TV Review: ‘The Tourist’ season two is a perfect blend of comedy and thrills

Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for the second season of The Tourist.

★★★★✰

The many twists, turns and loose ends throughout the first season of The Tourist hooked audiences immediately. Gaining huge attention, the Australian-based black comedy was practically begging for a second season to be commissioned. Now, two years later, here we are with the second season for our enjoyment — just as confusing, funny, and thrilling as the first.

The second series of The Tourist extends further on Elliot’s (Jamie Dornan) background before his accident in Australia which caused his memory loss. We delve into what made him become a drug smuggler, and as to why anyone else would want to cause him harm. It also shows us his new romantic relationship with Helen (Danielle MacDonald) that had formed during the 14 months since the events of the first series. 

Full of the dark and dry sense of humour that made the first season so enjoyable, season two keeps fans excited with action scattered throughout. It doesn’t stray far from the blueprint of the first season as we see more kidnapping, fights, and larger-than-life characters. It does, however, cover new subjects such as family, fatherhood and revenge within its new storyline.

Elliot and Hellen travel to Ireland to find an old friend of Elliot’s whom he had been pictured with well before his memory loss. Typically, things are not as they seem and, as a viewer, we’re not left waiting long for drama to unfold as Elliot is quickly scooped during a brawl and thrown into a van by hooded men. The show mainly bases itself around Helen desperately trying to find Elliot in her new environment of Ireland, seeing herself get into many difficult situations along the way. Assisting Hellen in finding Elliot is Detective Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill) a small-time Guarda officer who seems innocent on the outside. Still, he certainly has skeletons in his closet as the series slowly unveils. 

Greg Larsen reprises his role as Ethan Krum, Helen’s now ex. The Australian plays Krum in hilarious fashion as the useless but harmless Aussie who only wants to help, using his comedic skills to deliver lines with the most perfect timing. It’s like a breath of fresh air when he appears on our screens, from the otherwise gritty and serious tone of the show. 

Throughout each episode, we meet new characters, predominantly gang members whom Elliot had been involved with prior to the first season. Each of these gang members bring a sense of menace and threat towards our protagonist’s safety as we learn that Elliot may not have the cleanest record with them. However, we are given some comic relief in these characters in an almost cartoonish way. The best example of this is when they’re blasting the 1980’s hit ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ while chasing Elliot throughout the Irish countryside during the opening episode. Proving that the show is sticking with its hilariously dark sense of humour. 

We’re introduced to Fergal (Mark McKenna), one of Elliot’s captors, who is actually Elliot’s long lost son from a previous love affair with his opposition gang. This portrays Elliot in a new light; a father with new responsibilities which creates an interesting spin on his already difficult situation. This sense of vulnerability stays throughout the show for both characters, given their awkward family history, as we can’t fully grasp where their relationship is heading.

We also meet Naimh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré), the rugged mother of our protagonist. Set on meeting with her estranged son, she’s hell-bent on causing havoc between the rival gangs that dominate the second season’s storyline. Fouéré plays the character perfectly as the stubborn boss bringing a new side to the story as we’ve not yet established anything about Elliot’s family or life back in Ireland.

Every single episode is rammed with non-stop action. There are countless times we see Elliot and Helen held at gunpoint, beaten, or captured. Nevertheless, season two certainly contains larger-scale scenes in comparison to the first, most notably, during a car chase in episode six. This scene is by far the most memorable in the whole show. Along with the sound of ‘Hocus Pocus’ by Focus (also used in Baby Driver) we’re treated to internal shots of the car during the chase, featuring 360-degree camera pans throughout the one-take sequence. It’s an incredibly shot scene which sucks the viewer into the vehicle, almost as if we’re physically sitting in the back seat looking around —brilliant!

The Verdict

The Tourist season two doesn’t disappoint. Sometimes slow, but always tense, it’s sure to keep any fan of the first season happy. We also get a satisfying end to our story, but it intentionally leaves questions within its last scene. There’s no doubt we’ll be seeing The Tourist return to our screens, and see Elliot and Helen in even more troubling situations following the end of this season.

Words by Thomas Howells

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