Review of Murphy`s Law: Series 2 (Box Set)

Introduction

James Nesbitt returns as undercover cop extraordinaire Thomas Murphy.

Ep 1 - Murphy goes undercover as one of the homeless in order to track down a serial killer preying on the less fortunate.

Ep 2 - Murphy goes undercover in the police, infiltrating a high flying squad who have a high arrest record but dubious evidence logs.

Ep 3 - Interpol lead an operation into a car smuggling family firm, but Murphy feels the Interpol agent is hiding something from him.

Ep 4 - Murphy and co investigate a biotech firm who may be responsible for the death of a young child a year previously, but MI5 are also on the case and witnesses are being silenced.

Ep 5 - Murphy becomes a priest for his latest assignment, joining a convent after the death of one nun and the disappearance of another.

Ep 6 - Murphy goes undercover in a victims support group after a number of mysterious murders.

Video

Not really much to say (again) about the visual side of things. It`s a decent transfer from recent-ish TV and that`s about it, oh other than it`s quite dark a lot of the time…

Audio

Dolby 2.0 Stereo soundtrack with subtitles.

Features

Nowt again…

Conclusion

Well it appears that my review for series 1 has travelled back in time. Either that or some of the criticisms I made of series 1 were blatantly obvious to the production company. In an inspired move to give Thomas Murphy a bit more motivation (for one episode at least), Claudia Harrison is bumped off right at the start after letting everyone know they did get it on after all. Not only that, but they didn`t bother with a replacement so Clarke`s role is beefed up, which actually works quite well and he doesn`t seem anywhere near as wimpy.

One of the best things though this season is that they`ve shifted to 50 minute episodes. This means the stories are tighter than previously, more entertaining and less padding. Sometimes less is more. Of course, it also means that the stories have to be tight and make sense, which isn`t the case with Convent (Episode 5). Convent starts off as a murder mystery, takes a left turn into a biotech/drugs company conspiracy, then moves into domestic drugs before arriving at psychopathic school kids. Worst episode I`ve seen so far, and that`s with some decent performances in it to.

One of the standouts is the last episode where Murphy investigates a support group for relatives of crime victims. Not part of his cover, Murphy finds himself addressing issues regarding the death of his daughter to Irish terrorists (not sure it is specified which side…) and finds himself torn between his work in uncovering murderers and taking revenge himself. Some emotional acting work from Nesbitt rather than his usual cheeky Irish chappy persona.

Big improvement on Series 1.