BBC’s hit thriller about a distressing unsolved murder lost me in season 2

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is back on the BBC (and Netflix) for a second season with a slow-burning mystery that is spinning too many plates.

After the mammoth success of the first season, drawing in millions of viewers, the six-episode thriller was back for another outing, this time based on the second in Holly Jackson’s trilogy, Good Girl, Bad Blood.

The new batch of episodes picks up almost directly from the events of last season, after the Watson-Holmes duo, Pip (Emma Myers) and Ravi (Zain Iqbal), manage to clear the name of Ravi’s late brother, Sal, in the murder of Andie Bell and find her true killer, five years on.

In this case, the father of Pip’s best friend, Mr Ward (Matthew Broome).

Her investigation threw her into deadly stakes as Mr Ward desperately evaded justice and uncovered other sinister goings-on in the small town of Little Kilton.

Not least, that Andi’s ex-classmate, Max Hastings (Henry Ashton), had raped both Andie’s sister Becca (Carla Woodcock) and another of their friends, Nat De Silva (Jessica Webber).

Now standing trial for his crimes, the new season kicks off with Pip putting her all into making sure the ever-arrogant Max goes down for what he has done.

But a large part of his fate rests on the shoulders of a key witness, Jamie Reynolds (Eden H. Davies), who is set to imminently testify in court when he suddenly vanishes, kickstarting a new mystery for Pip to solve before it is too late.

Where the first season is a twisty murder-mystery, a good chunk of the second season is a tense court procedural in which Henry does a stellar job of portraying just how conceited and insufferable Max is.

Needless to say, it pulls no punches in its commentary on white male privilege as he fervently insists he’s not guilty.

Especially for teen-aimed media, I appreciated that the show didn’t hold back at the dark depths of sexual violence against women, even among teenagers and young adults.

In fact, even though the first season was dark, there’s no doubt that this one goes even darker, if that’s possible. Having heavy shows for younger audiences that don’t brush over the severity of these themes and topics is valuable.

Although at times some of the cast did struggle to deliver convincing enough performances to match the gravity of the plot, taking me out of the moment.

And the trial of it all did drag on at times, which left it to Jamie’s disappearance to do the heavy lifting to maintain a pacey plot, which it executed to mixed results.

There were chunks of episodes where it was so unclear where on earth this wild goose chase Pip was headed that I lost interest, and when the plot did begin to thicken, there were so many threads that I got slightly lost in the mess of who did what when.

Part of the joy of a juicy mystery is in the figuring it out as you go along, but there were so many new and old characters that got caught up in the whole mess, it was almost impossible to know what to think.

Still, by the final episode, there were enough twists and turns to keep me hooked and intrigued to see what would happen next.

This leads me to my biggest gripe of the season, which is Pip’s relationship with… essentially everyone.

While I did appreciate that the show explored how Cara and our budding detective’s relationship was impacted by the imprisonment of the former’s father, there was nowhere near enough time dedicated to fleshing out the destructive fallout.

Elsewhere, Pip’s family, mum Leanne (Anna Maxwell Martin) and stepdad Victor (Gary Beadle) are hardly a footnote. After Pip’s near-death at the end of season one, the utter lack of her parents’ presence except when necessary for the plot (leading to very arbitrary interactions) felt disconcerting.

I had to regularly remind myself that the lead is a 17-year-old still at school.

Last but not least, we have the weakest link in the show – Ravi and Pip’s relationship. After playing a much more integral part in last season, his place in the plot and Pip’s life feel disjointed and redundant.

Their romance and domination as a detective duo will take far more convincing to bring me on board compared to what we were served up this season.

It’s no surprise that, with all the plates the plot was spinning, Pip and Ravi got lost in the noise.

But, with a final book in Holly Jackson’s trilogy and an ending clearly set up for more – I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Pip back on our screens before long.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.

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