Batman: Caped Crusader, Season Two, on Prime Video

The nickname “Caped Crusader” originated in Batman comics, but it is most closely associated with the Adam West TV series. Ironically, the “Caped Crusader” animated series is less cartoony than the campy 1960s live action show. This Batman patrols a film noir-looking Gotham inspired by the 1930s and 1940s. The police, the mayor, and the media still regard Batman as a dangerous vigilante, but Commissioner Jim Gordon and a few honest cops are starting to trust him in creator Bruce Timm’s 10-episode second season of Batman: Caped Crusader, which premieres today on Prime Video.

The good news is there is still no Robin, only Alfred Pennyworth. Also, Timm and company hit pause on the gender-swapping. However, they take intriguing liberties with traditional super-villains, starting with crime boss Rupert Thorne’s lieutenant, Eddie Nygma, who does his riddling with a tommy gun.

Season two also features some deep-cut supervillains, like Roxy Rocket, who gives episode two, “Rocket’s Red Glare,” a somewhat Rocketeer-like vibe. Fans will appreciate seeing Bruce Wayne adopt his Matches Malone undercover persona in “Deep Cover,” possibly the grittiest episode of the entire series, written by Tyrone Finch & Bryce Abood. Linton Midnite returns in the horror-flavored “The Devil’s Due,” in which a cult worshipping a bat demon takes an unhealthy interest in Batman. Their ritual murders are especially inconvenient, given the media campaign against Batman orchestrated by the Hedda Hopper-esque Hattie Tetch, hilariously voiced by Laraine Newman.

Jim Corrigan makes an unconventional but worthy appearance in “The Spectral Hand.” Those who recognize his alter-ego will know what to expect, but his backstory and fate are radically different. Probably the weakest episodes are “Sudden Fear” and “Zero Hour,” because they force Batman to act drastically out of character, collaborating with the fugitive Haley Quinn and Carrie Kelley, a ten-year-old who aspires to be a nocturnal crime-fighter.

“Her Dark Reflection” adds an intriguing psychological thriller element, as well as old fashioned eye-for-an-eye payback. Fittingly, the season concludes with the two best episodes, focusing on a very different Joker. Instead of his manic laughter, this Joker is tightly controlled. He is also a Nietzschean nihilist, who speaks with what sounds like a German accent, perhaps symbolically representing the horrors brewing in Europe.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season Two, on Apple TV+

Some of the best Godzilla lately has come in comic book form. Where else could you see the King face off against the Power Rangers, the Marvel Universe superheroes, and literary figures like Jay Gatsby and Sherlock Holmes (in Godzilla: Monsterpiece Theatre). Arguably, the recent Japanese films, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One are as good or better, but they have come less frequently. Regardless, the Apple TV+ “Monsterverse” series has far outclassed Legendary Pictures’ films. With the release of second season, episodes are also arriving more frequently. Plus, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt return as shoot-from-the-hip Col. Leland Shaw (or Captain in scenes from the past) in season two of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which is still releasing new episodes on Apple TV+.

Season one ended with a massive cliffhanger, trapping crusty “old” Shaw in Axis Mundi, the monster dimension. However, it is quickly resolved in season two when Cate and Kentaro Randa, the Randa step-siblings, and their ambiguous friend May Olowe-Hewitt (who are sort of like Mystery Incorporated) devise a Doctor Who-worthy plan to save him.

Unfortunately, their operation rouses a new titan from hibernation. That would Titan X, who apparently grew up in the 1980s. This kaiju also has a cooperative symbiotic relationship with a horde of armored crabs known as Scarabs. It turns out Shaw and Mari and Bill Randa have seen these creatures before—and it wasn’t much fun for them the first time, either.

Ironically, when his boss’s presumed death elevates the nebbish Tim, who still has no last name, to command of Outpost 18, the new role surprisingly suits him. Unfortunately, he will have to navigate Apex, a politically connected tech company, who temporarily wrangles control of Titan policy away from Monarch.

Frankly, just about everyone goes rogue at some point in the second season, including both Randa step-siblings, Olowe-Hewitt, and, of course, Shaw, who was born a maverick. Understandably, the destructiveness of Titan rampages brings out strong feelings in the characters and inspires very different strategies to prevent them.

