Speaking as someone who went through this period I see this series as a mix of good, bad, and cringeworthy.
GOOD The slow development does an excellent job of building the sense of impending dread as skies darken and smoke builds. Actual footage was well integrated.
It also captured the bloody mindedness of some rural people who wanted to play the hero and stay and fight rather than evacate, and their misdirected anger directed towards emergency services and authorities dealing with the 200 days of rolling disaster.
I also liked the use of a QRFS crew to provide continuity between episodes.
BAD
Why were most of the general public characters so unlikeable? Unpleasant, self centred, pig headed, relationally dysfunctional. We needed a range of characters not just a negatively skewed representation.
The QRFS volunteers were portrayed as incompetent and unprofessional. Not matter how young and hormonal, volunteer fire fighters don't skive off in the middle of an operation for a romantic swim. Nor is it likely would a trained crew leader like Tash go to pieces in the middle of a burn over.
Fire fighters sent away on out of state deployments would be have experienced leadership, not the youngest people in the brigade.
Emergency services were shown as ineffectual, be they fire fighters or emergency leadership, when in reality they were very effective, saving hundreds if not thousands of lives, and thousands of of homes. People like Shane FitzSimmons, or the firefighters saving places like Nerriga or Balmoral?
CRINGEWORTHY
Episode 5's 4th wall breaking angry monologue about lack of leadership by one of the most selfish characters in the series was bad writing and unnecessary, especially when in the E6 episode when she is shown as a reformed character volunteering to be a firefighter, was perhaps the cringeworthy moment.
In short, don't bother.
See "A fire inside" instead.
GOOD The slow development does an excellent job of building the sense of impending dread as skies darken and smoke builds. Actual footage was well integrated.
It also captured the bloody mindedness of some rural people who wanted to play the hero and stay and fight rather than evacate, and their misdirected anger directed towards emergency services and authorities dealing with the 200 days of rolling disaster.
I also liked the use of a QRFS crew to provide continuity between episodes.
BAD
Why were most of the general public characters so unlikeable? Unpleasant, self centred, pig headed, relationally dysfunctional. We needed a range of characters not just a negatively skewed representation.
The QRFS volunteers were portrayed as incompetent and unprofessional. Not matter how young and hormonal, volunteer fire fighters don't skive off in the middle of an operation for a romantic swim. Nor is it likely would a trained crew leader like Tash go to pieces in the middle of a burn over.
Fire fighters sent away on out of state deployments would be have experienced leadership, not the youngest people in the brigade.
Emergency services were shown as ineffectual, be they fire fighters or emergency leadership, when in reality they were very effective, saving hundreds if not thousands of lives, and thousands of of homes. People like Shane FitzSimmons, or the firefighters saving places like Nerriga or Balmoral?
CRINGEWORTHY
Episode 5's 4th wall breaking angry monologue about lack of leadership by one of the most selfish characters in the series was bad writing and unnecessary, especially when in the E6 episode when she is shown as a reformed character volunteering to be a firefighter, was perhaps the cringeworthy moment.
In short, don't bother.
See "A fire inside" instead.