Review: Jack Irish Series 2
Posted by Anura Samara, 17 March 2016
The next instalment in the Jack Irish story brings the same characters we love to a different and wider story.
Jack is back for more, but this time the format of the series has changed – instead of 3 movie length episodes, the show follows a more traditional 6 hour-long episodes.
At the same time, the plot has gone wider as well. In this series, Jack is caught up in investigating some nefarious activities involving a church-run organisation with a charismatic leader. As always, there’s a love interest – his love interest from the first series has cooled, as Linda heads to the Philippines for a media assignment. Instead, he works with the sister of a woman who is caught up in the church and has gone missing and starts to fall for her.
It’s when the action starts to follow Linda in the Philippines that the plot starts to diverge. Yes, there is a link between an apparent Islamist insurgency which is the cover story for a land grab by an Australian company, the Australian company itself is tied into the church-run organisation that Jack is investigating.
This approach – of having parallel but converging plots – can work where they build suspense. Instead, it felt that apart from the characters the connections were weak. Yes, there was drama and violence at each end of the plot but the common thread seemed to be missing for me.
As always, the cast of supporting characters were great – the bookie and his enforcer, the on-side cop supplying inside information and his strange friend who helps out with forensic computer work when needed. It’s these characters which really lift the show, providing moments of comedy to offset the drama.
The real beauty of Jack Irish is that the drama is slow-burning – it doesn’t take off quickly, but builds from a series of seemingly innocuous day-to-day incidents. Just like real life I guess!
Categories: Shows
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