A fundamental issue in stories with noble intentions is often the writer can't get out of the way of the moral, zeitgeist messaging long enough to tell a gripping, viable story. The by-product of that can lead to ridiculous, convoluted or forced plot points to desperately generate some level of excitement. This suffers from both. But that's not the only problem with The Jetty. At least fifty percent of the scenes here feel inauthentic.
There are so few realistic human interactions throughout with most feeling like the writer was desperate to crowbar in witty and pithy one-liners at the expense of anything credible. The dialogue is clunky at best. Just as an example, at one stage Caitlin's mother delivers the line 'I told Caitlin you lock them in your bottom drawer'. Ember replies 'who?'. What kind of response is that!? 'Them' would clearly suggest an object. Or does Ember actually believe Caitlin locks people in drawers?! This might seem minor, but these clunks in dialogue are peppered throughout with characters jarringly delivering wax-lyrical lines in tense emotional moments in a way no actual human ever would.
That's one of the many issues with the main character. There's such a desperation to establish her as the edgy, hard-nosed cop and laid-back mother that the writer often forces those character traits into the scenes. Whether abusing the man who just had his building burnt down or swearing at a records clerk just doing his job or cracking open a beer for her teenage daughter, it just all feels plastic and forced.
These kind of actions and reactions by the protagonist as well as everyone involved rarely feel like genuine character moments, serving mainly to further the plot, but at the expense of logic. Town inhabitants who have seemingly known each other years, interact like they just moved there, purely to deliver exposition. As an example, the ending to episode 3, both in logistics and believability is derisible, not helped by the heavy-handed use of podcast sermon as a device to sledge-hammer home the message.
And message-wise there is undoubtedly a noble intent to shine a light on the dangers of toxic masculinity and how it can thrive in isolated smaller town settings, but everyone involved in this endeavour lacks the skills to translate that to the screen in a way that doesn't come across heavy-handed, agenda-fuelled or, worse still, preachy.
That said, it's not a complete misfire. There is a solid use of non-linear narrative and flashback device to effectively convey backstory, but the key issue is there's just nothing new to say here. Those few original moments come across more like random attempts at shock value (ever wished for a scene where an underage teenager gives hand relief to a horse. You're in luck!) and the less said about the ludicrous final reveal the better.
The overall problem is everything just feels trite and tired which is especially impressive and seemingly hard to achieve given the messaging itself is so timely.
