Holly Shanahan, Olivia Tennet, Damien Avery, Grant McFarland & Andrew Laing on "Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud" (2011)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Holly Shanahan, Olivia Tennet, Damien Avery, Grant McFarland & Andrew Laing on "Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud" (2011)

Episode #5 of the New Zealand miniseries "Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud," focused on the unraveling of the masterminds behind the drug New Zealand drug trade, as their dominoes began to fall. The episode was appropriately titled "Dominos." One of those dominoes was Julie Theilman, played by Olivia Tennet (Dr. K, RPM). Tennet's character gets confronted by her boss/boyfriend, Terry Clark for getting hooked on the drugs she's supposed to be transporting. Terry cuts Julie loose, but that doesn't stop her addiction. She meets an unpleasant end, along with her new boyfriend, both of whom get shot to death in this episode. Grant McFarland (Lothor and Sensei Watanabe, Ninja Storm) reprises his role as Piak, a powerful drug lord in Bangkok, who tries to help Marty Johnstone re-establish his business as it starts to fall apart. Piak guarantees he can get things back on track, but only if Marty is willing to put forth the money required to get it done. Marty agrees. McFarland appears in one scene of the episode. On the other side of the law, the drug task force found themselves struggling, thanks to the influence of the media on the criminal activity and the fact that their attempts to get the smugglers off the street always seem to be thwarted by their avoidance of prison. Holly Shanahan (Camille, Jungle Fury) continues in her starring role as Detective Carole Derwent, who remains torn by her separation from her partner, Max, and their children. She pays them a visit and Max asks her again to leave her job behind for the safety of her familiy, so they can be together again. Carole, however, vows to finish the job. Her comrade on the task force, "Goose" Gosling takes the team's setbacks personally, as he finds frustration from not being able to close the case. Damien Avery (Corporal Hicks, RPM) plays Goose, who also has to play mediator within the team, as his pal Ben (Carole's police partner) gets into a conflict with a female member of the team that he slept with, to try to get over his crush on Carole. After a night of drinking, Carole gets a drunken Ben to bed, leading to a kiss. Carole pulls away, telling him that she can't cheat. Andrew Laing (Master Lope, Jungle Fury; voice of The Master, RPM) also continued his role as task force boss, Detective Sergeant Mackenzie who informs the team of how quickly things are slipping out of their control.

Holly Shanahan