It all begins when former partner and ex-lover Lachlan McKenzie (Peter O'Brien) calls Winter to a small town where a local teen girl has mysteriously vanished into the night. As Eve begins to dig and question the locals, she discovers that a serial killer is lurking among them, and the entire town is stunned when a body dump site is unearthed with five victims. When Eve solves the case, Lachlan asks her to join a task force with him, which leads to the series and its six episodes.
Lachlan again calls Eve and her team out, including Milo (Akos Armont, Janet King) and Alesia (Antonia Prebble), when the body of Karly Johansson (Tessa Lind), a local young mother of two, is discovered on the rocks of the beach behind her home. Everyone is questioned, including her father, Bjorn (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), a local fisherman dying of cancer; her devoted mother Judith (Tara Morice); her loving older sister Lauren (Kate Mulvany) and Lauren's husband Travis (Trent Baines). Eve soon comes to discover that a young woman named Indiana Hope (Sara West) was gravely injured in a hit and run on the same night as Karly's murder and the women share matching tattoos. This leads Eve smack dab into Federal Agent Jake Harris (Matt Nable, Arrow), who is conducting a huge investigation on a local drug dealer and human trafficker and Indiana is his star witness.
As Eve, Jake and Lachlan work to connect all of the dots, it becomes clear that the criminal elements are always one step ahead of them, pointing to a mole in the department. As the bodies drop and the pieces fall into place, it will be a race against time to uncover Karly's murderer and stop them before more people die.
A main focus of Winter: The Complete Series seems to be family, whether it is Indiana's dysfunctional family situation, the family connections within the Johansson family, and also Eve's family history, which includes a sad backstory with her father, and her relationship with younger sister, Melanie (Rachel Gordon), a single mom and child psychologist who often helps Eve on cases, but has plenty of trouble raising her own teen son, Harry (Sam Fraser). We also get a peek into Eve's romantic life, whether it is through her past (and maybe future) relationship with old friend Lachlan or the new man in her work and personal life, rugged agent Jake.
Overall, Winter: The Complete Series is another solid Aussie cop drama offering from Acorn and I am disappointed that it only lasted the short stint that it did. Rebecca Gibney is great as Eve Winter and she's a character I enjoyed watching and found myself rooting for her, although she didn't really need it, as she was quite capable on her own. I like that Australian drama isn't afraid to put a beautiful, strong, middle-aged woman as the lead in a show, much like A Place to Call Home, and, again, isn't afraid to show all aspects of their lives, including romantic ones. Gibney may be in her early 50's, but she is still a beautiful woman and, as Eve Winter, knows exactly what she wants and gets it. If you are a fan of good cop drama, check out Winter: The Complete Series.
