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The Tourist review – Jamie Dornan is intense in explosively entertaining outback thriller

An Irishman wakes up in Australia with amnesia in this pulse-pounding series packed with humour and philosophical questions

F anging it down an outback road when he is rammed by a truck driver from hell, Jamie Dornan experiences a terrible accident that gives him amnesia – making him forget about all that bondage paraphernalia from Fifty Shades of Grey .

In the explosively entertaining six-part series The Tourist, created and written by Harry and Jack Williams, the Irish actor and former Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein studmuffin plays a louche loner who can’t remember who is he, what he is doing in Australia or why he appears to have “kill me” stamped figuratively speaking across his forehead.

Dornan joins a coterie of famous foreign actors who have been plonked in the thick of arid, unforgiving Australian land and left to fry in the sun for our dramatic amusement. See also: Gary Bond in Wake in Fright , who drank a lot of beer and went mad; Dennis Hopper in Mad Dog Morgan , who drank a lot of moonshine and went mad; Johnathon Schaech in Welcome to Woop Woop , who spent a lot of time with the locals and went mad; and soon to be Zac Efron in Gold, who, the trailer suggests, finds gold in them thar desert and then goes mad.

Come to think of it, Dornan’s character in The Tourist – billed as “The Man” – is pretty sane compared with these rather rabid fellows. He’s like Guy Pearce in Memento in that he’s determined but displaced (in this instance geographically as well as mentally) and constantly banging against the walls of his own mind. If the whole being rammed into near-oblivion wasn’t enough, “The Man” is also a mite concerned when, after meeting the friendly and charming Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin) at a diner, there appears to be another (rather spectacular) attempt on his life.

The show’s central mystery has something to do with a man who has been buried alive and calls “The Man” from inside a barrel, begging to be found post-haste. Director Chris Sweeney (who helmed episodes one to three, with Daniel Nettheim steering the others) shoves a camera inside a tight coffin-esque space, evoking memories of Ryan Reynolds in Buried.

A big, beefy, cowboy shirt-wearing villain emerges in Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), who whistles cheerfully but with absolute menace, his merry tune a harbinger of impending doom. In the series’ second half, Alex Dimitriades emerges as another prominent bad guy, hamming it up in super-villain style.

Certain characters aren’t who they say they are, though that does not apply to Helen Chambers – a fair dinkum what-you-see-is-what-you-get probationary constable battling with low self-esteem. She is superbly portrayed by Danielle Macdonald (who played the gossip columnist Lillian Roxon in I am Woman ), bringing loads of colour and detail to what could have been the simple sweet hick. Macdonald’s performance vividly contrasts with the rough and tough Dornan – also perfect in a high-intensity role as a man who is something of a blank slate, frightened by who he is or who he may be. There are philosophical questions about identity to ponder – if viewers pause for a breather and stop chewing their nails – including to what extent each of us are defined by our past actions.

There’s also an oddly good performance from the ever-reliable Damon Herriman, offsetting his recent menacing work by playing a detective inspector in a way that’s both funny weird and funny ha-ha, suiting the show’s quite dry approach to comedy. Many scenes are humorous in a cagey way, sans explicit signposting: at one point for instance we discover a traffic pile-up has been created by two turtles rooting in the middle of the road. Elsewhere, in the aftermath of an intense confrontation, in a shot one could imagine belonging to a Coen brothers movie, the show cuts to a framed picture on a wall bearing the following message: “LIFE IS MADE OF CHOICES. WIPE YOUR FEET OR SCRUB THE FLOOR.”

The Tourist is very well shot by Ben Wheeler and Geoffrey Hall (who was also the cinematographer for Chopper , Red Dog: True Blue and Eden ), with colour grading that’s a little off, a little sickly, as if the blues and greens (hard to find in arid outback) in particular have been poisoned from the inside. This is a clever way of visualising the feeling that something isn’t quite right. Sweeney and Nettheim (whose directorial work includes episodes of Halifax: Retribution , Tidelands and Line of Duty) establish a cracker pace that creeps, creeps, creeps up on you, then explodes with a great big thunderclap of action then creeps, creeps, creeps up again.

The “bugger me dead, it’s hot!” action-thriller, as it shall henceforth be known, is by now very familiar, but The Tourist is different: a pulse-pounder that feels fresh despite many genre elements, particularly of the neo-noir variety. The show has a great forwards and backwards momentum, contrasting cliffhanger moments with questions about the past and the ambiguities therein. It’s a vision of Australiana that’s less “ where the bloody hell are you? ” than who the bloody hell are you, and what the bloody hell will happen next? And – summarising my personal response – bloody hell, this is good.

