Silk, Season 2

[selenak]

kathyh gave me the second season of Silk for Christmas, which was great, because I liked the first season a lot.

Second season thoughts: I miss Niamh (presumably Game of Thrones made Natalie Dormer unavailable?), but Frances Barber's Caroline Warwick was a superb new character and foil for our regulars. At first I was afraid that her telling Martha that professional sparring in the court room doesn't mean personal enmity meant we'd see her act just the opposite and be a personal back stabber as well, because rules of tv, but no. Honorable opponents for the win! And also, hooray for adult women having camraderie because each has had her experiences of how ambition is immediately qualified as bitchy when female and as only to be expected when male. Caroline being established as bisexual from the get go without this being made a great issue of was an additional bonus, and I really, really liked the relationship that developed between her and Martha.

As noted in my first season review, one of the key differences to American lawyer shows is created by the fact both chambers can and does provide both prosecuters and advocates, though in the second season the characters switched less between these roles than last season, not least because new character Caroline has made a point of only prosecuting and part of Clive's arc is discovering he's a national born prosecutor. Because Martha's strong ethics have been so well established and she now had silk, I was afraid it wouldn't leave her with development of her own, but no, the clever show tested her defense ethics by throwing the very crime lord whose victim she defended in the season opener at her as a client near the conclusion. It made very good drama, and Maxine Peake was as superb as ever. Also, I thought the crime czar and his lawyer Mickey made for better recurring menaces than the creep from last season's opener who was brought back and the end of s1.

Mind you: the season wasn't perfect. I thought Billy Lamb entangling himself more and more with the above named gentlemen was well done, but am not sure about the illness subplot, and definitely didn't like the Billy-versus-Clive's-foe scene of manly intimidation in the finale, not least because that meant Clive's legal difficulties were resolved not with a bang, but with a whimper. (And here I had been looking forward to seeing Martha defend Clive in court and having to shut up his inevitable attempt at backseat driving!)

Trivialities: was v.v. amused that Clive is not so secretly seething about Daniel the new male ex cop pupil. Clive, a) just because you have to make a pass at every good looking female pupil doesn't mean Martha will do the same with a male one, and b) it's your own fault for having had the relationship with Niamh.

Speaking of Clive's love interests, hello, Suzie Niobe Indira Vharma! Good to have you on my tv again.

In conclusion: Martha Costello is currently my favourite female tv lawyer. It's a matter of degrees, because I do love Diane and Alicia over at The Good Wife, but she does have the edge. It comes with being a Northern Englishwoman allowed to look unfashionable. :)