The past two years has given us all plenty of time to binge watch television. It’s always interesting when you happen upon a show that features surfing in some capacity. We are always intrigued by how the mainstream elects to portray our subculture and in truth surfing has made cameos in tv shows since Gerry Lopez had walk on parts in the original Hawaii Five – 0 in the late 60s and 70s.
Netflix drama, Animal Kingdom, is set in the OC area of southern California and has a significant surfing dimension. Inspired by the Australian movie of the same name it focuses on a prominent crime family who perform daring heists at the behest of their mother, Smurf, played by Ellen Barkin. All four of the brothers (Baz, Deren, Craig and Poe) and their nephew, Josh, are surfers and each of the five series features plenty of time in the brine.
When the Cody brothers are not stealing and killing and causing trouble they like to act like laid back SoCal locals and enjoy a few waves. Sometimes the actors do their own surfing (badly but earnestly) while in other shots it’s obvious a surfing stunt double has been dialled in. In series five, Rob Machado makes his presence felt with a speaking part in a scene framed around an unsanctioned, downhill skateboard race.
It’s shot tastefully and the surfing references in the dialogue hit the mark for the most part. Surfing’s presence in the storyline gets ramped up when Deran Cody (played by Jake Weary), who is a career criminal trying to hide his homosexuality, begins a secret love affair with a professional surfer. All sorts of themes and issues are explored in this relationship dynamic and it proves to be one of the most intriguing aspects of the plot. If you wanted to pick to pieces the surfing references in Animal Kingdom you could but the show is frighteningly addictive and you will find yourself mind-surfing plenty of the SoCal waves in the background shots.
Animal Kingdom implies that surfing is something you do when you are a criminal with time on your hands between jobs.
For those who like the idea of surfing woven into the plot of a Nordic-noir crime drama then Twins (SBS on demand) is worth watching. Most of you will recognise Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane (leader of the Wildlings) from Game of Thrones. However, in Twins he plays brothers Adam and Erik. Set in the idyllic Lofoten islands, the series features plenty of incredible scenery and a couple of waves that almost make you want to go to Norway on a surf trip.
As for the plot, Eric is a broke, bohemian surfer while his twin brother Adam is a successful businessman. A dramatic event ensures that the story plays heavily on the kind of mischief you could get up to if you were an identical twin. Watch it for the scenery and the glimpses of surfing, stay for the polished acting and curious plot twists. If anything Twins plays on the surf-bum trope and implies that riding waves is something you do if you are a Norwegian drifter looking for an alternate life.
Halt and Catch Fire (SBS on demand) has almost nothing to do with surfing until season four. It is however, a high-quality program that didn’t get the recognition it warranted. Beginning in the 80s it charts the rise of the tech revolution, the internet and the computer age through a handful of characters. It sounds like a show made for computer nerds, but the series is riveting and features great writing. The Guardian called it The Best Show Nobody Watched. If you liked Mad Men you should dig this.
By the final season the tech entrepreneurs have all moved to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, to pursue their dreams. That’s when lead character Joe Macmillan decides it’s a good time to take up surfing. By then he is a tech millionaire and in a quirky moment a young hot-shot chasing a job has to track him down by visiting all the surf breaks in the Bay area. He finally catches up with him at Fort Point where a wally left famously breaks in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. Needless to say, Halt and Catch Fire implies that surfing is something you take up when you become a tech multi-millionaire.