• Australian television
• Jamie Dornan

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There’s a way to make a movie like "The Tourist," but Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck doesn’t find that way. Here is a romantic comedy crossed with a crime thriller, shot in Paris and Venice, involving a glamorous mystery woman and a math teacher from Wisconsin. The plot is preposterous. So what you need is a movie that floats with bemusement above the cockamamie, and actors who tease each other.

As the mystery woman, Angelina Jolie does her darnedest. She gets the joke. Here is a movie in which she begins in a Paris cafe, eludes cops by dashing into the Metro, takes an overnight train to Venice, picks up a strange man ( Johnny Depp ) and checks them both into the Royal Danelli without one wrinkle on her dress or one hair out of place. And is sexy as hell. This is the Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly role, and she knows it.

Depp is in the Cary Grant role of the obliging, love-struck straight man who finds himself neck deep in somebody else’s troubles. In theory, these two should engage in witty flirtation and droll understatement. In practice, no one seems to have alerted Depp that the movie is a farce. I refer to farce in the dictionary sense, of course: a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. Depp, however, plays his math teacher seriously and with a touch of the morose.

The plot involves — oh, hell, you know, the usual mystery man who has stolen millions from a gangster and gone into hiding while smuggling instructions to Jolie, his lover, instructing her to take the train to Venice, etc. And the cops from Scotland Yard who are tailing her in hopes of nailing the guy. And the gangster and his hit men who are also on the thief’s trail. And chases over the rooftops of Venice, dinner on a train, a scene in a casino, designer gowns and a chase through the canals with Jolie at the controls of a motor taxi, and...

Well, there was really only one cliche left, and I was grateful when it arrived. You know how a man in a high place will look down and see a canvas awning that might break his fall, and he jumps into it? Yep. And it’s shielding a fruit cart at the open-air market and he lands on the oranges and runs off, leaving the cart owner shaking his fist. This is a rare example of the Vertical Fruit Cart Scene, in which the cart is struck not from the side but from the top.

The supporting roles are filled by excellent actors, and it’s a sign of the movie’s haplessness that none of them make a mark. You have Paul Bettany and Timothy Dalton as cops, Steven Berkoff as the gangster and Rufus Sewell as "The Englishman," who must be important because he hangs around without any apparent purpose. Once in London, I saw Berkoff play a cockroach in his adaptation of Kafka’s "Metamorphosis." It might have helped if he’d tried the cockroach again.

A depressing element is how much talent "The Tourist" has behind the camera. Writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck made " The Lives of Others ," which won the 2007 Oscar for best foreign film. The screenplay is by Christopher McQuarrie (Oscar winner for " The Usual Suspects ") and Julian Fellowes (Oscar winner for " Gosford Park "), along with von Donnersmarck. It’s based on a French film written by Jerome Salle , which was nominated for a Cesar. All three "Tourist" writers seem to have used their awards as doorstops.

It doesn’t matter that the plot is absurd. That goes with the territory. But if it’s not going to be nonstop idiotic action, then the acting and dialogue need a little style and grace and kidding around. Jolie plays her femme fatale with flat-out, drop-dead sexuality. Depp plays his Wisconsin math teacher as a man waiting for the school bell to ring so he can go bowling. The other actors are concealed in the shadows of their archetypes. Cary Grant would have known how to treat a lady.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Tourist (2010)

Rated PG for violence and brief strong language

103 minutes

Paul Bettany as Acheson

Rufus Sewell as Englishman

Steven Berkoff as Ivan

Angelina Jolie as Elise

Johnny Depp as Frank

Timothy Dalton as Jones

Directed by

• Florian Henckel
• Christopher McQuarrie
• Julian Fellowes

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'The Tourist' doesn't know who he is — just that someone wants him dead

John Powers

In The Tourist, "The Man" (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback with no idea who he is or how he got there. HBO hide caption

In The Tourist, "The Man" (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback with no idea who he is or how he got there.

Ever since the birth of mass communications, our culture has been haunted by the idea of amnesia. In high-class books by the likes of George Orwell or Milan Kundera , forgetting becomes a political metaphor for the erasure of truth. Things are less ambitious in pop entertainments like Memento or the Jason Bourne series . There, memory-loss is less a metaphor than a motor — a gimmick to drive the story forward.

This motor purrs like a Ferrari in The Tourist , a hit BBC series playing on HBO Max. Written by the Williams brothers, Harry and Jack — best known here for The Missing and Baptiste — this funny, suspenseful six-part thriller doesn't merely keep us guessing. It keeps its amnesiac hero guessing, too. He knows even less about his own story than we do.

A bearded, muscled-up Jamie Dornan stars as a T-shirt clad Irishman who gets in a car accident and winds up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback. Known simply as "The Man," he doesn't know who he is or how he got there. But soon after he leaves the hospital, he knows one thing for sure: Somebody wants to kill him.

