Top Of The Lake

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Season 2
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 21
  3. Negative: 2 out of 21
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Critic Reviews

  1. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chuck Bowen
    Sep 5, 2017
    38
    This narrative passiveness scans less as psychosexual critique than as a case of writers getting lost in a thicket of obligatory happenstance.
  2. The Atlantic
    Reviewed by: Sophie Gilbert
    Sep 12, 2017
    30
    Set against this much more conventional backdrop, the holes in Campion’s detective story are clearer, but the story and the dialogue have been heightened to the point of absurdist theater, as if to compensate. ... The ending of the final episode points to a third installment of Top of the Lake, although at this point fans of the first season might be more inclined to pretend the second never happened.

Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Best TV Season of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
6.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 37
  3. Negative: 9 out of 37
  1. DamnedThing
    Sep 13, 2017
    2
    Having Elizabeth Moss in a show is usually a good sign that it's something worth investing a bit of time in, add in Jane Campion and it reallyHaving Elizabeth Moss in a show is usually a good sign that it's something worth investing a bit of time in, add in Jane Campion and it really ought to be interesting at he very least. I loved the first series - it was odd enough to be interesting and good at slowly unravelling the story in a way that was compelling. S2 starts off in a similar vein, but it's not long before the detective work starts playing second fiddle to an increasingly dumb and soapy drama. It's just awful. Nicole Kidman is utterly wasted in a role that wouldn't be missed if it ended up on the cutting room floor. Ditto for Gwendoline Christie's character's arc involving pregnancy - really, it's not enough to have a cop story about people smuggling surrogate mothers with the lead cop having daughter issues then being partnered with another female cop who's got her own pregnancy story with her and Moss's boss. No? Okay, throw in nearly every male character being needlessly misogynistic, some terribly clunky dialogue and wooden acting. There's usually a point in every long running soap opera where a killer is on the loose and a few favourite characters need culling because they cost too much and the network wants to stir things up. This is like those few episodes, except with better cinematography and a higher caliber of actor phoning it in.
    Moss is almost the best thing in it, but it's David Dencik who steals the show as the seedy Puss -
    he's the only one remotely believable as a character following his own destiny while everyone else makes dumb decisions because the plot needs them to. Pretty much everything else about this sucks.    … Full Review »
  2. temptershell
    Sep 14, 2017
    9
    Lighter mood with more sunshine and better-defined characters. Great and more recognizable actors and a very overwhelming investigation. I wasLighter mood with more sunshine and better-defined characters. Great and more recognizable actors and a very overwhelming investigation. I was waiting for a continuation long time and it was really worth it. It’s not only top of the lake, it’s top of crime series of XXI century.… Full Review »
  3. geewah
    Jan 23, 2021
    6
    There is a good story to be told here, but it gets lost amongst the implausible screenplay.
    Disappointing
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