Suzhal Season 2 Series Review: An intriguing premise circles down to a predictable end

With eight women being at the centre of the maelstrom, you would expect their arcs to forklift the entire story, but they fail to leave a lasting impression

Anger has the power to drive action and fuels decisions, though not always with the desired outcome. In Suzhal Season 2, every character wrestles with a simmering rage that shapes their fate. Nandhini (Aishwarya Rajesh) bears the cost of her anger, now serving time in prison for murdering her uncle, while her decade-long trauma lingers with her. Chellappa (Lal), a man both fiery and compassionate, has been tirelessly fighting her case in court for months. Meanwhile, Sakkarai (a brilliant Kathir) remains a good friend, offering his unwavering support in her struggle. The story has moved from the quaint town of Sambalur and has relocated to the much-vibrant coastal city of Kaalipattanam, yet what hasn’t changed is the series’ formula of burying layers of secrets in small towns with a shocking murder. Each episode uncovers a new truth that shifts the course of the investigation, but instead of getting sucked into the epicentre of it all (which season one effortlessly did), season 2 remains in the peripheries for the longest time.

Cast: Kathir, Aishwarya Rajesh, Lal, Saravanan, Gouri Kishan, Monisha Blessy, Samyuktha Viswanathan, Manjima Mohan and others

Creators: Pushkar-Gayatri.

Director: Bramma, Sarjun KM

Streamer: Amazon Prime Video

For the most part, this season of Suzhal unfolds like a gritty prison drama. While the genre typically show what's inside the rotting walls of prison, Pushkar-Gayatri’s series provides a much-needed elaborated peek into the lives of women prisoners. The gritty realism is extremely unpalatable. Several scenes send a shiver down your spine. But it also introduces characters like Anjali Ameer (Vimala), a trans actor as Nandhini’s companion, an interesting character, but it only leads to a dead end.

In the original season, the story revolved around the ‘Mayana Kollai’ festival which served as a backdrop to the gripping investigation that unfolds in less than ten days. With eight suspects to a Chellappa’s murder, the ‘Ashtakaali’ festival serves as a perfect canvas in the second season. There are moments of sheer brilliance—one of it involves a character explaining why even the mighty rich come down to ask for alms during the festival, and another stretch that showcases the climactic ‘soorasamharam’. You wish for more of these. However, the whirlpool in which audiences were sucked into in the first season has lost its intensity in the second. And this time, the series suffers from a severely dawdled screenplay that meanders and dampens the overall experience. While the universe and conflict established in the first two episodes are interesting, the second season is unnecessarily stretched to level up to the first season and takes forever to unravel the hows and whys. The details of the investigation are needlessly elaborated and spoon-fed while predictability too wears it down.

With eight women being at the centre of the maelstrom, you would expect their arcs to forklift the entire story, but they fail to leave a lasting impression. However, Kathir as Sakkarai shines as an unconventional policeman. The actor shows incredible restraint in every move. There are subtle nuances that set him apart from typical on-screen cops. For example, when Moorthy (Saravanan) asks him if he “adichu thovachu” (beat a suspect to a pulp), he calmly replies, “Policekaaran naale adichu than unmaya vara vekkanuma?” (Should a policeman always resort to violence to get the truth out?). At the same time, he grapples with the emotional burden of wearing the khaki uniform—one of it is getting attuned to constantly looking at the darker side of humanity. These characteristics make him stand out from the rest of the cast, but he feels isolated in a web of stories. Aishwarya Rajesh has a character arc that feels underwritten despite her capacity to shoulder the series. But the best of it all lies with Manjima Mohan who makes a remarkable cameo as Nagamma.

One of the few aspects of the show that has stayed consistent is its riveting music. Sam CS builds a brooding thriller through the songs as well as the background score. The crashing waves of Kaalipattanam are a recurring theme as they sway for and against the story and its characters, especially fisherfolk, and are deftly handled by cinematographer Abraham Joseph.

Humans have secrets buried that they would carry to their grave and, even the mightiest superheroes aren’t incapable of committing mistakes. As Sakkarai keeps reiterating this throughout the series, you can’t help but ponder on the depths and horrors of the sea, but Suzhal season 2 lets the wave crash on our feet and leaves the rest for the audience's interpretation.