Much of season two feels like one step forward followed by one step back, or vice versa. However, a late season episode, “String Theory” written by Joe Pokaski and directed by Gandja Monteiro, understands what fans have been hoping for. It doesn’t quite happen, but Kurt and Wyatt Russell, who both play the younger and older Shaw, sort of, kind of participate in a sequence of scene. Thy obviously can’t be on-screen together, but the workaround solution is satisfyingly clever.

Cross Season 2, on Prime Video

For Alex Cross, catching killers isn’t just a job. His motivations are painfully personal. His wife, Maria, was gunned by an unknown killer before w meet him in both James Patterson’s novels and Prime Video’s current series. He also unknowingly befriended and worked with a serial killer who would eventually be dubbed the “Mastermind.” It takes half a dozen novels for Cross to figure out the Mastermind’s true identity. Frankly, it is unclear whether the Mastermind will be the same Mastermind for Prime Video, due to changes made during the first and second seasons. Regardless, the shadowy nemesis remains offstage throughout season two of creator Ben Watkins’ Cross, which premieres today on Prime Video.

Like the initial 8-episode run, the new season is not directly based on any of Patterson’s novels. However, the prior season’s serial killer took some inspiration from the DC Audience Killer, from Double Cross. Frankly, creating memorable bad guys has always been Patterson’s strength, so perhaps Watkins should follow the example of Reacher, which follows a specific Lee Child novel each season.

Indeed, season two is deeply flawed, because Cross and his allies, fellow DC cop John Sampson and FBI Agent Kayla Craig (Kyle in the books), spend most of their time protecting the primary bad guy, agri-tech-billionaire Lance Durand. Instead, they chase a mysterious vigilante killing off Durand’s accomplices in his dirty enterprise, starting with a perverse Epstein-like figure.

Viewers want to see Cross hunting monsters on a par with Hannibal Lecter. Instead, Wakins and the co-writers constantly humanize and justify the mysterious Rebecca and her accomplice Donnie. This throws off the balance and creates mixed feelings for the audience, in counterproductive ways. (This is the same reason why U.S. Marshals, the sequel to The Fugitive failed—because it suggested Sam Gerard specialized in chasing innocent men.)

It is a shame, because Aldis Hodge broods commandingly as Cross and he maintains strong chemistry with Isaiah Mustafa and Alona Tal as Sampson and Craig. Indeed, Tal continues to be the series standout, exploring Craig’s checkered history and professional frustrations, in complex but charismatic ways. Johnny Ray Gill also gets to swagger and chew the scenery while making his unexpected return as convicted criminal fixer, Bobby Trey.

Admittedly, Matthew Lillard is often amusing as the arrogant, self-righteous Durand. Frankly, his character could have had a lot of bite if Watkins had used him to satirize zillionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who advocate wide-spread human suffering for the sake of curbing global warming or over-population. However, those parallels were lost on the Cross writers’ room. Regardless, Lillard’s performance lacks the malevolence required from a villain driving an entire season.

Wild Cards, Season Two, on CW

Maybe it takes a thief to catch a thief, but you still need a cop to make the arrest. Basically, that is the principle behind the partnership of supposedly “reformed” con artiste Max Mitchell and Det. Cole Ellis, who recently had his detective shield fully restored, thanks to the cases they cleared. Much to his outward chagrin (and maybe secret satisfaction), the commissioner wants them to continue working together. For every case she works, Mitchell knocks two weeks off her criminal mastermind father’s prison sentence. That might not sound like much, but they have another full season ahead of them to chip away when season two of creator Micheal Konyves’s Wild Cards premieres this Wednesday on CW.

The whole plan throughout season one was for Mitchell to use her police access to ultimately switch out a fake for a Faberge Egg and leave Ellis looking like a fool. However, she uncovered evidence regarding the murder of Ellis’s brother, so she canceled her getaway. Instead, she delivers the flash-drive recordings to Ellis and swaps back jeweled egg before anyone notices—anyone else than Ellis, that is. Consequently, the detective has serious trust issues during the rest of the season opener, “Con in 60 Seconds.”

Of course, this episode also demonstrates why they are so well-paired. In “60 Seconds,” clearly more inspired by Fast & Furious than Gone in 60 Seconds, Mitchell and Ellis go undercover to bust a gang of street-racing thieves. It turns out she can handle the wheel, having fled her share of crime scenes, while he knows his way around an engine. In most ways, it is an average odd couple undercover procedural, but it sets up several of the continuing storylines for the season. It is also a good example of the grounded credibility Terry Chen brings to the series as eternally patient, but exasperated Chief Li.

