Like a sexy Miss Marple, the Australian series has a deft touch and a title character who would still count as a challenging woman today. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here. Phryne Fisher Essie Davis , lady detective, dons a beautiful outfit and sets out to solve the case.
Along the way she is helped out by a ragtag group of friends and companions. She flirts, she drops pithy one-liners, and ultimately brings the killer to justice. The episode almost always ends on an upbeat note.
I love it. Based on the book series by Kerry Greenwood, the show navigates difficult lines with expert precision. As a character Miss Fisher is unexpectedly unique. However, Miss Fisher brings together confidence, competence and a liberated attitude to gender roles and relationships. She has no qualms about breaking into crime scenes or inspecting dead bodies. She has casual sex in an era when even talking about contraception is taboo.
Even though the series is set almost years ago, watching it in she still feels like a character pushing against the seams of society. It was frustrating because this was the comfort show I craved most of all. It feels a bit weird saying that because β despite the fun and the glamour and the jokes β it is, at heart, a show about people being killed.
Is it bad to find comfort in a series ostensibly all about death? Adaptations of Agatha Christie books. The blood and guts and horror and gore varies wildly across them but they all share one crucial, addictive thing: resolution. I need the escapism of an alternate reality where things just always work out. Add in some lavish sets and elaborate s costumes and, for an hour at a time, the world feels like it makes sense. When the series finally popped back up this year I dropped everything else I was watching and started again from the beginning.
