Tuesday 9 October 2012

Underbelly, Season 5: Badness - Review



The Story of Crime Boss; Anthony Perish and his Life of Crime







The Season 5 Finale of the popular Underbelly series has just finished airing in Australia and the DVD is now available to buy. Filming has already begun on Season 6 which details the life and times of Squizzy Taylor. This season's DVD will contain 8 episodes, plus I would imagine special features and information on the actors and characters. Not since Underbelly, Season 2 have I been so interested in the story being told. Season 3 was a monumental flop, most of which I found boring, and Season 4 told an interesting story that dated back to the 1920's, and into the 1930's, however this season's installment of the Underbelly series had me glued to my TV every week.



    



Underbelly; Badness showcased the talents of many awesome Australian actors, who enthralled critics and viewers with their outstanding acting; it was eight glorious hours of some of the best acting I have ever seen. Jonathan LaPaglia (Anthony Perish), Matt Nable (Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin) and Aaron Jeffrey (Frank O'Rourke) were all brilliant in portraying their characters, in-fact one critic reported that Aaron Jeffrey who was in 3-4 episodes almost stole the show with his portayel of Frank O'Rourke who was Detective Jubelin's key witness and informant during the investigation into Anthony Perish and his gang's involvement in the murder of Terry Falconer.







Having said that the series was not without flaw and several events were exaggerated as is done in many movies and TV series that are based on a true story. But based on the research I conducted after watching some of the episodes, wanting to find out more of the story, most of what was portrayed was pretty accurate. What kept myself and most viewers interested was the amount of time it took to catch Anthony Perish and his gang, which included younger brother, Andrew Perish. It took almost nine years to capture Anthony Perish, and then a further two years to convict him and Matthew Lawton of murdering Terry Falconer. Matthew Lawton, one of Perish's associates is in the process of an appeal. Anthony Perish still maintains that he is guilty of manslaughter only. Andrew Perish was convicted of conspiracy to murder.







The other fascinating facet of this story was how Anthony Perish managed to dodge the grid, and fly under the radar. He was unknown to police, and had no record of existence. For example; no record of phone accounts, credit history, no medicare number, no tax-file number and the list goes on. However when it became clear to viewers on how he made his living, it is understandable that he would want to leave no records around. 






Aaron Jeffreys who played Frank (whose real id was sealed by the court)



The other element that fascinated me was that he was from an area of Sydney where much of my family live. In-fact I am temporarily in Sydney at the moment and I recently found out that Anthony Perish hid out in a fibro-house just down the street from where I'm staying. The same house from the series where he and Matthew Lawton built a metal bunker to protect Anthony from anyone who wanted to shoot him in his sleep. This revelation was more than chilling; not to mention his brother owned some kind of produce business in Camden, which is a place I visit often to see family.






Senior Constable Camile Travis, dedicated to catching Anthony Perish



I have not bought the DVD for this series since Season 2 because I am sure not going to watch Season 3 or 4 again, however this was an Underbelly series I could watch again and really enjoy. It is eight episodes long, and  available in stores now.








What did you think of Underbelly; Badness? Sound off in the comments or connect with me via Twitter or Facebook to have your say.




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To read more of Janelle Coulton's articles, visit: http://suite101.com/janelle-coulton

Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

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