As he seeks to find out who's after him and why, he's helped by two very different women. Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is a waitress who we aren't quite sure what to make of. In contrast, it's easy to trust probationary constable Helen Chambers, played by Danielle Macdonald. Helen's a newbie cop who struggles with her weight and with a fiancé who speaks of her appearance with such passive-aggressive meanness that I kept hoping he'd become one of the show's murder victims.

While The Man's search for his identity is grippingly plotted, the show lets the action breathe. It takes time to enjoy his encounters with a wide range of oddball types, be it a goofy chess-playing pilot, a Greek mobster, the affably nutty woman who offers him lodging, or the enormous, cowboy-hatted hitman who has the self-satisfied theatricality of an escapee from a Tarantino movie. That said, The Man knows he must keep moving to stay alive.

For all The Tourist 's inventiveness — Episode 5 is a trip — it reminds us that even good pop culture is often derivative. The show's opening car crash sequence mimics the Steven Spielberg movie Duel . More importantly, the Williams brothers are pretty clearly doing a Down Under riff on Fargo . Their series offers the same blend of violence and barbed humor, the same mythologizing of bleak, underpopulated places, and the same cavalcade of viciousness and folly that brings out the heroism in an ordinary person.

The show's moral center is Helen, who, in Macdonald's sensational performance, has our sympathy from the get-go. Her work is so scene-stealingly good that I would call this a career-making performance if I hadn't already said this about Macdonald's electric work as an aspiring New Jersey rapper in the indie film Patti Cake$ .

Helen's transparent goodness makes her the perfect counterpoint to The Man, a handsome hunk who's a mystery, even to himself. It's a great role for Dornan, who, earlier in his career, had a slightly synthetic prettiness that made him ideal for creepy characters like the S&M billionaire in Fifty Shades of Grey . Here, he's a bit older, thicker, and rougher. And just as Brad Pitt often seems liberated when his good looks are masked a bit, Dornan gives his best performance as a man who isn't sure whether or not he's the hero of his own life.

Over the course of the six episodes, The Man struggles to learn whether, back before his accident, he was a good guy or a bad guy. And if he had been a villain, does he have to stay one, even after he starts remembering his past? I won't reveal what he discovers, though I feel obligated to say that you won't get a definitive answer this season. You'll have to watch Season 2 of The Tourist , not yet made, which I bet you will be more than happy to do.

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• Why <i>The Tourist</i> Should Be Your Next Netflix Binge–And What to Know Before Watching

Why The Tourist Should Be Your Next Netflix Binge–And What to Know Before Watching

T ake a break from endlessly scrolling through Netflix searching for something new to watch and just press play on The Tourist, the BBC series which stars Jamie Dornan as a mysterious Irishman who wakes up in an Australian hospital with amnesia.

The wry thriller isn’t necessarily new—it premiered on the BBC in 2022 and quickly became one of the U.K.’s most-watched dramas of that year—but it is a recent addition to Netflix, which acquired the exclusive rights to the series last year and started streaming it in February. (Season 1 of The Tourist was previously available to stream in the U.S. on Max.) 

At just six episodes, The Tourist is a low-risk, high-reward viewing experience full of twists and turns that are sure to keep you on your toes. Think Memento if directed by the Coen Brothers . Even better, if you like what you see, you can launch right into season 2, which is now streaming.

Here is what you need to know about your next great Netflix binge . 

What is The Tourist about?

The Tourist begins with an Irish guy (played by Dornan) making a pit stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, Australia. Nothing seems too out of the ordinary; he fills up his car, questions the gas station attendant’s bathroom key policy, visits the absolutely filthy restroom, and is on his way. But things get weird once he gets back on the road. He finds himself being harassed by a tractor trailer that seems hellbent on mowing him down. Just when it appears that he’s in the clear, he’s T-boned by the truck and left for dead on the side of the dirt road. 

When he wakes up, he’s in the hospital and has no memory of the accident or who he is. He doesn’t have a wallet or ID or phone on him to help jog his memory. This nameless man is now a tourist in his own life, struggling to understand who he was and why someone wanted him dead so badly. With help from a few kind, but not necessarily trustworthy strangers including Probationary Constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), local waitress Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin), and Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers (Damon Herriman), he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leaves him with more questions than answers about his dark past. 

Why it’s worth your time

Let’s start with Jamie Dornan. He played the leading man in the Fifty Shades trilogy and the Academy Award-nominated 2021 drama Belfast , but The Tourist feels like the first time he’s been able to truly show his range as an actor. It’s hard to resist that Irish brogue, but it’s even harder to resist his “ get you a man that can do both ” charm. Fans of the superbly silly Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar already know how funny he can be—not to mention, what a great singer he is. But The Tourist lets him show off his dry, dark wit, while also letting him show off his romantic side. By the end of the series, you’ll be left wondering why he hasn’t yet been cast in a good rom-com. (Sorry, not sorry Wild Mountain Thyme .) In the show’s most gripping action sequences, he manages to channel another amnesiac with killer instincts, Jason Bourne. But thanks to his hangdog expression, Dornan is also able to pull off the existential dread his character feels after realizing he’s not the person he hoped he would be.

