Line #3 YMMV/TopOfTheLake


1	* AssPull: After it's revealed that [[spoiler:Matt is Robin's father, it seems obvious that Johnno isn't going to be Matt's son or else the show will have to answer to some [[BrotherSisterIncest serious]] [[SurpriseIncest incest]] issues. Johnno ''is'' revealed to not be Matt's son,]] but it's at the end of the last episode with little foreshadowing besides a few lines and exists just to cover for the aforementioned reveal, which others might also consider an AssPull on its own. However, this information came from [[spoiler: Al, who may have tampered with the evidence. If, for instance, Al knew that Tui's baby was his, he might have substituted his own DNA for Matt's, in which case the results would show a match for Tui's baby and no match for Johnno.]]
2	* FridgeHorror:
3	** [[spoiler:Considering Al is the leader of a paedophile ring that uses date rape drugs, it is likely that Robin was raped again off screen during her blackout in episode 4.]] A line of dialogue in the first episode of the second season [[AscendedFridgeHorror confirms]] that [[spoiler:Robin believes that he raped her at that point.]]
4	** When Robin first questions Matt about Tui's pregnancy, he boasts about how young he was when he first lost his virginity and jokes about Tui being "a slut like her dad". At the time, it comes across as macho insensitivity. [[spoiler:However the final revelations about the paedophile ring and Matt's abusive mother make one wonder he was, in fact, abused as a child.]]
5	** A minor one; Robin assumes her mother doesn't like Johnno because he's related to the unstable Matt, and that's also why her mother's last request is for her to not see Johnno. [[spoiler:It ''is'' because she thinks he's related to Matt, but not because she worries that he's like his father or brothers; she knows that Robin is Matt's daughter and she's worried that she's watching her daughter commit incest.]]
6	* SecondSeasonDownfall: ''China Girl'' got a much more negative reaction from viewers and critics than the first season, largely due to ShootTheShaggyDog issues ([[spoiler:the two main suspicious deaths were probably suicide, a lot is left vague, and the HateSink villain pulls off his last-minute-reveal real evil scheme, does a VillainExitStageLeft, and gets away scot free with the proceeds]]). Campion and Moss were also accused of exploiting and insulting actual Asian-Australian sex workers, after it was reported that they had interviewed them about personal details of their lives, only for the series to rarely rise above AsianHookerStereotype cliches. Subsequently, the series wasn't renewed for a third season (originally, ''Top of the Lake'' was only intended to have one season in the first place).
7	* ShockingMoments: The series is in no way plodding, but the tension is pretty level and slow-burning, ramping up only when [[spoiler:Jamie dies, and when Matt reveals he's Robin's father.]] And then comes the second half of the last episode. [[spoiler:Matt's the father of Tui's baby! Or is he? Tui and her friends go missing! Robin shoots Al! The barista training is nothing more than a front for a sex ring, led by Al!]]
8	* {{Squick}}: Robin and Johnno's sex scenes become this [[spoiler:after the revelation that Robin is Matt's daughter. She even tries to seduce him, calling him her brother, though a shocked Johnno leaves. They're not really related, but ''damn.'']]

Context YMMV / TopOfTheLake