‘Bloodlands’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 1’

2/14/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Two Premiere of ‘Bloodlands’. To revisit the season one finale, click here.

It’s been a little while since we’ve had the opportunity to geek out about the fascinating Acorn TV series, Bloodlands, and understandably so. For this is a series that received an expanded second season order, and well… building a bigger story for Detective Chief Inspector Tom Brannick, takes time and care. Especially when one considers what we learned about Tom in the season one finale, since that informed us, he is not exactly the most honest of men and tends to operate in the grey, akin to an anti-hero of sorts. One that will do the right thing but cover his rear at any and all costs, and well, writers need a lot of time to figure out where a journey for a man like that will go following such powerful revelations.

But alas, our wait for more of Tom’s journey has come to its end. For there are new episodes of this series available on Acorn TV and well… they were definitely worth the wait. Because the season two premiere wasted little time in wowing us and informing us… that Tom has more secrets in his closet. For he is a man that also came across an uncomfortable amount of gold in his wicked travels, and rather than turn that over to the authorities, as would have been the right thing to do, he kept it hidden and moved it about with a trusted associate and now… decades later, that particular decision has seemingly come back to haunt Tom deeply. For when we caught up with him in the season two premiere, he found himself at a murder scene that he never wanted to investigate.

For that very associate, an accountant no less… turned up dead. Which of course put Tom into the quiet panic that only he knows how to express. Wherein he quietly did his job and did it well to not raise suspicion, before going on a tear to find the gold in question. Which of course went missing and that put Tom in a tough place. For it needed to be found and that prompted him to push hard against his old friend’s widow, Olivia, who he was worried might know something about this and might compromise him in the process. But at first it seemed, he was safe, and he could instead, handle the matter of who might be behind this murder. Which led to a lot of dead ends and embarrassing chases, and with little clues in hand Tom kept coming back to Olivia.

Because there were some oddities involving her and a suspect, the kind that quietly spoke to something more going on. Which in turn prompted Tom to begin to tail her, against the wishes of Jackie and Niamh for that matter as well. Because it seemed fishy for Tom to just keep going out on his own to look at a case that no one thought needed extra scrutiny. But that didn’t stop Tom from continuing the hunt and his efforts paid off. Because he and we came to learn, that Olivia did know a lot more than she was leading on. In fact, at some point… she had the gold in her possession and moved it to a secure storage facility, where it eventually went missing as well. Which prompted Tom to turn up the heat from afar and from a legal standpoint.

All of which… sets the stage for a supremely unique season of storytelling. One that once again, puts Tom in a tough place and rightfully so. For he’s committed a lot of unique sins, the kind that come back to bite you for certain. But this time around… keeping his actions a secret and what he is in pseudo-possession of, may not be as easy as it was for him last season. Because Jackie is suspicious and keeping him on a short leash and he has Niamh keeping an eye on him as well. Which means season two should move at an incredible pace as Tom Brannick does his best to keep his dual life a secret, and it will be fascinating to see if Tom can indeed pull off such a feat in silence, or if this sometimes-shady cop… is about to face the music. Until next time.

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