Obviously, it’s hard to take your eyes off Dornan, but the scenery in The Tourist isn’t too bad to look at either. The show, set in the Australian outback—like way, way out back—was filmed on location in South Australia around Adelaide, a city known for its coastline. (Adelaide's North Haven Beach serves as the show’s stand-in for Bali’s Kuta Beach.) It was also shot in the Flinders Ranges , the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, and in Peterborough, a small town in an area near Adelaide known as wheat country, which stood in for the sandy outback scenes. (Season 2 takes place in Ireland, so prepare yourself for greenery as far as the eye can see.) Despite all the drama onscreen, The Tourist makes Australia look like a nice place to visit.

What to remember before watching The Tourist season 2

Whether you’ve already finished the first season and need a bit of a refresher or you’re planning to skip straight to Season 2, this is what you need to know before watching the second season. 

Warning: major spoilers for The Tourist Season 1 ahead.

The Irish guy with amnesia is actually Elliot Stanley, and he’s done some really bad things in his life. 

While in the hospital, Elliot finds a note in his pants pocket with an address for a diner in a tiny town called Burnt Ridge. It’s there he meets Luci (Brune-Franklin), a waitress who is actually his ex-girlfriend. She only chooses to tell him his name and their relationship to one another after they discover a man’s dead body stashed in an oil drum that had been buried. The man was Marko (Damien Strouthos), who, like Elliot, worked for Kostas (Alex Dimitriades), an international drug lord and Luci’s fiancé.

Luci isn’t exactly who she claims to be. She’s a scammer who stole a rather sentimental bag of money from Kostas in order to run off with Elliot. Now the Greek gangster is back to collect. But Kostas isn’t all that interested in the cash; a million dollars is chump change to a guy like him. This is about ego. Kostas, a maniac who spikes his water with LSD to be able to speak with his dead brother, wants to punish Elliot for successfully stealing his girl.

Kostas decides to kidnap the wife of Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers (Herriman) in hopes that it will scare the decorated officer into doing his bidding. It does; Lachlan apprehends Elliot and kills a young sergeant in the process, becoming one of the bad guys. But is Elliot also a bad guy? Probationary Constable Helen Chambers (Macdonald), the ambitious cop-in-training assigned to his case, doesn’t think so. She believes the fact that he was willing to save her from being shot by Kostas’ henchman means there is good in there somewhere, even if he has done bad things. But Elliot isn’t convinced that someone can really change. 

After drinking from Kostas’ LSD-laced water bottle, he has visions that offer some insight into who he may have been. He sees his first meeting with Kostas, where he’s hired as his accountant. He is able to relive his meet-cute with Luci and sees how toxic their relationship was. He discovers where he buried the bag of money and dreams of laying in bed with Helen. He also speaks to a Russian woman named Lena Pascal, who he’s seen before in his dreams. She tells him she’s in Adelaide and claims that she can help him “fill in the colors” of his past. 

Elliot worries that what he has seen aren’t memories, but hallucinations. When he finds the bag of money in the same spot he had envisioned it though, he believes that Lena may be real, too. Unfortunately, he can’t go looking for her just yet. After Kostas and Luci are killed in a shootout over the million dollars, Lachlan lies to the police in hopes of saving himself. He claims that Elliot and Helen kidnapped him and went on a shooting rampage à la Bonnie and Clyde, killing the young sergeant. Luckily, Helen is able to access the CCTV footage that shows Lachlan transporting Elliot in handcuffs, catching him in his lie. It saves both her and Elliott from going to jail and allows Elliot a chance to speak with Lena, who was not a figment of his imagination—though after their chat he wishes she was.

When Lena comes to meet him at the jail, she reveals that he wasn’t just Kostas’ accountant as he had dreamt, but helped train the drug mules, mostly young immigrant women who swallowed bags of heroin to transport across the globe. Lena tells a story of two girls who died instantly after the bags Elliot gave them exploded in their stomachs. Lena lived, but not without literal scars. She shows him the long gash across her stomach where she was cut open to retrieve the drugs. She claims Elliot was the one who ordered her to be butchered, worried the heroin would go to waste. He apologizes for his cruelty, but she doesn’t absolve him of his guilt. “You have to live with yourself,” she tells him as she leaves.

Elliot doesn’t think he can and attempts to have himself arrested, but Lena won’t press charges. He then attempts to lose his memory again by getting into another car crash. He flips his car over, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work. He can’t forget what Lena told him and neither can Helen, who after learning the evil that Elliot was capable of decides she can no longer see him. But she can’t stop thinking about him and wondering whether he or anyone should be defined by their worst mistakes. 

