the cattle thief Hank Hodge (Dan Wylie), wanted all 60,000 head of the Lawson’s cattle. An ex boyfriend of Emily’s, Campbell Miller (Jay Ryan), wanted to plunder the land in other ways. Campbell was aligned with the diabolical Sandra Kirby (Sara Wiseman) and her big corporate money and clout. Sandra’s spoiled and inept son Lachie Kirby (Joe Klocek) promptly fell in love with Susie Lawson at first sight. That put a bit of a crimp in his mom’s plans.
Also in the story were Sharnie (Kylah Day) and Rich (Sam Delich), the two small time thieves and swindlers Marshall Lawson was hanging out with. Sharnie was in love with Rich. Or maybe she was in love with Marshall. It was a toss up.
Then there were the aboriginal people who actually owned the land. Uncle Bryce (Hamilton Morris) represented all the elders who knew about the sacred spaces on the Lawson station. Some of those spots were coveted by Sandra Kirby for greedy reasons. Keeley (Tuuli Narkle) represented the younger generation of aboriginal people who wanted schools and hospitals and modern infrastructure. Nolan (Clarence Ryan) was trying to build of a herd and cattle station of his own.
All these characters knew each other well. They were pretty stock characters for a Western. Robert Taylor didn’t have quite as big a Stetson as in Longmire, but he still had that cowboy silhouette. Anna Torv carried a lot of the emotional weight in the acting department.
There were plenty of scenes showing the beauty of Australia, plenty of cows and horses, the occasional sex scene or bar fight, and even an exciting gun battle between most of the characters.
There were a couple of shocking surprises in the story, but overall it was basic, entertaining, and engaging. For fans of Westerns and big messy family sagas, this will be a good choice.
All six episodes of Territory are available now on Netflix.
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