Talk us through itKingi and Marama are just married with Kingi vowing to following his new wife to the ends of the earth. Taking a break from festivities Kingi ventures outside the celebration hall and meets an old Maori, Rua, who interprets the carvings adorning the hall. Apparently someone followed their loved one to the underworld but the carving isn't finished as the carver has more of the story to tell. A year later and Kingi and Marama are still very much in love and celebrating their first wedding anniversay. Marama has a special surprise for Kingi. Since Kingi has to work late, a rouse as he's waiting on the delivery of a bracelet, Marama decides to drive into his work armed with champagne and dinner. On the way Marama has a head on collision and wides up in Hospital on life support with medical staff not exactly optimistic about the outcome. Kingi discovers he must follow Marama's spirit to Cape Reinga and beyond in order to bring her back, is the enigmatic Rua who he appears to be? Ready to visit the underworld, sorry no vamps in leather!
Review"Marama I would follow you to the ends of the earth" - KingiToday's lesson: In Maori mythology it's believed that the spirits of the recently deceased must travel to Cape Reinga at the Northern most tip of New Zealand where they are fated to leap off the cliffs to the sea below in order to follow Te Ara Wairua (the pathway of the spirit). Having made the leap the spirits are transported to the underworld, where once they eat the prepared food they can not return to the living. In typical kiwi fashion there's no thought of paying a ferryman or anyone else for the privilege. Okay writer Riwia Brown has a lot to answer for friends and neighbours, and she must pay. Here we are, a blood and guts horror site, and Ms Brown has me reviewing a freaking love story, and what's worse actually enjoying that story. For at it's very essence that's what The Pathway of the Spirit boils down to, a love story that doesn't involve anything sparkling, undead or otherwise. I'm not even going to pretend the episode is anything else, ghostly apparitions not withstanding, so if you can't pull out your feminine side guys then you are going to be in deep trouble with this one. The Pathway of the Spirit starts with some chick on a cliff overlooking the sea laying down a Maori lament about taking the pathway of the spirit, damn fine wide angle camera in use there by Director Jim Moriarty without things devolving into re-cycled tourist visages. The Director is setting up his base premise, the whole Cape Reinga thing, and does a fine job with it. I haven't been pointing this out, but all the singing in Mataku is in the national Maori language with English sub titles helpfully keeping non-speakers on the right page of the book. Having established his opening scene, full of meaning and sweeping views, Moriarty cuts to a wedding on an unnamed Marae. The Director keeps things pretty much to close up shots here as we meet Kingi and Marama and learn they are besotted with each other. There's a feeling in the episode that Director Moriarty can not get passed his budget, a sort a maliase ensues. In an example of how to keep things brief and to the point Moriarty introduces the central concept of the episode, just how far will Kingi go for Marama, via the mysterious Rua explaining the carvings on the Marae hall that apparently only Kingi can see. We then flash forward a year, explained by Marama's sister in normal conversation, and Marama's destiny unfolds on a late night Auckland street. Everything follows in a perfectly logical fashion given the base Moriarty is working from. There's a number of things Director Moriarty is on fire with during the course of The Pathway of the Spirit, but there's also one glaring weakness that detracts from the episode. 
Kingi's dash to Cape Reinga is almost worth the price of admission alone, especially since you half expect things to fall off the ute he borrows from his brother in law for the night time Hades mission. Kingi arrives at the Marae the wedding was held at and throws down a pretty decent haka, Maori challenge, even going so far as to call on the god of war to give him strength. And if that's not enough we get a police pursuit scene replete with country and western music, Kingi's just a good old boy apparently. I actually had a smile on my dial during this scene and thought it matched Director Moriarty's toying with the audience earlier when for a couple of seconds we think Kingi is working late due to getting some on the side. Our Knight in shining armour arrives slightly late at Cape Reinga and watches as Marama's spirit heads into the wild blue yonder. Remembering Rua's warning about underworld nutritional facts Kingi jumps off the cliff as well and arrives in the underworld intent on enforcing a strict diet. It's here that the budget for the episode proves to be something of a weakness as the underworld resembles nothing so much as a theme restaurant. Hey drinks half price at the tiki lounge Thursday afternoon. Okay I guess the whole setup is meant to resemble Kingi and Marama's wedding reception but the effect is sort of lost with other recently arrived spirits hitting the buffet as well. Disappointingly there's no three headed dogs or anything else to liven up proceedings. Guess the set designers are doing the best they can with limited resources but have a notion that some more money really did need spending here to really nail things. Overall I'm giving Director Moriarty a passing grade here, there's enough to take out of the episode without getting caught up in limited budgets, and besides in the wrong hands things could have been a hell of a lot worse. Te Arepa Kahi (Kingi) didn't work for me, not the actor's fault just not the correct casting decision in my opinion. The roll of Kingi needed an actor able to hit the emotion more readily than Kahi can deliver. Tahei Simpson (Marama) does well with an undeveloped roll, another edit needed there, and delivers on an underwhelming character. Wi Kuki Kaa (Rua) manages to steal some scenes and brings just the right amount of mystery to his performance. Once again Kipa Royal and Frank Marinthe deliver a thought out and spot on score that matches the visuals and mood of each scene. Hirini Melbourne's traditional Maori instruments are used to excellent effect.
Summary ExecutionI enjoyed The Pathway of the Spirit though I did note for the first time in Mataku that the budget became a slight concern. Director Moriarty for sure could have improved on things but delivers a pretty interesting tale within his means. As a love story with supernatural leanings the episode delivers on the promise being held out to the audience, and it doesn't have any sparkling vampires, so huge advantage there.We are about a third of the way through Mataku and the real noticeable thing, from a technical point of view, is that the Producers haven't been hitting the makeup Department heavily for their supernatural look. Similarly to Japanese horror outings Mataku is more reliant on method acting from the various actors rather than making a cosmetic statement. Must say some actual acting chops is appreciated after crap like the vampires in Twilight, those folk simply can't act and are painful to watch. Ladies if you want to catch a supernaturally inclined love story then my suggestion is to watch The Pathway of the Spirit and forget about recent attempts out of the U.S that fall flat on their arse. There's enough here for the guys to get through the 35 odd minute running time without switching over to the Rugby, so quit making faces. One of the better forays into the romantic side of the dark genre, it's worth taking the pathway of this episode.
ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ... A decent love story marred by television level production values.
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