The season’s second episode, “Once a Con a Time in the West,” features one of the most notable guest-stars of any show airing this month. Original Brat Pack member Ally Sheedy appears as ranching matriarch Rose Pruett, whose prize stud horse is targeted by an assassin. Evidently, the Pruetts are under pressure to sell the family farm, so if they lose Paul, the professional equine papa, they lose it all.

Sheedy definitely has a nice Big Valley vibe as Pruett, while writers Konyves and Marcus Robison address the rural country elements (apparently right outside Vancouver) without sounding conspicuously phony. This episode also notably features Martin Sheen in the recurring role of Jonathan Ashford, a legendary con artist, whose video memoir Mitchell watches to bone-up on her sharp practices, but might just lead her question her illegal ways even more.

Rogue Heroes Season 2, on MGM+

Eight decades after WWII, many in the United Kingdom now question why Lt. Col. Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne never received his nation’s highest military honor, the Victoria Cross (VC), nor has any other member of the Special Air Service (SAS), the commando unit he led throughout North Africa and Italy. In fact, no subsequent SAS commando has received the VC, which is strange, considering their valorous history. The hit show prompting these questions also offers an obvious explanation. The snobby officer class happily let the SAS fight and die on their behalf, but they never considered the highly effective but ill-disciplined unit proper soldiers. The disdain was mutual, at least it is throughout the second season of creator-writer Steven Knight’s Rogue Heroes (a.k.a. SAS Rogue Heroes), still adapted from Ben McIntyre’s nonfiction book, which premieres tomorrow on MGM+.

At the end of season one, Lt. Col. David Sterling, the co-founder of the SAS and then-Major Mayne’s commanding officer had been captured and interned in an Italian POW compound. Consequently, he has far less screentime in season two. However, Mayne more than capably picks up the slack. He also gets a new Sterling, Lt. Col. Bill Sterling, who is much more a proper officer according to the way top brass thinks. Of course, Mayne considers him an aristocratic dilettante. Nevertheless, the new Sterling is a better, more conscientious advocate for the SAS, or the SRS (Special Raiding Service), as they are temporarily renamed, than Mayne realizes.

Regardless, Montgomery and Allied command continues sending the SAS/SRS on foolhardy advance missions, paving the way for the regular army’s Italian invasion, because they keep surviving, killing many Germans and fascists in the process. Given their track record, Eve Mansour, the Algerian-born Free-French spy, who also happened to be David Sterling’s lover, hopes to rendezvous with Paddy Mayne, hoping to support his efforts and possibly glean some intel for De Gaulle regarding the expected invasion of France. Surely, the SAS (as they insist on calling themselves) will be in thick of any such operation.

One way or another, the SAS/SRS keeps rolling, but they are all not completely immune to the horrors of war, just the increasingly in/famous Paddy Mayne, who does not merely laugh in he face of death—he double-dog-dares it. There is no question Mayne is the star of season two and Jack O’Connell runs with it.

Indeed, O’Connell swaggers, snarls, and howls like a champion. You would almost think O’Connell was classically trained, given Mayne commanding bravura poetry recitations—one of the commando officer’s many eccentricities that worries Staff Sgt Jim Almonds, his designated conscience and voice of reason. That is a tough duty to draw.

It is also hard sharing the screen with O’Connell, but Corin Silva and Theo Barklem-Biggs shine developing season two’s other standout characters, Almonds and Sgt. Reg Seekings. Indeed, Barklem-Biggs would generate awards buzz in a more perfect world for the way he portrays Seekings’ PTSD (as we would call it today), as well as his righteous fury at the civilian casualties resulting from the National Socialists’ ruthlessness.

The Lazarus Project, Season Two, on TNT

Sure, you could call George Addo a mass murderer, but seriously, it depends on the context. Granted, he shot a bunch of people and deliberately caused a nuclear war that exterminated all life on the planet, but he knew his boss at the Lazarus Project would turn back time to the nearest reset point to undo it all. Even though Addo admits to a few lapses in judgement, it is hard for his old colleagues to trust him again. Unfortunately, things will get so bad, they will need him anyway in season two of creator-writer Joe Barton’s The Lazarus Project, which premieres tomorrow on TNT.

The Lazarus agents are not time-travelers. They just consciously relive certain periods of time until they figure out how to save the world. Actual time-travel is something their boss Elisabeth “Wes” Wesley wanted to prevent. Unfortunately, the renegade Time-Break Initiative managed to build a working time machine, completing the work of Dr. Kitty Gray, who died in a mysterious laboratory fire back in the 2010s. They just didn’t quite get it right.