Elliot wonders the same, but the guilt is just too much. He decides that he can no longer live with himself and attempts to take his life with vodka and pills. Laid out on his bed, waiting to die, he gets a text: a burrito emoji from Helen.

The burrito references a scene earlier in the show, when Elliot and Helen were eating together in a Mexican restaurant. Helen is his hostage, but the night plays out like a first date. Elliot can’t remember what kind of food he likes so she suggests they order everything on the menu so he can figure out his taste now. She encourages him to stop thinking about who he was and start becoming the person he is meant to be. He later tells her that he equates burritos with happiness and her text becomes a lifeline. He might not be able to forget what he’s done, but she believes he has the capacity to change. The joy on his face when he sees her message makes it seem as if Elliot finally believes he can change too. But fans will have to wait until Season 2 to see if he’s able to become a better person.

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'The Tourist' is topping Netflix charts. Meet the cast and who they play

• "The Tourist," starring Jamie Dornan, is now available on Netflix in the United States.
• The second season of the show will premiere on Netflix on February 29.
• Here's the show's main cast and who they play.

"The Tourist" is an Australian-set thriller series starring Jamie Dornan — and as of this month, it's available on Netflix in the United States.

Dornan plays a man who, after a road accident, wakes up with amnesia in Australia. Without knowledge of his identity, he has to figure out who he is, why he's there, and how he ended up in the hospital. He's joined by Probationary Constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), who continues to investigate even as things become more dangerous.

The show premiered in 2022 on BBC One, Australian streaming service Stan, and Max in the United States. Netflix picked up the show after Max dropped it , and the second season is set to hit the platform on February 29 (season two already premiered on BBC One and Stan in January).

Here's the main cast of "The Tourist" and who they play.

Jamie Dornan plays the Man.

Dornan stars in "The Tourist" as a man who, after getting hit by a truck, wakes up with amnesia. From that point, he attempts to discover who he is — and why someone is trying to kill him.

Dornan is an Irish actor known for films like "Belfast" and the "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise.

Danielle Macdonald plays Probationary Constable Helen Chambers.

Helen Chambers is an officer who meets the Man after he wakes up, and ends up investigating his case.

Macdonald is an Australian actor known for films like "Patti Cake$" and "Dumplin'."

Shalom Brune-Franklin plays Luci Miller.

Luci Miller is a waitress who the Man encounters after he loses his memory. She turns out to have information about his past.

Brune-Franklin is an Australian actor known for television series like "Our Girl" and "Doctor Doctor."

Greg Larsen plays Ethan Krum.

Ethan Krum is Helen's fiancé, who wants her to prioritize their relationship over her investigation.

Larsen is an Australian comedian who was a correspondent on the Australian comedy series "Tonightly with Tom Ballard."

Victoria Haralabidou plays Lena Pascal.

Lena Pascal is a woman who has information about the Man's past.

Haralabidou is a Greek-Australian actress who was born in the USSR. She has appeared in films including "The Drover's Wife" and TV series like "The Leftovers."

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson plays Billy Nixon.

Billy Nixon is another person who appears to have ties to the Man's past, attempting to visit him at the hospital after he loses his memory.

Ólafsson is an Icelandic actor known for films like "The Deep" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Alex Dimitriades plays Kosta Panigiris.

Kosta Panigiris is a Greek man who is also seeking out the Man.

Dimitriades is an Australian actor known for "The Heartbreak Kid" and its spinoff series "Heartbreak High."

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Tourist’ On Netflix, Where Jamie Dornan Plays A Man Without His Memory Trying To Outrun His Past

Where to stream:.

• The Tourist

What would you do if you lost your memory? Not just what you had for breakfast, but all sense of who you are and who is in your life? Then you find out that someone really, really wants to see you dead? That’s the idea behind the new Netflix series, which originally ran on HBO Max back in 2022.

THE TOURIST : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of the arid environment in the Australian Outback. A tiny car drives down an empty road.

The Gist: A man (Jamie Dornan) stops for gas; he’s wearing a generic “AUSTRALIA” tourist t-shirt. He has no idea why the attendant at the station makes him sign out for the bathroom key. We see him come out the back door of the bathroom, next to the Dumpsters.

As he’s driving on the seemingly empty road in his tiny Mazda, a massive tractor trailer bears down on him. When the tractor trailer rams the man’s car, he realizes it’s not just an aggressive driver. After a long chase over some rough terrain, the man thinks he’s gotten away from the truck, when the truck slams into him, causing the tiny car to roll over a few times.

The man wakes up in the local hospital, surprisingly not severely injured. However, he has no idea who he is or what he was doing. He doesn’t even remember his own name. He can recall a song title when he’s in an MRI machine, but that’s about it.

