What do you get when you mix a bunch of amazing Australian actors, a story about morality and regret, and a bunch of sex scenes featuring Ryan Corr? The new Stan-exclusive television show Bloom. Now that I (and Ryan Corr) have got your attention let me explain: Bloom is the latest addition to Australian digital television’s takeover of the streaming service Stan – it began with Wolf Creek and Romper Stomper before ending up here with the supernatural-tinged, mystery drama set in Victoria and following the lives Gwen, Ray and the rest of their small rural town as they deal with the aftermath of a tragic event that occurred one year ago.
Bloom features some of the best talent Australia has to offer with Jackie Weaver playing Gwen and Bryan Brown playing Ray. Pheobe Tonkin and Ryan Corr also have major roles and star alongside the likes of Daniel Henshall, Sam Reid and relative newcomer Thomas Fisher. Bloom follows Ray who is harbouring obvious guilt about having to put Gwen into patient care due to her Alzheimer’s. The show begins with a tragic event occurring in their small town that claims the lives of five people, before flashing forward one year to the present day where the town is still reeling from the deaths. The story involves murder, pregnancy, claims of shape-shifting, a fair few scenes featuring the previously mentioned naked Ryan Corr with plenty of Aussie slang and swearing thrown in for good measure. And that’s all I’m going to say; it would be hard to discuss the story any further without giving away some major plot points and I would definitely recommend not Googling the show if you want to try and enjoy the suspense and plot twists.
Bloom does delve into some pretty heavy topics and doesn’t shy away from discussing them blatantly; from morality to regret and lack of self-awareness the show approaches these topics with the intention of making the audience stop and think about their own choices made in the past, the present and the ones you’re yet to make in the future. Deep, right? All of the characters – young and old – are put through situations that test their morality and challenge them and their actions and reactions. To be completely honest a lot of the characters are unlikeable, making decisions that you probably disagree with and then facing consequences that could have been avoided. It does however, force the audience to consider what their own reaction would have been and whether in twenty, thirty or forty years you would want to come back and undo them.
The deep and thought-provoking content could not, however, cover up all the plot holes and unfortunately, in a story as content-driven as Bloom it’s really noticeable when things don’t quite line up. Relying heavily on dialogue to explain some of the slightly complicated plot points of the show that they don’t want you to miss, Bloom then fails to answer some of the larger questions around inconsistencies that just don’t make sense. Phoebe Tonkin and Ryan Corr’s characters are affected by the same substance yet experience completely different personality reactions to it while Bryan Brown, our other main man, seems to be the only person that has no reaction at all; this substance and the subsequent reactions to it form a large part of the main storyline, and yet none of these diverse reactions are explained. It’s completely understandable that individual people will have diverse reactions to any substance (that’s not the bit I’m complaining about) but it seems like the show over-explains simple plot points and then fails to even try and explain these ones.
Overall though, Bloom is a good show based around a really interesting premise. I personally think that it would have benefit from a little more time on the drawing board, to fill in all the plot holes and connect all the dots. I think the story of Bloom would have made an excellent Aussie film but instead it makes an above average television mini-series.
Available now to stream on Stan.