The Clearing - General Discussion

[AnimeMania]

The Clearing is an 8 episode Australian Drama TV Series with the first 2 episodes streaming on Hulu on May 24, 2023. This psychological and emotional thriller is based on the 2019 book "In the Clearing" by J. P. Pomare, a fictionalized account based on several cults with emphasis on the Australian New Age cult "The Family", also known as the "Santiniketan Park Association" or the "Great White Brotherhood", operating from the 1960s to the 1990s under the leadership of a yoga teacher, Anne Hamilton-Byrne.

The truth lies in between.

The Clearing burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare. When a local girl goes missing, it triggers a woman’s memories from her childhood as a member of "The Kindred",a religious cult wreaking human havoc, one of the few female led cults in history. Experience the nightmares of a cult survivor who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. 


Teresa Palmer as Freya, a woman offering to find the missing girls         

Miranda Otto as Adrienne, cult leader who abducts several young girls 
Guy Pearce as Dr. Bryce Latham, cult leader 

Julia Savage as Anna 
Erroll Shand as Henrik Wilczek
Anna Lise Phillips as Aunty Hannah Wilczek 
Hazem Shammas as Yusuf Joe Saad 
Kate Mulvany as Aunty Tamsin Latham 
Xavier Samuel as Colin Garrison 
Claudia Karvan as Mariam Herzog 
Mark Coles Smith as Wayne Dhurrkay 
Gary Sweet as Wilkes 
Harry Greenwood as Anton Beaufort 
Doris Younane as Christine 
Miah Madden as Max Dhurrkay 
Alicia Gardiner as Judith  
Jeremy Blewitt as Anton 
Matt Okine as Devon 
Ras-Samuel Welda'abzgi as Mo 
Chase Smith-Wood as Andrew
Lily La Torre as Sara / Asha
Flynn Wandin as Billy
Miah Madden as Max

[AnimeMania]

[AnimeMania]

The Clearing     May 24, 2023       Hulu    

Episodes 1-2   Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E01: The Season of Unfoldment

After Asha is kidnapped, her elder sister Amy teaches her the rules of Blackmarsh.

S01.E02: Kindred

Blamed for Asha’s bad behavior, Amy is forced to take LSD as part of her clearing for her sins.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Between the 2 timelines, I tend to focus more on The Kindred storyline. Miranda Otto is gracefully creepy as Mommy. The young actresses who play Amy and Sara/Asha, they’re good. They can hold their own while sharing the screen with someone like Otto.

That Sia wigs (platinum blonde bob with harsh bangs) really add another layer of creepiness to Mommy’s children. 

Freya’s story gives me anxiety and leaves me restless due to strong sense of foreboding. I continuously wait for something bad to happen to Billy. His mom’s paranoia is suffocating. And why is Freya lying to Joe about not knowing where Mommy is?

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[AnimeMania]

S01.E03: Suffer the Little Children

Police raid Blackmarsh to rescue the children. Wayne tells Freya their daughter might have run away.

Premiere Date: May 31, 2023    Hulu  

[NeenerNeener]

So I'm just watching this now on Hulu. Am I right in assuming they killed little Sara/Asha? 

[Straycat80]

I wasn’t sure about this series after the first episode. I was confused. But I stuck with it because it got better and things started coming together. 
I’ll continue watching. 
Yeah, they definitely killed Sara/Asha. And I hope ‘Mommy’ gets found out in the end and pays. 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E04: The Foundlings

Adrienne has been found in Paris while Freya sees Dr. Latham giving a talk on The Kindred.

Premiere Date: June 7, 2023      Hulu         

[Red Fields]

I just finished the third ep. Yeah, I think they killed Sara/Asha, poor little thing. If that is why Henrik is in jail, that is fine with me.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E05: Maitreya

Believing she has powers to walk through time, Dr Latham helps Adrienne form The Kindred.

Premiere Date: June 14, 2023      Hulu         

[AnimeMania]

S01.E06: The Pied Piper

Adrienne is extradited and Henrik is released from prison not revealing what happened to Asha.

Premiere Date: June 21, 2023      Hulu         

[AnimeMania]

S01.E07: This Too Shall Pass

Freya warns Adrienne she’ll have her arrested if she reforms The Kindred.

Premiere Date: June 28, 2023      Hulu         

[AnimeMania]

S01.E08: Island
(Season Finale)

Searching for Billy, Freya finds Adrienne on a private island relaunching The Kindred.

Premiere Date: July 5, 2023      Hulu         

[Snazzy Daisy]

The finale ties all loose ends - Asha’s death, Freya/Anton’s parentage, why Henrik admitted guilt & served time in jail and Adrienne Beaufort is getting arrested, again.

Overall, the storytelling of this gritty show is quite underwhelming. The Amy/Asha/Kindred plot is interesting but the Freya/PTSD story is VERY tedious. Not even Teresa Palmer‘s performance can make me invested in this plot.

[Straycat80]

I’m glad they at least answered all the questions I had in the finale but…I still don’t understand how Adrienne never spent any time in jail and why Amy and some of the other kindred stayed so devoted to her. She was such a monster. 
I did like this series even though it was too dragged out. 

[zengirl1215]

I liked it. I had figured out halfway through that Hannah/Henrik were Anton/Amy's parents because I kept thinking how much Freya (Amy) resembled Hannah. And being the two oldest and the fact their children were never shown separately from the group, it clicked. I also thought Mirando Otto did a fantastic job. 

[millennium]

I made it less than 1.5 episodes before I realized I wanted no part of a show that made me empathize with a beautiful child, then spend subsequent episodes nervously awaiting her execution.   Life's too short.