Acorn TV’s 'Bloodlands' Season 2 is Compelling, But Lacks Focus

Season 2 of Bloodlands, directed by Jon East (Killing Eve) and written by Chris Brandon (Endeavour) returns viewers to the continued downward spiral of bad cop DCI Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt). Despite James Nesbitt’s extraordinary performance, the series lacks the single strong impetus of the first season, which was all about the search for Goliath. Season 2 seems less about the hunt for Goliath or the Troubles and more of an exercise in seeing how much more Tom can get away with.

Season 1 introduced Tom as a man not over the Troubles, which reared its head when Goliath, hitman, terrorist/serial killer, and probably a member of the Belfast police, became active once more after going dormant post-Good Friday, dispelling rumors of his death. Tom’s missing/presumed dead wife, Emma, who served with a unit investigating paramilitary organizations, was presumed to be a Goliath victim from his original spate of killings. However, Tom turned out to have another agenda, deliberately misleading his colleagues, laying false trails, and killing anyone who gets in the way.

After he tried to frame his boss, DCS Jackie Twomey (Lorcan Cranitch), the show revealed its wild twist: Tom is Goliath. Jackie, a corrupt veteran of the Troubles, was almost certainly following orders from higher up to move on and not stir up the past. But Tom’s sidekick, DI Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna), also suspects her bosses aren't on the up and up and silently observes, biding her time.

Season 2 begins with a flashback to Tom, twenty years ago, carrying out a hit on some gun runners who were not only hauling M24 rifles but gold ingots. In the present day, Tom and Niamh are summoned to the murder scene of accountant Colin Foyle, the most recent custodian of that stolen gold. Tom quietly retrieves a burner phone with Colin’s last text, stating the gold was moved to the oil storage tank of his old house. However, the tank is empty, leading Tom to the house Colin recently bought for his new wife, Olivia (Victoria Smurfit).

It’s aggressively modern, all sharp angles and cold, shiny surfaces, just like his widow, in whom Tom is interested beyond a professional capacity. Suddenly we’re deep into Hitchcock territory. She and Tom eye each other up suggestively, and Niamh watches sternly as Olivia clutches Tom’s hand. Tom and Niamh give chase to a car that drives up to the house only to back out in a hurry upon seeing them, ignoring police requests to stop. The driver is Robert Dardis (Diarmaid Murtagh), from the car hire company the Foyles use. When he evades capture, they visit his home, where Tom terrifies his wife and son — only to be interrupted by the arrival of a SWAT team.

Olivia drops some contradictory statements about Robert and her use of the hired car, successfully causing a massive distraction, resulting in a search warrant and an interview at the station. Thoroughly lawyered up, she states Robert made her uncomfortable, and she told him the airport run he was supposedly picking her up for would be the last. With no reason to hold her, she leaves the station with Tom on her tail. He follows her to a storage facility, where she is shocked to find two gun cases, one weapon, and no gold. 

Tom texts Olivia from the burner, “I’m alive and want my gold.” However, on his next visit, he admits he sent the text as a test and then starts pushing to see if she knew Goliath and if he was one of Colin’s clients. He issues the standard claim from last season that Goliath was Pat Keenan, one of Tom’s victims, and is now dead. Meanwhile, Robert is found hiding in a derelict house, is injured in his escape attempt, and is arrested. Tom finds Robert’s dropped gun, concealing it for later use. Robert ends up sent home with tactical support group protection and security cameras. He, too, contacts Olivia via burner, asking where the gold is. She tells him to keep calm, but he’s mad that she told lies about him.

After Jackie has had a shout at Tom over threatening Robert’s son, Niamh reveals Colin’s car had a hidden compartment with a notebook containing coded information suggesting he was in contact with Goliath. Jackie tells her to drop the Goliath angle and concentrate on Robert. However, Tom is already ahead of everyone, with a petrol bomb thrown into Robert’s garden shed. Tom takes Robert away “for his safety,” and you know what that means. Before Robert dies, he says he knew Tom is Goliath, where the gold is, and that it’s connected to the IRA (Irish Republican Army).

With Robert’s body safely hidden underwater, Tom claims he’s escaped and is at large, throwing the investigation on a dead-end trail and letting Olivia believe herself in danger. And he can distract his bright, likable officer, Birdy (Chris Walley), DC Billy Bird, with make-work.

Olivia is brought back in for questioning over Robert's "disappearance," and Tom sends Birdy off on an errand so he can talk to her about the gold's whereabouts without the cameras on. They spar briefly, and he eventually tells her she has nothing to offer. She counters that she's very good at keeping secrets and suggestively strokes his hand. Despite Birdy’s capable questioning at the official, recorded interview, she claims she went to the storage facility to find a ring, the last gift from her late husband, and smiles as she leaves with her lawyer.

Birdy, meanwhile, has his own secrets — he’s dating Tom’s daughter Izzy (Lola Petticrew). Birdy veers between being terrified of Tom and hero-worshipping him and dreads the responsibility of having to tell him. He’s possibly not quite frightened enough. It’s ironic that both he and Niamh have benefitted professionally from working with Tom, yet may be part of his inevitable downfall.

Tom also doesn’t know that Izzy is seeing a psychiatrist, trying to deal with the feeling that something isn’t quite right at home and her feelings of being trapped. Yet, despite her feelings, she has let her father buy her a house, allowing him to keep control of her life. If Izzy learns something about the case from Birdy that rouses her suspicions, what will her father do? 

As the six-episode series progresses, Tom, the adult children of Colin Foyle (who have ordered a private investigation), and possibly the FBI hone in on Olivia’s time in America. The gold, it seems, may have been stolen from the U.S. government in 1998 by an Irish-American crime family, the Savages, who were providing aid to the IRA. It’s now worth $6bn. And it’s still out there, as an ingot is discovered in the jewelry studio of a former IRA sympathizer, one of Colin Foyle’s clients, who also had the equipment to recycle bullet casings into new ammunition.

A mysterious American tourist (Johnjo O’Neill) also turns up in Belfast, who turns out to be Ryan Savage. (His rental car comes with the gun in the trunk option not generally offered, along with the infant car seat and extra insurance.) Olivia finds him napping in a spare room, only to be coerced into a trip to the Titanic Museum because he believes in mixing business with pleasure. When he casually tells her that she and Tom will find the gold for him, Olivia looks terrified for the first time.

However, this mystery of the stolen gold doesn’t have the same oomph as Season 1’s mystery. Instead, the early episodes are an exercise in just how devious Tom can be. Nesbitt relishes it with aplomb, but it loses the questions the show asked about his character from the first season. Is Tom a serial killer or just traumatized by the Troubles and has lost any sense of what is right, trapped by past crimes? Tom is guilty of betraying his team and profession to serve his murderous impulses; however, he's also damaging his daughter Izzy, the only person he seems to care for.

Yet the series, despite its brutality and occasional wackiness, compels you to keep watching. All episodes of Bloodlands Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Acorn TV.