TIDELANDS ★★★
Netflix.com.au

What will the international audience for whom it's clearly intended make of Tidelands? Well, the opening scene of Netflix' first Australian commission might well appeal to Quentin Tarantino. As a fan of Oz Schlock, he'd probably appreciate a babe in a skimpy bikini squeezing a chap's skull until his eyeballs pop. The next scene is straight out of Wentworth.

And then we settle into Tidelands' natural rhythm, which is a little confusing. On the one hand, striving for a high concept vibe. On the other, labouring under a script that delivers gems like this (following a handover gone wrong): "Tom's not happy. He needs drugs to sell." Or this classic: "I'm back. And I want what's mine."

Certainly the effort made to ensure the majority of the cast is hot and under 30 indicates a certain lack of faith in the material. (Never mind the quality – feel the abs.) But the show has its own weird charm. In fact, what it most feels like is one of those B grade Canadian fantasy/sci-fi series that have almost become a genre in themselves. And if Tidelands is unlikely to develop the intellectual ambition of, say, Orphan Black, it may well attain the cult/camp status of Lost Girl. Perhaps that's what everyone was aiming for all along?