“The Clearing” is a brand new Australian emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.

This is a dark, gritty and troubling series.  It’s the first original drama series created for Disney’s streaming services. It offers a unique drama series that shows the benefits of having creatives from around the world working on new original programming.  Being set in rural Australia, makes it feel very different from your typical drama series.

This series has an all-star cast, with Teresa Palmer (Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Unusual Suspects, Homeland) and Guy Pearce (Jack Irish, Mare of Easttown), which adds some gravitas to the show, with Teresa’s pure fear of the cult coming through in every scene she appears in and Miranda Otto providing us with a cult leader, who you just want to get their comeuppance.

It’s a very gloomy show, and it’s not easy to watch, especially as it involves children being tortured, beaten and worn down by the cult members.  This show isn’t going to be for everyone.   This feels like a mix between “Under The Banner Of Heaven” and the Australian series, “The Glooming”; it’s certainly uncomfortable viewing, but I know I want to see where this show goes, because the story is very intriguing and that’s what you want from a gritty thriller.

The series flips between the past and present, which is a little confusing in places, but generally with a slight visual difference and technologial differences, you can generally tell what timezone your watching.  But it also makes things even more complicated, as the things slowly unravel, but I doubt we will get the full picture until the end of the series, which is what you’d expect from a twisted thriller.

Overall, these first two episodes of “The Clearing” really set the tone for the story and its pretty bizzare, since the its such a weird storyline.  Seeing how the cult members treats one another, all in an effort to position themselves better within the cult is done in a way, to easily set up those characters we need to sympathise with, and those we should dislike or not trust.    If you want something a bit different, “The Clearing” could be for you, but its not an easy watch, but its compelling TV and I’m coming back next week for the next episode, because it got its hooks into me.

Rating – 4 Out Of 5

The first two episodes of “The Clearing” arrive on Hulu in the United States, Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ around the world on Wednesday, 24th May 2023, with new episodes being released weekly.

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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