The Fall Season 2 Netflix Series Review

The Fall (2013-)
Season 2 - 6 episodes (2014)

Watch The Fall on Netflix
Created by:Allan Cubitt
Starring:  Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan, John Lynch
Rated: TV-MA

Plot
DSI Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) chases serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan).
In season two, Spector's personal life is in disarray as Gibson closes in.

Verdict
This feels like the second half of the story season one began. This season is the noose closing around Spector's neck. Season one was slow methodical and chilling, establishing the characters of Spector and Gibson. This season is the chase. It's a different tone, but just as engrossing as season one.
Watch it.

Review
This season picks up right at the end of season one. It's a cat and mouse game between Gibson and Spector, but Spector is playing with fire throughout the season as he risks getting caught. The first season set the stage and put you in his mindset, with this season Gibson is on his trail.

Jim Burns and Stella Gibson.

To start the season, Spector is lying low outside of the city without his family, but it's clear he won't last long without a 'project.' As Gibson said, it's an addiction he has to feed. While he hid his criminal activity from his wife using the underage babysitter Katie as an excuse, Katie seems like a potential downfall that will get him caught.


Spector revels in the media coverage of the case. A composite image of him appears in the paper, and he asks a girl on the train whether she thinks the sketch looks like him. We know it's him, but he's curious and even draws a beard on the sketch. He isn't looking for a victim, at least not this time, he likes the attention.

Spector's flirtation with danger comes to a predictable end.

He visits one of his victims in the hospital. It's audacious. We're waiting for him to get caught because he's blatantly mocking the victim and the cops.
He's on the outs with his wife, Katie is a whole new level of drama, and the cops are tracking him. He knows he's playing a dangerous game, but he likes the stakes.

The camera lingered on tire tracks in episode two and those tracks are revisited in episode three with the police using them as a clue. I wonder if the show has been lying down clues I've been missing. That was the first I noticed.

Katie and Paul Spector

Spector is grooming Katie. His worldview is dark. He tells Katie to embrace darkness and take joy in the pain of others. Shes' so infatuated that she would do anything, though she does pause for just a moment leading us to wonder if she'll see the truth. She doesn't.
Did he intend to manipulate her from the start or was she just an easy target? It's clear Spector uses everyone. His wife was just a cover. Katie is convenient.


You know he'll get caught, so the question is not whether he will but what happens after he is. As disturbing as his actions are, his detachment to his crimes is even worse.

Spector and Gibson face off.

With the last couple of episodes I wondered what the third season would cover. I still wonder, but I know how it will start. Ending this after two seasons wouldn't have been a bad idea. This season seems ready to call it done until it throws in a quick to be continued. The first two seasons are a unique twist on the crime drama, focusing equally on the cop and criminal.