A friendly local cop, Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), goes to his room to take a statement. She is a bit uncomfortable with the man’s lack of memory, but ends up being reassuring to an extent. The only thing he finds in his possessions is a note to meet someone the next day at a diner in a nearby town. Helen says she’ll look into that.

We follow Helen home and see that, like most of us, she has issues with her weight, not the least of which is exacerbated by her fiancé Ethan (Greg Larsen) and their upcoming wedding.

Another thing we see is someone buried underground. Desperate to get out of whatever box he’s been put in, he tries to call someone on his phone, but no one is answering.

The man goes outside to get air, but gets lost inside the hospital, scaring him senseless. He decides to check himself out of the hospital the next day, against medical advice, because he needs to go to that diner and find out just who wanted to meet him there. Helen understands why he wants to do it, and gives him a bus ticket to get there.

At the diner, he meets a waitress named Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin), who seems to be fascinated by his amnesia. When she spills lemonade on him, she takes him out to where there are bathrooms. Just then, there’s an explosion, right in the booth where he was sitting. He wonders aloud why in the world someone is trying to kill him.

Pictures from a disposable camera found at the crash site help him retrace his steps, as well as video from the gift shop he visited. It brings him back to the gas station and its bathroom. He doesn’t find out his name though, as he signed the key sign-out sheet as “Crocodile Dundee.” But he finds something else; a stuffed koala that he hid next to the Dumpster. Much to his surprise, it starts ringing.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Take the movie  Memento and cross it with the quirkiness of the first season of the  Fargo series, and you’ve got the vibe of  The Tourist.

Our Take: The Tourist , written by Harry Williams and Jack Williams ( The Missing, Fleabag ) looks like it’s a complex show with a twisty plot, but when you really take a close look, it’s pretty straightforward. Dornan’s character has no idea who he is; all he knows is that someone wants to kill him. With the help of Helen and others, he’ll try to piece things together before those that are after him, including Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), the whistling man who almost squashed him in the tractor trailer, catch up to him.

In the first episode,  The Tourist  evolves from what seems like a thriller to a more personal narrative. It’s why we get involved in Helen’s life when she’s off-duty. In a Weight Watchers-style meeting, she claims she doesn’t like her body, even though everyone is yelling about body acceptance. But it also feels like she’s more there because of her fiancé than anything else. So even though Helen knows her name, who’s in her life and what she does, she also hasn’t found herself. Plus, she seems to be made to feel guilty about just about everything.

Perhaps as she gets more involved in the life of Dornan’s character, the more she will figure out who she is. At least that’s what we hope, because Macdonald is utterly charming as Helen, who is very much in the vein of Allison Tolman’s portrayal of Molly Solverson in the aforementioned  Fargo. She’s good at her job, even if she’s a bit green, but also is a friendly and helpful sort who needs to help herself most of all.

There is definitely a bit of a sense of humor running the first episode, but the Williamses aren’t trying to make the show quippy. The humor is there when people seem to be fascinated with Dornan’s character’s amnesia, though he assures them it’s no picnic. The humor creeps in along the edges of the show, but it does just enough to ease what is a pretty serious and grim performance by Dornan.

There is one twist near the end of the episode that we won’t spoil here, but it does make us wonder if, as things get more complicated for Dornan’s character (notice we haven’t named him yet, because the character has none as yet), the plot will become more convoluted. We hope not, as it seems the straightforward manner in which this story is being told suits  The Tourist just fine.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: When the stuffed koala starts ringing, the man digs out a burner phone and answers it. When the man who’s buried starts yelling in relief that he answered, the man says, “Uh, who’s this?”

Sleeper Star: Shalom Brune-Franklin does some compelling work as Luci, and we know that she’s much more involved in this story than most of the first episode lets on.

Most Pilot-y Line: Nothing we could find.

Our Call:  STREAM IT.  The Tourist  hooked us in with its story, plus the performances by Dornan, Macdonald and Brune-Franklin. Let’s hope the story continues to be interesting as the season goes on.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

• Jamie Dornan
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Season 1 – The Tourist

Where to watch, the tourist — season 1.

Watch The Tourist — Season 1 with a subscription on Netflix.

What to Know

Jamie Dornan makes for a compelling guide through The Tourist , a beguiling drama that deepens its mystery with solid shocks and welcome moments of levity.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Jamie Dornan

Danielle Macdonald

Helen Chambers

Shalom Brune-Franklin

Luci Miller

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson

Billy Nixon

Geneviève Lemon

Danny Adcock

More Like This

Critics reviews, season info.

Full Cast of The Tourist 2024 Series on Netflix- Every Main Character & Actor In Jamie Dornan Show (Photos)

Season 2 of The Tourist involves a mostly fresh cast compared to its freshman run.