Consequently, they opened-up a black hole that is literally fraying the fabric of time. Unless they can fix the problem, the Lazarus Project will be stuck in a decaying time-loop, until time ends for good. Rather awkwardly, Addo must repeatedly face Shiv Reddy immediately after having shot him. He keeps saving his life, with the help of his EMT neighbor, whom Addo must then kill over and over again.

Obviously, Addo cannot blame Reddy for being annoyed with him. What hurts is getting dumped by his wife (or girlfriend, depending on the reset) Sarah dumping him, after he literally blew-up the world to save her. To explain himself, Addo gives her the time-reset-awareness drug, but that rather leaves her feelings towards him even more confused. Regardless, they need to find someone who understands time-travel, but someone is killing all of Dr. Gray’s old colleagues.

Arguably, Lazarus Project is the best-written new science fiction currently releasing new episodes, but hardly anyone in the U.S. seems to be talking about it. In the first season, Barton regularly used the resets to completely upend the narrative. For season two, he ups the ante with legit time-travel, but the frequent time resets still apply. It almost gets farcical as future characters keep re-encountering their past selves, or vice versa, but the [barely] controlled chaos is a blast. Frankly, every darned thing Barton keeps springing on viewers is exactly the stuff sf fans love, so why is there so little buzz for the series?

Paapa Essiedu is just as good playing Addo in season two as he was in the first season, or maybe even better. It is hard to think of a series protagonist who messes so badly and so often, yet we still root for him. He also faces a really dark, existential challenge this time around. Similarly, Rudi Dharmalingam is the heart and soul of season two, getting shot in the chest at the start of most episodes and getting steadily crankier as each reset plays out.

Vigil, Season Two, on Peacock

The British military has its own Royal Military Police for each brand of service, who in turn all have a Special Investigation Branch. Yet, for some reason, they keep outsourcing their murder investigations to the Police Service of Scotland. DCI Amy Silva’s first military-related assignment almost made sense, because the murder onboard a nuclear sub was the sort of “locked room” mystery that needed a specialized homicide detective. However, the terrorist attack that she investigates this time around must surely fall within the jurisdiction of the national investigative and intelligence services. Nevertheless, Silva ships out to a fictional marginally-western-inclined Middle East regime to sleuth out the deadly hijacking of military drones in season two of creator Tom Edge’s Vigil, which premieres tomorrow on Peacock.

Wudyan has made it clear to the Brits, if they do not sell advanced arms to the regime, they will turn towards Russia and China. Air Vice Marshal Marcus Grainger is happy to oblige. He organized a demo of the RAF’s latest R-PAS drones, but in an ugly twist, one of the drones goes rogue, fatally shooting seven enlisted soldiers.

Initially, the drone operator based in Scotland is blamed, but Silva (doing work better suited to MI5 or the NCA) determines the guilty operator was based in Wudyan, based on the signal amplitude. Suspicion then falls on the former Squadron Leader, until he too is murdered. Silva hates to leave behind her life and police partner DI Kirsten Longacre, especially during her advanced stage of pregnancy, but off to Wudyan she goes. It does seem rather questionable to keep a DCI assigned to a DI she is romantically involved and having a baby with, but this is Scotland.

Season one has plenty of credibility issues too, but the claustrophobic submarine greatly helped to power through them. Season two however, is just a trainwreck when it comes to believability. It is also openly hostile to the British military. Apparently, Edge and co-scripter George Aza-Selinger looked around the world, saw Assad razing Aleppo to the ground, Putin carpet-bombing Mariupol, Xi committing genocide in Xinjiang, and Iran executing a generation of young women for the crime of believing they have rights, only to conclude the greatest threat to global stability is overly hawkish RAF officers.

If you honestly believe that too, maybe you will enjoy season, because it is painfully obvious right from the start the ostensive terrorists are actually the good guys and the not-so secret bad guys are engineering a false flag operation from within the RAF. Anyone who argues that is a “spoiler” must be a complete idiot with zero intuition.

Reacher, Season Two, on Prime

In Lee Child’s novels, Jack Reacher is a decorated veteran, whose medals and citations include a Purple Heart after surviving the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Yet, he ultimately sabotaged his own career because he was more interested in justice than politics. Viewers will see his fateful last case as in the Military Police Corps through flashbacks when he learns somebody is killing former members of his fictional investigative unit in season two of showrunner Nick Santora’s Reacher (adapted from Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble), which premieres Friday on Prime Video.

