While the first season stood out for Karen Pirie's (Lauren Lyle) quick wit and quirky behavior, she's much more reserved in the second season. This immediately removes the special and most enjoyable effect of the first season. Because of this, Karen Pirie remains a good, but primarily solid British crime series. Given the circumstances, Karen now behaves quite normally. The biggest challenge is to keep her relationship with colleague Phil Parkatta (Zach Wyatt) a secret. Furthermore, Karen is mainly focused on solving the cold case that comes her way. She remains clever and alert. In that respect, nothing has changed from the first season.
The biggest problem this season is actually that Karen Pirie has somewhat lost her edge.
The second season, however, also has some lesser moments. The visit to Malta is somewhat ambivalent. Fun for the actors and the crew around them, but it's not always clear if it really contributes to solving the case. It does come together later, but it takes just a bit too much time. The outcome of the cold case is, on one hand, surprising, but for the seasoned crime series viewer, also quite predictable.
What remains is that the acting is quintessentially British. Excellent, that is. Somehow most British series seem to have a knack for this. Karen Pirie is no exception. The Brits also know how to draw you into the story. Moreover, the cinematography is once again top-notch. This makes the background secretly play an important role. The images of Malta also serve as a commercial, without showing you the major tourist attractions.
You see, it's actually never good.
The biggest problem this season is actually that Karen Pirie has lost a bit of her edge. So much so that her boss is more cooperative than obstructive. This means that there isn't much tension within the police team either. The contrasts are too small, making it all a bit too bland. The story is mainly focused on solving the cold case, which increasingly intersects with the present. In itself, that's quite nice. As a viewer, you're not too distracted by side issues. However, this time, Karen's private life and that of her colleagues remain a bit too much out of the picture. The lack of that individuality and the struggle in her relationship with her colleague is given attention, but probably more could have been made of it. It just goes to show, it's never really perfect.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