The first season of the hit BBC series, which is now streaming on Netflix , saw Jamie Dornan’s unnamed man wake up in the Australian outback with no memory of who he was. After plenty of twists and turns, with some fatal consequences, audiences now know that his real name is Elliot Stanley, and he was not the best of dudes.

Now, 2024's Season 2 sees the story go to Ireland, where audiences will hopefully learn even more memories its leading character has forgotten.

The Main Cast and Characters of The Tourist 2024

Jamie dornan - elliot stanley.

While Jamie Dornan's Tourist character was first known only as The Man, who awoke with amnesia in Australia, audiences now know his name is Elliot Stanley. He is now happily with Helen Chambers as the duo explores the world together.

Eventually, Helen brings up the idea that they should visit Ireland to remember more about his past. Little did they know this would put them in the line of fire with a deadly feud involving the McDonnell family.

Many will know Dornan from his time in the Fifty Shades of Gray franchise, but he has also played key roles in The Fall , A Haunting in Venice , and Belfast .

Danielle MacDonald - Helen Chambers

After the events of Season 1, Danielle MacDonald’s Helen Chambers decided to leave her former partner (who was rather manipulative) and instead explore the world with Elliot Stanley.

Season 2 picks up on one of their latest stop, Ireland, which is particularly important to Elliot’s undiscovered past. This detour proves to be a little more dangerous than either realized.

Some of MacDonald’s previous credits include Bird Box , Unbelievable , and Dumplin’ .

Greg Larsen - Ethan Krum

Ethan Krum, played by Greg Larsen, is the former boyfriend of Helen Chambers. The two are now separated, even if he is finding that a little hard to accept.

We Interrupt This Broadcast , Hug the Sun , and At Home Alone Together are some of the actor’s previous credits.

Olwen Fouéré - Niamh Cassidy

Olwen Fouéré’s Niamh Cassidy is the head of the family feuding against the McDonnells. She has been described as “very intriguing and enigmatic” and having “a performative element to her.”

Fouéré can also be seen in 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre , The Northman , and Mandy .

Mark McKenna - Fergal McDonnell

Unlike the rest of his family, Mark McKenna’s Fergal McDonnell is not as interested in continuing the bloodshed and revenge as part of this never-ending feud. As the youngest member of the McDonnells, Fergal struggles to find his place in the world.

McKenna previously played parts in Overlord , One of Us Is Lying , and Wayne .

Francis Magee - Frank McDonnell

Despite being the cold, authoritative voice of the McDonnell family, Francis Magee's Frank McDonnell is the more considerate of the bunch. He is not the shoot first and ask questions later type of guy, but he will do what needs to be done.

Magee can also be seen in Then You Run , Kin , and Layer Cake .

Diarmaid Murtagh - Donal McDonnell

Diarmaid Murtagh brings to life Donal McDonnell, the eldest brother of his family and one of the most involved in the feud.

The actor also appears in Vikings , Bloodlands , and Outlander .

Nessa Matthews - Orla McDonnell

Orla McDonnell, played by Nessa Matthews, takes after her brother Donal for being a brutal force on nature when it comes to getting things done.

The Tourist is Matthews’ biggest onscreen role to date.

Conor MacNeill - Detective Ruairi Slater

Conor MacNeill portrays Detective Ruairi Slater, who becomes entangled with Helen amidst the two warring families that the story focuses on. Slater is dealing with some mental health issues of his own and isn’t afraid to bend the rules a bit.

Fans might know MacNeill from his work on The Sixth Commandment , Industry , and No Offense .

Réginal Kudiwu - Monsieur Tioté

Réginal Kudiwu plays Monsieur Tioté, a new character who shows up in three episodes of Season 2.

Tioté’s previous roles include Crime , Anna , The Widow , and more.

The Tourist Season 2 is already streaming on the BBC iPlayer and set to hit Netflix for the rest of the world on February 29.

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What the Hell Is Going on With the Whale in 'Palm Royale'?

So, karma is a whale?

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Palm Royale Episode 8.

The Big Picture

• Maxine's encounter with a beached whale in Palm Royale inspires emotional growth and a major realization.
• Evelyn becomes mesmerized by the whale, leading to potential changes in her life.
• The whale symbolizes connection, change, and potential new beginnings for both Maxine and Evelyn.

Palm Royale takes a somewhat cynical view of society as it portrays the insistent blackmail, bribing, and illegal activity of the upper-class citizens of Palm Beach. As Maxine ( Kristen Wiig ) tries to work her way into upper-class society using the illness of her husband's wealthy aunt, Norma ( Carol Burnett ), as an excuse, the ruthless society is determined to keep her out, and Norma is set on killing her . This lends itself to a rather serious plot despite Maxine's constant positivity, but the series includes a strange plotline in Episode 8, "Maxine Saves a Whale." The whale in the title is literal as a beached whale threatens the party Maxine is staking her reputation on . Yet the whale is more than an obstacle as it inspires a major realization for the lead character.