Reacher is a blues-loving veteran, so everyone should identify and sympathize with him. After the military, Reacher took up drifting, essentially emulating the lifestyle of many of his itinerant blues heroes. Fortunately, his old Sergeant, Frances Neagley figures out a way to contact him when members of the 110^th Investigative Unit start to turn up dead.

At first, they only have one body, Calvin Franz, who always idolized the big guy, but soon two more are discovered. However, in addition to Reacher and Neagley, ladies’ man-turned-family man David O’Donnell and Reacher’s former work-wife and not-so-secret crush Karla Dixon are also present and accounted for. However, their former colleague Swan is missing-in-action. The question will be whether he stayed a friend or turned foe. The remaining 110th is lucky in one respect. Det. Gaitano Russo, the cop assigned to Franz’s case, might have a prickly personality, but he is scrupulously honest.

A whole heck of a lot of henchmen and assassins will be killed (mostly in self-defense, mostly) during the course of season two. Like the first season, each episode of Bad Luck and Trouble features plenty of gritty action and a satisfyingly high body-count. The only thing season one lacked was a strong villain, but season two rectifies that with Robert Patrick, who is appropriately ruthless as Shane Langston, the corporate head of security pulling most of the strings.

Alan Ritchson is still perfectly cast as Reacher (whose description in the Child books is nothing like little Tom Cruise). He still looks huge and has the same swagger from season one. Ritchson also quickly develops solid chemistry with Serinda Swan (from Coroner). Together, they deliver a lot more heat than the first season. Swan also shows off some serious action chops of her own that could make her the breakout star of season two.

Invasion, Season Two, on Apple TV+

Evidently, alien invasion tourism will inevitably take you to an Oklahoma cornfield. It does have the advantage of being off-the-beaten path, like pretty much everything else in Oklahoma. However, the frontline for the human resistance is in the Amazon, outside a crashed but not always dormant alien ship. The far-flung characters introduced in the first season start to get together to fight in season two of co-creators Simon Kinberg & David Weil’s Invasion, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Some of the people we met in season one were really smart and some were just sort of average, but they were thrust into extraordinary circumstances—even more than the rest of the everyday Earthlings forced to deal with an alien invasion. Mitsuki Yamato is still the most interesting of the bunch. She is the one who brought down the alien ship by hacking its code. Since then, she has been fighting to avenge her astronaut lover old school-style, with Molotov cocktails. However, Nikhil Kapor wants to recruit her for his team.

Kapor, also the best new character, was the sort of callous tech titan who would have said genocide is “below my line” before the aliens came. He really has not changed appreciably, but the prospect of saving the world appeals to his ego. He could also afford to put together a cutting-edge facility to study the strange transmissions that inexplicably emanate from the wrecked ship.

Meanwhile, former Navy SEAL Trevante Cole is home, but his mind is back in London, where he saved weird Caspar Morrow from the aliens. Morrow had visions of the nasty ETs and sometimes appeared to have the power to ward them off. Unfortunately, he slipped into a coma—and his survival prognosis is particularly bad, after his doctors are unable to evacuate him when the alien monsters attack. Nevertheless, his ambiguous school friend Jamila Huston feels compelled to save him, because of messages she believes Morrow is sending through her dreams.

Former doctor-reluctantly-turned-housewife Aneesha Malik is still determined to save her children and her teen son Luke is still a total pill. However, he also has a bit of that alien “shine.” In fact, there might be more kids like him and Morrow out there. She does not want any part of the resistance group known as “The Movement,” which sounds uncomfortably cult-like, but she might not have much choice. Regardless, Cole is coming to her general area, armed with Morrow’s notebook and looking for answers.

With its combination of rural and far-flung international locations, the moody Invasion often feels like Stephen King’s The Stand re-conceived as an alien invasion epic. That is meant as a compliment. Invasion is far superior to its fellow Apple streaming-mate, Foundation, because it combines several familiar elements into something that feels very distinctively its own thing (instead of copying from Dune and pretending it is based on Asimov’s Foundation books).

