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The Chelsea Detective: Series 2
R0 - United Kingdom - Acorn Media Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (17th October 2024). |
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The Show
 Since the first series, the life of Chelsea CID Detective Inspector Max Arnold (Gosford Park's Adrian Scarborough) is facing new upheavals. His meddling aunt Olivia (A Zed & Two Noughts' Frances Barber) is finding time in between senior activities to butt into his cases when she is not pushing him to get into modern dating life like herself. He and his ex-girlfriend Astrid (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' Anamaria Marinca) seem to be moving towards reconciliation when she must consider moving back home to take care of her mother or finally moving on if she stays. Most vexing is that he had just gotten used to his partner Detective Sergeant Priya Shamsie's habit of going with her gut when the difficulties of being a working mother with a newborn and an equally ambitious careerist husband resulted in her moving to Brighton leaving him with a new untested partner in Detective Sergeant Layla Walsh (The Inside's Vanessa Emme) who is just now learning the strain police work can put on a personal relationship. Peter Bankolé (also a DS concurrently in DI Ray) as Detective Constable Connor Pollock and Lucy Phelps as Detective Constable Jess Lombard each have more to do in the investigations than they did in the first series, still pulling up the background on suspects but sometimes skirting ethical violations to get it. Sophie Stone (Marchlands) as deaf coroner Ashley Wilton is still largely relegated to the background but on more than one occasion reminds Max of the human component to his case when he grows frustrated by inconclusive evidence. In The Blue Room, Arnold and his team must determine whether an art gallery owner murdered during a heist was in the wrong place at the wrong time or a betrayed accomplice. Suspects include the "Queen of Chelsea" art collection owner Rebekah (Snow White and the Huntsman's Rachael Stirling) who stands to collect quite a bit in insurance for a priceless piece not adequately protected, her put-upon personal assistant (Emma Cunniffe) tired of being regarded as an object of pity and charity, her financier husband (Cezanne et moi's Félicien Juttner) who happened to return to the gallery after it closed and "discovered" the body, the gallery owner's domestic and business partner (Merlin's Tomiwa Edun) who realizes that not everything was on the books and above board. As with the first series, this is one of the episodes exploring the different social strata of Chelsea and exposing the rotten deeds of the privileged with one of the prime suspects being simultaneously a horrible person yet undeserving of some of the things that happen behind their back. In Golden Years, the suspicious death of a well-off resident (Zardoz's Sara Kestelmen) of an upscale senior community residence reveals more complex motives than potential personal gain when Arnold discovers that the family money came from South African blood diamonds. Not only was the victim being harassed by local protesters commemorating the dead of a mining accident – for which her well-connected late husband avoided criminal responsibility – but her daughter Maria (Downton Abbey's Raquel Cassidy) might not have benefited from plans to amend her will the day after her murder, Jess risks prejudicing the investigation when she take it upon herself to expose Maria's entrepreneur boyfriend (The 355's Leo Staar) as a serial swindler, and the community manager (Absolutely Fabulous' Naoko Mori) actually profits greatly from a regular turnover in residents via the open market. The solution is a bit outlandish but manages to leave some ambiguity as to the nobility of the killer's supposed motives. In The Reliable Witness, it appears that the only person who truly liked psychotherapist Iain Frankland (Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse's Domlnic Mafham) murdered on-camera during a remote session with an agoraphobic client is schizophrenic former patient Nathan (Cyrano's Joshua James), the victim of horrific childhood abuse who formed an unhealthy attachment to him that included criminal threats and stalking. His business partner (Naked's Claire Skinner) offers a frank assessment of his competitive nature yet raises suspicion when she take on his clients at his considerably higher rates. His wife (Charlotte Emmerson) seems easily-dominated and willing to turn a blind eye, but his daughter (A Walk in the Woods' Gaia Wise) hated him with a passion and has explosive anger issues. Nathan's wealthy grandmother (Dune's Siân Phillips) will seemingly say anything and her butler (Emily's Robert Pickavance) do anything to protect him. One of Frankland's patients (Sophie Melville) is discovered to have overdosed after their final session and is in a coma; but what Max finds most puzzling, however, is a pair of tree surgeons (The Bounty's Neil Morrissey and Cats' Bluey Robinson) questioned as witnesses at the scene who keep popping up in the various twists and turns of the case. Max winds up in a vulnerable position under threat and stumbles into a lead while relying on Layla to respond to his pocket dial. A Crime of Passion provides a variation on Max's stance in the previous case of murder being the choice of the killer regardless of their intentions and the responsibility felt by those on whose behalf they act as the murder of acharismatic curated fresh fruit and vegetable delivery company owner (Bridgerton's Oli Higginson) reveals a web of family intrigue with a seemingly blissfully unaware mother (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason's Catherine Russell), stepfather (Delicious' Rhashan Stone) who may know more than he claims about the nature of his stepson's bewilderingly profitable startup business, and a too sweet music prodigy younger brother (Lake of Death's Patrick Walshe McBride) involved in the business but seemingly ignorant of the suspicious nature of the inventory. There is also a disinherited trust fund brat friend (Laurence Ubong Williams), married not-so-ex lover (The Ipcress File's Shireen Farkhoy) and her jealous husband (The Dark Knight's Philip Bulcock), as well as a somewhat neurotic current girlfriend (The Strangers: Chapter 1's Ella Bruccoleri) and her protective older sister (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) who might have had something to do with the confirmed suicide of her sister's previous boyfriend. A third series is in the works and will hopefully more fully exploit opportunities for more character development of Max and his team if it does not lean too heavily on his dating experiences. 
Video
Originally shown as four ninety-minute episodes and then repeated as eight two-parters, The Chelsea Detective comes to DVD in its original form, splitting the four anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen episodes between two dual-layer discs. The Chelsea skyline and authentic locations are an attractive backdrop but the Acorn encode is only superficially attractive, as if the entire series has been optimized for streaming formats with only fine detail evident in some close-ups and some of the night-for-night scenes (including studio interiors) downright murky. 
Audio
All of the episodes have Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtracks which are front-oriented and dialogue-heavy with some musical comment and sound design that is supportive but unobtrusive. Optional English HoH subtitles are included. 
Extras
There are no extras. The back cover lists a photo gallery but it is not on either disc menu.
Overall
Despite replacing a main character, series two of The Chelsea Detective improves on the first series in some respects to character but it remains to be seen what it will do with the third series. 
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