Claptrap disguised as clever drama (spoilers)

Multiple spoilers ahead, you have been warned...

After a very promising opening episode, it quickly became obvious to me that Charlie was not actually being haunted by Nate, but by his own inner demon: schizophrenia. But the series trivialises this with its pretense of Nate being 'in limbo'.

How do we know he's not really in limbo? Because he never once gives Charlie any information Charlie doesn't already know! Nate keeps saying "there's no easy answer, mate..." But in the final episode we find out that there actually was an easy answer after all and he could have explained it very quickly indeed. But he didn't - simply because Nate's ghost never existed other than in Charlie's imagination.

As if trivialising schizophrenia isn't enough, the final episode then goes on to trivialise another mental illness, bipolar disorder. In the final 15 minutes of the last episode it's revealed by Nate that he's suffered from bipolar for years - but if so, this would have become obvious to Freya many years ago - you just can't hide bipolar from those closest to you, because the depression and the mania are so pervasive that they take over your life.

So thanks to the silly writing, we have a series that's disingenuous to not just one but two mental illnesses and does absolutely nothing to educate the audience about either of them.

To be fair, there is some very fine acting in this series from the main cast, as well as some more stilted performances from the supporting cast (such as Freya's in-laws and mother). The direction and the cinematography are also first class.

It's the story itself - the writing, which lets it down. It's claptrap, disguised as what others are flippantly describing as clever Aussie drama.