If you’ve not watched series 1 of this show stop here! Some
items that take place in that first series will be revealed here and its better
you watch the series before going further. Okay if everyone who hasn’t seen it
is gone I’ll continue now.
A small rehash: Tara Tara Rafferty (Amy Huberman) is a
lawyer who found her soon to be husband and co-worker Eric Dunbar (Rory Keenan)
in bed with another woman. She called off the marriage and left the firm owned
by Eric’s father to start her own firm instead. Most are trying to convince her
to go back to Eric while she struggles on. Eric’s father is making it difficult
for her to continue to do business. So far so good.
Now here are the bits that I didn’t tell you from the first
series. It turns out that investigator Meg Riley (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) has been
doing some work for Eric’s father Richard (Paul Antony-Barber) on the side to
make money. Part of that involved sabotaging Tara. She helped get Ray (Emmet
Byrne) arrested but didn’t know how far it would go. She also provided
information that would lead to the closing of Pete’s (Brahm Gallagher) café
which in turn led to Tara’s location for business to close as well. All of this
was set in motion by Richard without Eric’s knowledge.
This series opens with Tara finding a new location to do
business from, the office owned by George Cusack (Maria Doyle Kennedy). George
is a friend of Vincent Pike (Neil Morrissey) willing to do him a favor allowing
Tara to rent half of the office space she has. Tara asks a second favor of
George to represent Ray now in custody. She also calls in Meg, knowing she
can’t be trusted but having no choice, to help her with a few cases. Meg,
feeling responsible for Ray, provides information in the hopes of getting his
release.
Vincent is not in charge of a corruption investigation of
public officials who were taking kickbacks for contracts to build public
buildings, in particular a hospital. The bids were low and resulted in higher
costs than any others. But those in charge profited handsomely. The deeper the
investigation goes the more attempts behind the scenes to end it happen. All of
them coming from no other than Richard Dunbar.
To toss something different in a new character appears as
well in the form of Sam Dunbar (Moe Dunford), Eric’s brother. Sam has spent his
time wandering the world in search of leisure but has returned home. Having had
a crush on Tara for some time, the two begin to fall in love with one another.
But is Sam someone to be trusted or is he more a Dunbar than Tara would like?
Characters from the previous series pop up again, most
notable criminal Barry O'Brien (Simon O'Gorman) who had two wives in series 1.
This time around his first wife Corrine (Lorraine Pilkington) is suing for half
of everything he has, willing to convict him of his crimes to do so. Of course
her representation is Eric whose father’s firm was once employed by Barry. The
resolution to their differences this time around offers a bit of humor along
with the drama.
As Vincent’s investigation digs deeper the stakes become
higher and the deeds done to put an end to it do indeed become dirty deeds. By
the last episode the entire cast is shaken to their core and just what will
happen is anyone’s guess. This creates the biggest problem of all as the series
to date has been canceled with all the balls being juggled still high in the
air. Calls for the series to move forward are out and if you watch and love the
show as much as I think you will, odds are you’ll be writing to have them carry
on.
My review of the first series talked mostly about what was
going on. This time around let me say all hail the performers in this series.
Huberman shows grows as the series progresses, from a somewhat naïve employee
with a solid career ahead of her to someone learning how the system is played
and lives can be ruined for crossing the wrong person. Morrissey is a delight
in his portrayal of Vincent as both a dogged pursuer of justice and a fun
loving rogue at the same time. Keenan’s Eric is convincing as well, a repentant
man who wants to make up for wronging Tara but just as naïve as she is in how
things are done. By the end of this series his views will change. Kennedy does
great as the cynical smoking lawyer who knows how things work and will do what
she can for those she takes under her wing. Byrne as Ray is the most subtle
character, soft spoken yet recognizing more dangers than the rest.
For me I found myself watching the series and saying “I’ll
just watch this one episode and then off to bed” only to find myself pressing
the “next episode” button. The only way I got sleep when beginning this series
was when it came time to change discs and then I forced myself to stop for the
night. My guess is if you start watching the series you’ll find you’ll be doing
the same. It’s a real treat start to finish and one that I can only hope has
the chance to continue.
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