Troppo: How a murderer and an alleged 'kiddyfidler' solving crimes makes for great television

There was a time when I could not see any difference between Thomas Jane and Aaron Eckhart. Oh, and let's throw Julian Sands in there too. But after Face/Off (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), and Thursday (1998), I was sure I was going to check out as much of his work as possible. Not a big fan of his Punisher (2004), but The Mist (2007) was fantastic, and he continued to play great parts in films like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) and The Expanse (2015).

In Troppo (2022), Jane plays Ted Conkaffey opposite Nicole Chamoun's Amanda Pharrell. Conkaffey is a former cop who moves to rugged North Queensland, hoping to escape the backlash of his jail time after being accused of kidnapping and molesting a little girl. He teams up with Amanda Pharrell, who has problems of her own. She is accused of murder, and because of this, she is an outsider in the village where she lives.

Both are severely damaged individuals, so when Pharrell knocks on Conkaffey's door to ask him to help with a case, their cooperation does not go smoothly, to say the least. But, of course, along the way, they start to understand each other, and mutual respect follows. Not only is it impossible to solve the case they are working on without each other, but they are also instrumental in solving their own cases that have been haunting them for years.

The landscape of North Queensland plays its own role and is an integral part of the atmosphere of the series. We get to see a lot of it as we cycle through it with Amanda because she "doesn't do cars." We'll find out later why...

Regrettably, not all of the series is as original as one would hope. Some situations or solutions we have seen before, but that does not take away from the fact that you should definitely check out the first two seasons of this series.

This series is a joy to watch. The combination of the two protagonists works really well, and the cases they take on are interesting enough, often giving an insight into the local communities. Together with a great supporting cast and the natural surroundings of the area, Troppo becomes more than an average watch.