The scene of the crime has changed—rural New Zealand has been replaced by downtown Sydney, Australia—but all the qualities that made Jane Campion’s feminist police procedural a must-see show four years ago are still very much present and correct in the follow-up: Elisabeth Moss, superb, as the troubled detective, Robin Griffin; an engrossing, vertiginous mystery for her to unravel; Campion’s acute emotional intelligence, sharp social conscience and keen cinematic eye. Plus Nicole Kidman bringing her exacting glamour to the role of a lesbian academic, the mother of the now-teenage daughter Robin put out for adoption as a baby.

When a suitcase washes up on Bondi Beach, visible human hair hinting at the contents, the chances of tracking down the killer appear slim. But this is not an isolated incident, and as Robin digs deeper, the net must be cast wider…

"Call it television, call it a six-hour movie, call it ‘the future,’ it doesn’t matter. Whatever the hell you call it, Top of the Lake: China Girl is as beautiful and soul-stirring as anything you’ll see on any kind of screen this year."—David Ehrlich, IndieWire