The second season of the Australian cop drama centered on Zane Malik (Don Hany), a devout Muslim on the major crime squad in an ethnically diverse area of Sydney in the post-9/11 world, opens with the bombing of a delivery van of a printing business that has ties to white nationalists. The government suspects Muslim terrorists and assigns a national security agent (Gerald Lepkowski) to the investigation, who remains with the task force even after they trace the crime to the Russian mob. Malik, who clashes with the agent's anti-immigrant leanings, is sent undercover, where he finds links to human trafficking and sex slaves. Meanwhile, the team is faced with white nationalist attacks on the Muslim population, including the brutal torture of a schoolboy kidnapped in response to the bombing (which the public still assumes was the work of an Islamic extremist terrorist), and Zane's partner Sonny Koa (Aaron Fa'aoso), a native Pacific Islander, reaches out to help fellow locals avoid getting caught up in gangs and crime. The series gives squad commander Wright (Susie Porter) a larger dramatic role, although Koa remains an underused supporting character in this otherwise well-made show that tackles familiar themes such as the toll of police work on personal lives, along with racism, white nationalism, and extreme tactics used to prevent undocumented refugees from reaching Australia. East West 101 is grittier than the usual British and Australian cop drama. Compiling all seven episodes from the 2009 second season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
East West 101: Series 2
RLJ, 2 discs, 378 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 Volume 33, Issue 5
East West 101: Series 2
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