Prologue:
The second season of “Kin” continues to explore the complex dynamics within the Kinsella family, as well as their relationships with rival gangs and law enforcement. The season picks up after a major event that has left the Kinsellas in disarray, and they must work together to protect their empire from further threats. Throughout the season, the family’s past and present collide, leading to shocking revelations and dangerous consequences.
IMDB: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Plot:
As Bren Kinsella (Francis Magee) is being released from prison and released for all of his crimes, Bren returns back to his family. On the other hand, we see that the Kinsella family gets the witness killed in Eric’s crime of shooting. Now Eric ‘Viking’ Kinsella (Sam Keeley) is also free of his charges as his crime can not be proved because of the killing of the witness.
Although the Kinsella family is content with the news of Eric returning home from prison. But now, the Kinsella family is much more worried as Bren returns to home, and he has decided to stay at Bridget ‘Birdy’ Kinsella’s (Maria Doyle Kennedy) home.
As we move further into the series, we learn more about Bren, the crimes he has committed, the problems he has caused, and his relationship with everyone in the family. We learn even more when we see Bren interact with Michael (Charlie Cox) and the relations they have had in the past.
Now as everyone is stressed because of the Bren taking over the business and causing havoc in everyone’s life, we see how the rest of the Kinsella family deals with the problems that are being caused not just by Bren but also by the exterior forces as well.
Review:
Kin still remains one of the most under-appreciated and undiscovered series in the year 2023. Although one of the main stars in the series, Charlie Cox does bring his fans to watch the shows, along with well-known actors like Aidan Gillen, and Ciaran Hinds as the antagonist in the first season.
Kin continues to create and carry the element of mystery and suspense for the entire season while revealing the history of the Kinsella family in the amount it is required for the audience. As the season begins, we see that Amanda (Clare Dunne) is now leading the family business as Frank has had (Aidan Gillen) a heart stroke because of drug abuse at the end of the first season.
We get to know more about the father of Michael and Jimmy (Emmett J Scanlan), Bren who is also the sibling of Frank, and Birdy. We get to know not just his criminal record, but why his wife – Julie left with her daughter, while they left Michael and Jimmy with their father.
After the assassination of Eamon Cunningham (Ciaran Hinds), we are introduced to a Russian mob. We learn that Michael even killed the brother of the Russian mob leader, Nuray Batuk (Oyku Karayel) and now she wants to kill Michael. Instead, Amanda cracks a deal with the Batuks of giving them $90 million over a period of 4 months for the safety of the entire family, especially Michael.
At last, we see how the Kinsella family deals with the problems they have. It was a really fun episode to watch. After the end of every episode, I was always waiting for the next episode to air and check how Bren will be messing with the family and what consequences will the entire family faces.
5 things I liked about the second season of Kin:
As Kin delivers again with its second season. There are many things I liked and disliked about it. So, let’s start with the things I liked about the second season of Kin.
- The character and relationship development between Michael and Amanda was something that viewers were waiting to watch from the first season. Although, Michael was misguided by the influence of Jimmy who was even misguided by Bren. That’s how deeply Bren was affecting everyone in the entire season. But coming back to the point, Amanda leaving Jimmy because of lack of communication and affection towards each other and later getting closer to Michael was the secret couple audience was waiting for. Even though their relationship remains a secret within the Kinsella family, with the exception of Jimmy and Anthony (Mark Mckeena Jr.) knowing about their relationship.
- The mystery and suspense continue to grow and expand throughout the entire season. As the Batuk family (Russian Mob) is already after the Kinsella family and wants to be paid $90 million dollars. And as Bren forcefully takes over the business, the tension keeps on growing more and more which even leads to lots of trouble. As every aspect of the season starts to unfold itself, the mystery of what’s going to happen next keeps on rising.
- The character buildup of Birdy, Jimmy, and Frank who were on certain kind of a downfall in their lives was beautifully written. It was not just their particular failures that made them feel low and disappointed in their lives. Birdy struggles to live a good and happy life while keeping her connections with her siblings. Jimmy is depressed because of his failure to lead a good life with her wife, Amanda and knowing that she has had a past relationship with Michael and has started to get back with him, and even Amanda took over the business which was later gaslighted by Bren to Jimmy. Frank is suffering from an existential crisis after the stroke he had because of drug abuse in the previous season.
- The characters of Bren and Amanda contradict each other on the way the business is to be operated and how the family needs to be protected. Amanda who is worried about keeping everyone in the family safe by checking every move she makes and even doing business in a loss in order to make it up to the Batuk is the compromise she makes for her family instead of earning profits. On the other hand, Bren who is forcing himself into the business and tries to take over it, Bren takes rash moves to earn more profit and does not worry about someone hurting the family members.
- The acting of Charlie Cox throughout the season and especially in episode 3 where he pulls a gun on his father, Bren was stunning to watch and experience. As he is well known for his perfect roles in Marvel’s Daredevil, and the way he acted in Treason, Charlie Cox does not disappoint in Kin as well. In this series, Michael is known for being a brutal hitman and had a couple of action sequences in this season as well. It was surprising to see Michael going crazy to warn his father after he gets to know what he has been up to with his daughter, Anna (Hannah Adeogun).
5 things I disliked about the second season of Kin:
Now let’s get to the points that I did not like about the second season of Kin.
- The writers need to clear out the past of the Kinsella family. It feels confusing to watch the show, where the past has wide implications on the current time of everyone. I hope we get to see the backstory of the Kinsella family in the next season.
- The cinematography and colour grading was really dull and dark compared to the first season. The first season had much better colour grading along with lighting.
- The pace of this season feels a bit sluggish and the plots were spread everywhere. The plot of the Russian mob was really confusing and it was tough for the audience to remember the names of the cousins. Whereas, Bren’s interaction with his crew was not explained properly.
- The show had inconsistency in showing Michael’s illness. Yes, we see Michael having seizures in this season a couple of times. But magically, whenever he is planning or executing something serious in this season, he seems perfectly healthy even though we know that stress is something that triggers Michael’s illness.
- The unexpected ending of Frank killing Bren instead of Michael was a bit disappointing for me personally. I wanted to see the rage of Michael while he kills his dad, Bren and we get to see him in action. Instead, Frank kills him and we see him waiting with Eric, his son at the pub.
