Channel 5 psychological thriller drama The Game has returned for a second series, earning a four star review from television critic Christopher Stevens. The new run sees lead actor Jason Watkins reprise his role as retired detective Huw, who remains obsessed with serial killer Patrick.
While viewers feared Watkins might be the cast member written out following the dramatic season one finale, it is co-star Sunetra Sarker who has departed the show. Her character Alice, Huw's wife, was abruptly killed off in the opening scenes of the new series.
The previous series ended last year with Huw half-dead from stab wounds in an ambulance, while Alice sat beside him pleading, "Stay with me!" However, as season two begins, Alice takes a walk on her own along a narrow country lane while chatting on the phone to her husband. She looks over her shoulder to see a stunt car driven quite slowly and carefully towards her, before the camera zooms in on her expression of rigid horror.
Huw is then shown cradling her lifeless body, and by the time the next advertisement break finishes, the character's funeral has already taken place. Stevens notes that in a Channel 5 drama, no character survives a lonely walk down a country lane.
Reflecting on the sudden exit of actors from returning television shows, Stevens composed a lighthearted sympathy verse for performers who expected a payday only to be written out:
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We're sorry that you have to go, It must have been a shock. You counted on a pay day but Instead you're off the clock. Whether it was a car crash, Disease or lost at sea, We'll remember you in flashbacks For a much diminished fee.
Watkins, an acclaimed BAFTA award-winning actor known for his roles in major British television series such as The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and Line of Duty, anchors the series. Sarker, who previously starred in long-running UK dramas including Casualty and Ackley Bridge, makes her final appearance as Alice at the start of the season.
A Devious Plot Behind Bars
Despite being locked behind bars, Patrick, played by Robson Green, continues to haunt Huw. Stevens notes that no matter how devious Patrick's mind, how manipulative his lies, or how eerily unsettling his smile, the killer remains incarcerated following his reign of terror as the Ripton Stalker.
However, Patrick does not need to leave his cell to project his evil. He has enlisted prison officer Jackie, played by Tanya Franks, who is besotted with him. Jackie proves equally skilled at menacing stares, burglary, and all the other stock tricks required by a crazed killer.
While Patrick sits in his cell writing poisonous, threatening letters to Huw, the retired detective stands in his study, pinning newspaper clippings and photographs to the wall and connecting them with coloured threads to track the ongoing threat.
Green, who rose to fame in popular drama series before starring in crime thrillers such as Wire in the Blood and Grantchester, plays the villain. Franks, known for her prominent roles in EastEnders and Broadchurch, joins the cast as his devoted accomplice.
High Stakes Prison Confrontation
The second episode features a face-to-face interview in the prison visiting room that Stevens describes as even more claustrophobic and gripping than the confrontations in the first series. The two men sit physically closer than before, positioned knee to knee.
During the intense meeting, Huw begs to be allowed to investigate Patrick again, pleading, "Just one more time," and exclaiming, "He's in my head!"
Stevens suggests the scene could be read as a clever metaphor for addiction, or enjoyed simply for its sheer schlock value and the plot devices that ensure the two men are constantly dancing around each other. Stevens adds that as long as The Game keeps delivering its set pieces between Huw and Patrick, he will want to keep watching.
Channel 5, the UK free-to-air public television network launched in 1997, originally premiered The Game last year to strong reviews for its psychological suspense and central cat-and-mouse relationship.
Out-Takes Released on YouTube
In addition to reviewing Channel 5's thriller, Stevens offers critique on commercial broadcaster ITV and its chat show format The Assembly. After extracting two extra episodes of footage from the main show, ITV has begun releasing ten-minute collections of out-takes on YouTube under the title The B-Sides.
Stevens questions the move, asking whether that barrel has been scraped enough already. ITV, founded in 1955 as Britain's oldest commercial television network, continues to expand its digital content across online video platforms.