The cast is also considerably better. Shioli Kutsuna is even more spectacularly neurotic as Yamato, while Shane Zaza is entertainingly arrogant and elitist as the snide Kapor. Golshifteh Farahani still solidly anchors the series as the Malik, the desperate mother trying to protect her often uncooperative children. Shamier Anderson broods hard as Cole, while continuing to exhibit convincing action chops. Unfortunately, the younger thesps are often annoying, except Paddy Holland, who is terrific as Monty Cuttermill, Morrow’s former bully, who agrees to help rescue him.

Almost Paradise, Season Two, on Freevee

Don't go to Barbie. Watch the second season of this Philippines-set cop show instead. Yes, they are vastly different, particularly in terms of their ethical bearings. Barbie features a child-like rendering of China’s imperialistic “Nine-Dash Line,” which asserts their illegal claims to the waters and fishing rights of the South China Sea, way beyond its borders. The studio claims their prop map just coincidentally resembles the CCP’s notorious Nine-Dash Line, but has there ever been a film that lavished greater attention on its art direction and design details than Barbie?

In contrast, the third episode of Almost Paradise’s second season directly addresses the dire economic hardships experienced by Filipino fisherman as the result of China’s naval imperialism. There are also ten new crimes for the somewhat unlikely trio of detectives to solve in season two of creators Dean Devlin & Gary Rosen’s Almost Paradise, which premieres today on Freevee.

If Almost Paradise sounds vaguely familiar, season one premiered on WGN, back in 2020. Now, it is a Freevee, show, but little else has changed, except Alex Walker’s formerly high blood pressure. For health reasons, he retired from the DEA and moved to Cebu, where he had fond memories from his first case. He actually got healthier, despite working several cases with Mactan detectives Kai Mendoza and Ernesto Alamares, sometimes reluctantly and sometimes through his unwelcome initiative. Their boss, politically savvy (but not corrupt) Chief Ike Ocampo is always eager for the benefits of Walker’s DEA experience—and contacts. The ambitious Mendoza and the Zen-like Alamares are impressive, whereas Walker is grizzled and burned-out, but his new Filipino friends steadily rejuvenate his soul.

Almost Paradise is a very traditional throwback-style of detective show, in that all ten episodes of season two can easily stand alone. There is a recurring villain, Vargas “The Water-Boarder,” a drug lord Walker busted in the first season, but each episode has its own self-contained arc. In terms of theme and tone, the series should appeal to fans of Lenkov-verse shows like Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O, but it also incorporates Filipino and Cebuano culture in smart, interesting ways.

The first episode, “The Magellan Cross,” refers to a relic of early colonial times, but it might be the weakest of the season, so keep going. “Breaking Badminton” is indeed set in a dodgy badminton club, which is about as Philippines as it gets. “A Fishfolk Tale” calls out the Chinese maritime grab by name, while showing how the resulting hardships exacerbated tensions between two clans of fishing families.

“Ghost Month” (S2E6) might be the best episode, exploring local belief in “hungry ghosts,” without completely undermining the supernatural themes with a pat “Scooby Doo” ending. “All In” is a clever caperish installment, wherein Walker agrees to test the security of a luxury casino owned by Ann Villegas, the heiress he is trying to romance, while “Uncoupled” handles some creepy cult stuff pretty well within its forty-some-minute time constraints, when Walker and Mendoza go undercover in a New Age couples retreat.

The Afterparty, Season Two, on Apple TV

Apparently, Aniq Adjaye is a lot like Jane Marple and Jessica Fletcher. He is not a little old lady, but murders seem to follow him around. He successfully cleared his name when he was accused of killing pop star Xavier in season one, so this time around, he must prove the innocence of his girlfriend Zoe Zhu’s sister Grace. Unfortunately, he uncovers a lot of embarrassing dirty laundry for the Zhu family in season two of creator Christopher Miller’s The Afterparty, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Despite being a murder suspect, Adjaye managed to win over Zhu, his high school crush, during the Xavier investigation. He wants to take things to the next level, but her parents really seem to hate him. At least Grace likes him and so does the groom, as far as Adjaye can tell. Edgar is a wealthy tech tycoon and crypto investor, but he is definitely a cold fish. He only shows real affection towards Roxanna, his pet lizard he always carries on his shoulder. Awkwardly, he will also be murdered on his wedding night.

Edgar’s boozy mother Isabel immediately accuses Grace, so Adjaye calls Danner to find the real killer. She retired from the force after solving the Xavier murder, for reasons that will be explained during her flashback. Like season one, each Rashomon-style witness statement is rendered in a different style, but it is not always immediately obvious what genre each episode is spoofing.

