Review: Janet King, Season 2
Posted by Anura Samara, 13 May 2016
Another round of Janet King’s impressive display of investigative dead-ends, personal angst, paranoia and control freakery.
If you see what I had to say about the first season of Janet King, you’ll know that I left the first series with a whole bunch of criticism.
So why did I watch the second series all the way to the end? Maybe it’s just so that I can round out my list of criticisms. And I’ve got a few…
As with the first series, the second series brings a series of interlinking plot elements. At the surface level, Janet is offered the role of Royal Commissioner looking into gun violence – quite a step up for an ambitious prosecutor. Of course, the role comes with all sorts of political intrigue and clashes. Now that she has more of an investigatory role, Janet can insert herself into the heart of the police operations, including some undercover work. Along the way, there’s the usual political intrigue as she is pitted against the relevant Minister who wants the Royal Commission to be seen to be doing something, but then not too much either.
Even this part seems to be strange. The hearings are held in the what looks like the foyer of the local council chambers, there’s almost no security and witnesses are interviewed at plain desks in an open plan area. The Royal Commission team includes both police and lawyers which means most of Janet’s team from the first series are back together.
And then there’s the personal angles. It’s clear that Janet has lost her partner Ash from the first series who was killed in a violent crime. As the series unfolds, it turns out that the gun used to kill Ash has also been used in one of the gun-related crimes under investigation by the Royal Commission. And of course Janet is left to raise her children as a single parent whilst taking on the high workload of the new role.
The other personal angle is a escalating dispute with Ash’s sister over custody of a frozen embryo – the sister would like to use the embryo as she is unable to fall pregnant.
All of these strands and the various false directions of the investigation means there’s just too much going on. Yes, I accept that Janet is under both professional, personal and emotional stresses but frankly would you want a Royal Commissioner like that? Yet again she comes across as a control freak and in her paranoia even loses the trust of her team. In the end, she comes across as deeply imperfect in all of her roles – as mother, family member (to Ash’s sister anyway, investigator, manager and friend).
As with the first series, the final episode reveals a culprit who was never part of any of the plot-twists during the course of the series – I find this sort of ending to be unsatisfactory, as it means we the viewers aren’t so much led on the investigation but simply sprung with a surprise at the end.
Categories: Shows
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