Talk us through itRandalf is a bit of a nerd but he sure can play the trumpet, well at least we expect he can if not confronted with a hot blond bombshell. After failing at an open stage at the Mermaid's Arms, due to said bombshell Sally, Randalf retreats to his small seaside house to lick his wounds. Neighbour Kuini, who has a thing for Randalf, is unable to get him out of his funk Next day Randalf plays a few notes on an old Maori flute he found at the beach and shockingly his cat, who normally barely only tolerates him, is suddenly making with the purring and rubbing. Randalf decides to try the Mermaid's Arms again, this time armed with his flute. Needless to say our boy is a hit and is soon attracting attention from the ladies, but who is the mystery woman he keeps bumping into? We get heavily into a "mask" situation before finding out there's a price to be paid for paradise. Ready to rock the waves?
Review"It must get so frustrating playing with yourself all the time." - KuiniAnd the lesson for the day: Enchanted objects feature heavily in Maori mythology and as one would expect exert power over the holder of an object or simply by beholding the object. Now that's pretty Euro if you ask me. Surprisingly the Maori also believed in a mermaid like creature called a Marakihau, who had matted hair like seaweed, a long tube like tongue, and the proverbial fish tail. Guess that would be a couple of examples of the archetypes that Jungians believe in. The Enchanted Flute kicks off with one of the strangest prologue pieces I've seen in a while. It's the epitome of brevity, delivers a jump scene and all, and gets us underway with the knowledge that in between the scares Director Robin Walters will have his tongue firmly in his cheek. A chick is swimming in the ocean late one night and we soon learn her boyfriend likes to hide beneath the water and surprise her. She grabs what she thinks is his submerged arm only to discover she has hold of some dude who has drowned with one hell of a smile on his face. Now that's the stuff of urban legends. This all ties in nicely to the next day when Randalf makes the scene, takes New Zealand ambulance dudes an age to move a dead body apparently, and checks what's going down. Besides water boy's smile the other pertinent points to take from the prologue is Randalf finding the traditional Maori flute and a hottie wearing a funky metallic bikini who does a "now you see her now you don't" disappearing act. For the first time in the series we get an episode that is playing things for laughs, it's still submerged in Maori mythology but I got a couple of chuckles during the play time. Surprisingly Randalf is first shown as a total geek, which of course is going to underline his "Mask" like transformation into the cool hip cat later in the episode when the flute does it's work, but generally this sort of character is restricted to Pakehas from the Maori viewpoint. Nice to see writers Briar Grace-Smith and Michael Bennett breaking down some stereotypes there. Director Robin Walters wastes little time in getting the character fixed in our mind, and nails the requirement for both sides of Randalf's persona without flicking on the neon signs and getting the Town Crier to inform us about it. Walters also nails Randalf's first abortive use of the flute from hell. It's late night and our hero decides to try it out. In what seems to be slow motion, but isn't, Randalf brings the flute to his lips and blows a note. We have an almost "moment frozen in time" as the audience waits to see where this might take us, Walters waits a beat and enhances the tension, before laying down some light flack. Randalf is in a trance that involves himself being underwater with hot chick. Whether or not this is a premonition is never explained, but Randalf's conscious mind screams out "hang about underwater dude!", and Randalf is ripped out of his funk and stops hitting the bed flute blues, or whatever he was playing. In rapid succession his window blows open, and seaside hottie is left high and dry seemingly homing in on the siren call of the flute. Warning bells are of course going off in the audience's mind, but Randalf doesn't have our insight into aquatic chick being bad news, now how Hitchcock is that friends and neighbours. Director Robin Walters simply nails this sequence, is throwing a stick for it to chase after, and otherwise shows he knows his craft. 
Without giving away any more of The Enchanted Flute's various happenings, Walters keeps to the straight and narrow, doesn't go overboard with the trick camera shenanigans that ruin some horror outings, and delivers on exactly what the audience are expecting. The other two aspects of the episode I wanted to discuss are the comedic angle and the slice of "you don't know what you got till it's gone" that both the Director and Writers focus on. After The Last Plume I guess we were ready for something slightly lighter, Mataku pulling no punches there, and The Enchanted Flute, while keeping to the supernatural flavour, does so with a slight grin on it's face. Clever use of dialogue in places with a few sneaky nudge nudge moments. To a certain extent the episode can be viewed as a morality play, with Randalf using "divine intervention" to get the unobtainable while not noticing that Kuini is harbouring a light for him. I guess this is the flaw in character that will lead to the death of the main character in most tragedies. Whether or not writers Briar Grace-Smith, Michael Bennett were nodding toward Shakespeare there is something for the individual viewer to decide for themselves. On a slightly sour note, everything else is working, the creature effects are pretty primitive. Clearly the Marakihau is simply Miriama Smith wearing a mask, yes you can see the "zipper in the monster suit", but on the bright side of the kai at least we don't have to contend with half arsed CGI. Darren Young (Randalf) handles both sides of his character well and delivers a solid performance. Have Young's name pencilled down as I think we may see some more of him in the future. Miriama Smith (Hine/Marakihau) is pretty much only there to be the required hottie, would need to see her in a more substantial role to form an opinion of her acting chops. Veeshayne Armstrong (Kuini) is spot on and delivers an energetic performance in a difficult role. And Jo Davison (Sally) delivers on the slightly over ripe lounge room singer. Once again Hirini Melbourne delivers the traditional instruments to good effect, while Kipa Royal and Frank Marinthe match Director Robin Walters visuals with a solid score. Notably Kipa also delivered the blues/urban funk numbers "Mermaid Bop" and "Mermaid Blues" performed here by Caitlim Smith.
Summary ExecutionAnother episode of Mataku and yet another one I would put into the "enjoyed" basket. While not attempting to blow me out of my slippers The Enchanted Flute delivered a light fable that kept my interest through out. Loved the opening to this one. The ending kind of surprised me, was expecting something else entirely, so that was certainly some icing on the aquatic sponge of fluting.An episode with a difference, The Enchanted Flute delivers a tongue in cheek ride for those of us that don't mind the lighter side of the horror genre. Recommended to readers who are after something that wont tax them with dark notions and that doesn't seek to deliver the gore wagon. It's a tale with an underlying message that should tide you over till the next episode of Mataku.
ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ... A quiet morality fable for those wanting to grab a cig between the heavier episodes.
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