Streaming series review - Deadly Tropics: Season Two

Deadly Tropics: Season 2 **** (out of 5) (NR) {Season One of this light procedural from French TV was released and covered here last month. Please scroll through Neighbor Posts to 3/20 for that review, which remains useful for appreciating this season.}

Welcome back. Your indulgence is appreciated. Now that you’ve either been reminded or brought up to date, Season Two opens with Gaelle (Beatrice de la Boulaye) returning from a long self-imposed hiatus while nursing some emotional wounds. Melissa’s (Sonia Rolland) teenagers are still a pain in the butt; same, in a different way for their grumpy, misogynistic commissioner, who gripes far more than he contributes. The first several episodes mix in a higher percentage of character comedy than we saw in Season One, particularly via an expanded role for Phil (Valentin Papoudof) the forensics expert. A new source of amusement/irritation comes from the unexpected arrival of Melissa’s first ex-hubby, Franck (Arie Elmaleh) - a charming layabout musician, supposedly searching for song-writing inspiration after a long dry spell. As I’d hoped before, the third team member, Aurelien (Julien Beramis), plays a larger part in each week’s outing, including a featured role in one.

As before, each of the eight episodes brings a self-contained crime to solve, with several subplot threads running through the season. The writers actually shift the tenor of their scripts in opposite directions, broadening the appeal of the package. After the early increase in humorous sidebars, the latter episodes dive headlong into more global cultural topics than before, tackling abortion, gay and trans rights, computer hacking and social media frenzies. All the macro-scale issues mesh well with the crime(s) they revolve around, keeping them legitimately entertaining as procedurals, rather than polemics. The result is a season of shows that engage the social conscience without losing any of the entertainment value from Season One that made me eager for this continuation.

Most importantly, at least for some of us, NO CLIFFHANGERS! The season ends with everyone in a satisfactory place if there’s not to be a Season Three, while leaving a few possible developments for the future if there will. That’s the right way to wrap. Merci.

Season Two of the French TV series Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels), mostly in French with English subtitles, is available streaming on MHz Choice starting 4/26/22.