As the giant whale flops on the beach, it enthralls Evelyn ( Allison Janney ), a normally level-headed and refined woman. More importantly, it pushes Maxine to learn about the creatures and form an emotional bond with them, making the outlandish storyline important to the character's development. But what does the whale mean exactly? Because, at first, Maxine is more concerned for her party than the whale, and that is more in line with the series. However, with Evelyn's out-of-character obsession and Maxine's change of heart, the whale becomes much more, foreshadowing major changes . While, initially, it seems Palm Royale jumped the shark (or whale), it's actually a critical moment in the story.

Palm Royale

Chronicles a woman reconstructing her identity in the 1960s after being dismissed by her husband and her entire social circle.

What Happened With the Whale in 'Palm Royale'?

The whale's appearance happens suddenly as Maxine and Robert ( Ricky Martin ) are talking on the beach. The whale washes ashore just a few days before the Beach Ball and in the same place. Maxine searches for help in getting rid of it, only to learn that her only hope is for it to return to the sea. The turn of events is viewed as a weird sort of karma for Maxine's actions. But, when she sees the harpoon among the things Evelyn is packing, Maxine gets a new but half-formed idea. This gets Evelyn down to the beach, where she witnesses the glory of the whale and loses the ability to think of anything else. Evelyn spends the evening talking to the whale as she processes the major changes in her life since her husband's death and her stepdaughter Linda ( Laura Dern ) inheriting everything. Evelyn is at a crossroads with no money or husband left, but it's unclear how the whale is supposed to help.

Meanwhile, Maxine learns more about whales and is particularly impressed by the fact that they once were land animals before "returning to where they belong." This strikes a chord with Maxine, who repeats the fact consistently, showing her feelings that she is a fish (or mammal) out of water. She eventually realizes the best way to fix her problem is to get the whale back into the sea. Using a yacht and a microphone, she impersonates whale sounds to call it back to the ocean, and the whale leaves . The whale is only one plot as the episode continues with other storylines, like the growing rift between Maxine and Douglas ( Josh Lucas ), Robert learning what happened to his relationship with the "prince," and Norma's past starting to be uncovered. But the whale is easily the most attention-grabbing part.

How Does Maxine Connect to the Whale?

Though, at first, Maxine is upset about the whale's existence, she has a change of heart once she learns more about whales. What stands out to her is the whale's ability to change their minds and the fact that they once evolved into land creatures only to return to the sea ( a simplified version of the situation ). Her new knowledge creates a connection between the two. Though she does not interact with it the same way as Evelyn, Maxine shows empathy for the whale by the end, focusing less on how the situation affects her party. This is because what she learns about the whale makes her relate to it.

Maxine's humble background doesn't fit with the society she is in, perhaps explaining her connection to a whale trapped in an unfamiliar environment where it cannot survive. Though Maxine maintains a positive attitude throughout the show, she is clearly overwhelmed in this episode, proving she isn't entirely happy with her situation . The comparison between her and the whale hints at Maxine changing her goal. Up to this point, she has been ruthless in pursuing her rise in society , but her determination is wavering, which creates another similarity between her and the whale. Like the creatures, Maxine can change her mind. Maxine has fought for every step in Palm Beach and is still the subject of ridicule and dislike , so would it be so bad to give up? The other thing Maxine repeats about whales is that they returned to where they belonged, suggesting she may go home herself, though that remains to be seen.

But What Does the Whale Mean to Evelyn?

Evelyn's connection to the whale is more dramatic and strange. While Maxine remains herself as she learns about the creature, Evelyn is different. She is mesmerized by the whale, changing her personality completely. Certainly, Evelyn is in a vulnerable place since the death of Skeet ( Bruce Dern ) , and maybe that's why the whale has such an impact. Crying when it goes because she doesn't want to be alone is more grief than she expressed at her beloved husband's funeral.

However, there has to be a reason for the connection. Though Evelyn doesn't research whales like Maxine, the same connection can be true. Evelyn and Maxine are actually very similar , and Evelyn is at a crossroads. Like Maxine, Evelyn was not born into the upper class but came from a small town. With no money (Linda has offered her only 500 dollars a week and a house in the lazy beachside town of Port Salerno), Evelyn is looking at a simpler life. Moving to Port Salerno would be more like her background than the life she has been living, but perhaps a good choice for her. Though her path is unclear, if nothing else, the whale gives Evelyn the chance to grieve, which is significant. The whale is a strange interruption to the story that doesn't exactly gel with the rest of the series, but it seems to move these character arcs along.

Palm Royale is streaming on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

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