The black-and-white film noir homage is obvious for Travis, Grace’s schlubby conspiracy theorist boyfriend. Edgar’s adopted sister Hannah seems to exist in a Wes Anderson film, while the victim’s business partner Sebastien gets the split-screen caper treatment of the Ocean’s movies or The Thomas Crown Affair. Danner’s story is sort of a 1980s erotic thriller, much to Adjaye’s discomfort, whereas the perspective of the bride’s father, Feng Zhu (Ken Jeong doing his sad clown shtick), unfolds entirely through smart phone videos. Unfortunately, the longest episode is also the slowest: Grace’s Austen-esque costume drama explanation of her unlikely romance with Edgar.

Adjaye and the bride provide a lot of exposition in the first two installments, but the second season gets much funnier once they finish. The assorted directors helming episodes, including Miller, Eric Appel, and Anu Valia, nicely handle the flashbacks, rather slyly revealing more context and explanation with each eye-witness account. Each guests’ recollections fit together rather cleverly.

Return to Downton Abbey

The British upper-class always understood the importance of doing one’s part, maintaining appearances, and keeping a stiff upper lip. With the outbreak of World War I, the aristocratic Crawleys will respond as best they can. However, the war will profoundly affect both the family and their large staff of servants in the eagerly anticipated second season of Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey (promo here), which premieres on Masterpiece Classic this coming Sunday.

After highly rated first season of Downton, millions of Americans are now familiar with the intricacies of Edwardian estate law. The Crawleys' ancestral manor is entailed, meaning it can only be transferred to a male heir. Lord Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham has three daughters, still. After the tragic death of the heir apparent, Matthew Crawley, the middle class black sheep of the family, became the next in line. Though initially quite frosty towards each other, a cold war courtship developed between Cousin Matthew and the eldest daughter, Lady Mary, that almost but not quite bore fruit. As the second season opens, Mr. Crawley has a complicating surprise for Downton Abbey: Lavinia Swire, his new fiancé.

Both Lady Mary and her father do their best to welcome Swire into the family, but the Earl’s mother, Lady Violet, the Dowager Countess is not impressed. She rarely is. However, the war presents more pressing issues when Mr. Crawley accepts a commission taking him to the front. The war comes to Downton directly when Lord Grantham and his American wife Lady Cora reluctantly allow their stately home to serve as a rehabilitation hospital for wounded officers. In their own way, the three Crawley sisters find ways to be of service. Even the Dowager Countess puts her talents for scheming to noble uses, but tragedy will strike the household, sparing neither the high nor low born.

A surprise hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Downton was recognized by Guinness World Records as the best reviewed show ever (I’m still waiting for my plaque, by the way). Everything that worked the first time around is here again. Jim Carter is still one of television’s most engaging presences as Carson the butler, a model of rectitude, but with a good heart beneath his proper façade. Rob James Collier is still memorably oily as Thomas the conniving ex-footman. Most importantly, the Emmy winning Dame Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess is still a tart tongued force to be reckoned with. Though used sparingly in the first episode, she comes on strong as the series progresses.

Fellowes compellingly captures a sense of the British home front and his ear for dialogue is as sharp as ever. However, he occasionally indulges in some more unlikely melodrama in the second season (such as an amnesia subplot) that almost seems to be a tribute to those big chewy Victorian novels. After all, if Dickens and Trollope were alive today, they would probably be writing television serials, just like Downton. As it happens, episode six completes something of a story-arc, resolving several issues, but leaving some characters in a bit of a cliff-hanger the old serialists would appreciate. (Originally produced as Christmas special edition, PBS recommends separate review attention for episode seven.)

Naturally, every character has their particular storyline continuing from the first season, yet the not-yet-perhaps-never romance between Mr. Crawley and Lady Mary remains of central importance. Do we really care whether his reverse snobbery and her pride can ever be reconciled? Frankly, yes. Deeply so, in fact. Indeed, for all of Lady Violet’s delightful zingers (“those simple-minded idiots on the Liberal front bench” is an especially tasty one this time around), the surprising depth of their evolving relationship is the truest testament to Fellowes’ superior writing.

Classy, elegant, and wickedly droll, Downton Abbey is still exceptional television. Once again, the most likely best of the year comes early when the second season airs over the next seven consecutive Sundays (1/8-2/19) on PBS’s Masterpiece Classic.