DVD: East West 101 – Series One

DVD Reviewed by The Evil Dr Sanchez, Esq.

Editor's Rating:  

(8 /10)

Starring: Don Hany, Susie Porter, William McInnes

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Based in Sydney’s suburbs and inner-city, East West 101 is a quality police drama that could hold its own against the likes of the ABC’s critically acclaimed Wildside, possibly thanks to some of the same production team being involved. Centring on the cases of the Major Crime Unit, EW 101 addresses issues of community and race in a post 9/11/Bali Bombings Australia.

Muslim cop Zane Malik (Don Hany – White Collar Blue) faces a constant struggle between the xenophobia that his people endure every day and the racist attitudes of old-school ‘bad cop’ Ray Crowley (William McInnes – Curtin), his immediate superior. If that weren’t enough, Malik also has to contend with his brain damaged father (Taffy Hany – Don’s dad) and the unsolved case of who shot him in a robbery-gone-wrong.

Hany and McInnes are both excellent in their chalk and cheese roles. McInnes’s Crowley provides such idiotic barbs as ‘You’re a mad Arab and I’m going to DO you’ and the usual ‘Towel-head’ and 'Dirty Lebo' anachronisms which hold up a mirror to the very real racist attitudes in our so-called multicultural society. Heny’s puppy dog eyes make him instantly appealing. But like any well-rounded character he has a breaking point. This becomes apparent when his loved ones are threatened and as he deals with his own guilt in relation to his father’s shooting. Even with such heavy weight leads, Taffy Hany manages to steal the show. His manic rants and delusions are amazingly convincing for a non-actor. Your heart goes out to him (for want of a better cliché), especially in one of the many scenes where you can see his character clearly feels trapped inside his now-faulty mind.

The series begins with an episode that could be happening on any day on any street in Australia in the current climate of racial paranoia. Two young men, both of ‘Middle-Eastern appearance’ are accused of robbery, leading to a police officer being shot. In a show of ‘They all look the same to me’ illogic, much of Officer Malik’s tight-knit community from the ages of 10-70 are rounded up as suspects and interrogated.

Without giving too much away, this bigotry leads to tragedy and establishes a theme that runs through the series: that blind hatred, especially based on race, can only end badly. Having said that, East West 101 does not preach to the converted or pontificate. The cases and human drama that unfolds is intriguing and at times jump-off-your-seat shocking while the line between good and bad remains blurred.

Criticisms? Well yes, I have a few (as Sid Vicious once kinda sang). Ironically, in a series that promotes diversity there are many sames. Despite perhaps being a ploy to reinforce Crowley’s dyed-in-the-wool conservatism, did they really have to make him wear the same thing every episode (ill-fitting blue collared shirt and outdated jacket)? Also, in terms of location, why are many of the pivotal wide scenes shot with the same mosque or church in view? And why did they use an external shot of the same pub for episodes three and five yet a noticeably different interior? Is the SBS budget that tight? Or am I just a pedantic trainspotter? Is ‘pedantic trainspotter’ tautology?

Possibly all of the above. Either way, and in spite of those reservations, East West 101 is well worth a squiz and a fine example of what the Australian TV industry can come up with when they actually engage their brains (Monster House, any one?) before their budgets.