For the record, I liked Janet King even before I knew she doesn’t understand cricket either.
Now that I know, I like her more. It’s like we’ve bonded.
Janet King is a prosecutor played by Marta Dusseldorp in the Australian TV series cleverly named Janet King. Its third season becomes available Monday on the streaming service Acorn.
Janet’s quest for this eight-episode third season is to bust a multimillion-dollar sports betting ring that fixes games and plays so inside bettors will be sure to win.
Among the sports on which these high rollers bet is cricket, and as the season starts, Janet must question some players about a specific play in a specific match.
She knows what she thinks happened, but she doesn’t know that cricket officials are called umpires, not referees. She knows what one player had to do at a specific moment in a match, but she doesn’t know what it was called – that the misguided throw into which he had been intimidated was called a “wide.”
After being judiciously ridiculed by one witness who told her she should at least know the correct terminology for what she’s accusing players of doing, she decides to attend a match.
When she gets there, she’s just as confused as she was beforehand. She doesn’t understand innings or wickets or outs or any of it.
Not to suggest a first-rate television series is really about me, but I have to say that I feel Janet and I bonded in that moment. Cricket is, frankly, incomprehensible.
You could also swim from the U.S. to Australia in the time it takes to play a match.
Happily, the third season of Janet King has precisely the opposite characteristics of cricket. It’s a good tale well and cleverly told, and it moves at a gratifying pace.
Janet is serving as a lead prosecutor for the National Crime Commission, and as we join the story, promising young cricket player Oliver Pittman (Jamie Meyer-Williams) has committed suicide.
Janet’s theory is that he couldn’t take the pressure and the notoriety after reports began to circulate that he had thrown the suspicious “wide” in question.
She starts by questioning his teammates, including former captain Clay Nelson (Don Hany). Clay may have relayed the “wide” order from the gamblers to Oliver, so he would be the first step in making a case against the chiefs of the operation.
Keeping things interesting from the start, Clay’s attorney is Richard Stirling (Hamish Michael), Janet’s former colleague.
Also involved is Ashleigh Larsson (Aimee Pedersen, left, with Dusseldorp), who on the personal side, is Janet’s partner. Together they are raising the twins to whom Janet gave birth by IVF.
But the focus of Janet King is on the crime drama, which Janet handles with cool detachment and admirable competence. While eight hours may seem like a long time to chase one case, it will feel like the blink of an eye compared to a cricket match.