RogerBW's Blog

2018 mystery show, 10 episodes. Frankie Drake and Trudy Clarke continue to be private detectives in 1920s Toronto.

This is a show that's settled into its groove and is largely comfortable there; there's less effort spent on tying its plots to historical events (that's mostly in the episodes with Marcus Garvey and Coco Chanel, in the latter of which Frankie casually invents the little black dress – sigh), but the secondary characters are better developed than in their first outing and even their comic-relief moments come over as something like genuine.

Frankie now has a new hairstyle, slightly below shoulder length rather than the off-the-neck bob of season 1. I don't usually notice things like that, but it doesn't seem to suit the character; she looks surprisingly softer and less practical, though this isn't carried through in her actions.

It's a truism of modern procedural television that the most recognisable of the week's guest stars is usually the villain, but in at least one episode there's an obviously stunt-cast bad guy (whom even I recognised) who turns out not to be in that role after all.

Most of the recurring cast are the same, but two newcomers are Anthony Lemke (fresh off Dark Matter) as a cop who goes from disliking Frankie to grudgingly working with her, and Natalie Brown as a mob boss (and, while it's not surprising for this show, it's good to see that she doesn't use her sexuality as part of that role).

Nothing here is world-changing, but for procedural filler it's a whole lot more pleasant than any number of "heroic cops blow away bad guys" shows.

The show was renewed for a third season.