He Had It Coming – A Messy Crime-Comedy That Stumbles Over Its Own Politics

“He Had It Coming” is an eight-episode Australian black-comedy series streamed on BBC iPlayer. Set on a Sydney university campus, the show follows art student Elise (played by Lydia West) and fashion-influencer Barbara (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) as they investigate a string of murders that target men accused of sexual misconduct. The series bills itself as “Bad feminists. Worse detectives,” positioning its protagonists as self-styled feminist sleuths.

The Guardian

In the opening episode, Elise, a scholarship-bound aspiring artist, presents a protest piece that reimagines Manet’s *Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe* with modern attire. Her tutor, Professor Phoenix (Harry Greenwood), dismisses her work as lacking ambition. Later, Elise and Barbara, after a night of drunken revelry, vandalise a statue of the university’s male namesake with a mallet. The following morning, a male student is found dead, his genitalia removed, prompting the campus feminist collective to declare “he had it coming.” Subsequent episodes reveal a second victim—a men’s-rights activist—meeting a similar fate, while the duo’s investigations devolve into slapstick antics, neon-pink walkie-talkies, and absurd set-pieces such as a dog that winks.

The Guardian

The series attempts to interrogate misogyny, victim-blaming, and the role of social media in harassment by flipping the usual gendered power dynamics. However, reviewers note that the show’s tone is uneven, oscillating between crude humor and half-hearted social commentary. Its “lofty ambitions” are undermined by a reliance on cartoonish violence—most notably the repeated genital mutilations—as a metaphor for retributive justice. The humor often lands with the subtlety of the mallet used in the opening crime, leaving serious themes underexplored.

The Guardian

While the series delivers occasional laughs, critics argue that its “puppyish daftness” distracts from any meaningful analysis of the issues it raises. The characters are portrayed as equally flawed, with both women and men depicted as self-delusional or unpleasant. As a result, the show is seen as more of a chaotic murder-mystery than a substantive critique of campus culture, limiting its resonance beyond the novelty of its premise.

The Guardian