The first season of a thriller series about a murder mystery is often very nice. The main character (or group of main characters) has a vested interest in what’s going on, whether they’re solving a crime as part of their job or investigating the death of someone they knew well. It’s entertaining to watch the clues pile up trying to figure out what happened as each new episode airs.
Unfortunately, season 2 of the same show sometimes feels disappointing, whether the same character is investigating a new mystery that doesn’t make sense or it’s an anthology show that resets and focuses on something else. Why is it so hard to make a second season?
It’s hard to think of a second season of a thriller series that focuses on murder and is truly excellent. While it’s fascinating to watch Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) investigate Dora Lange’s death in Season 1 of real detective, the second season did not have much fans or critical interest. The beginning of Veronica Mars is devoted to the title character of Kristen Bell and investigates the truth about the murder of her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), but season 2 focuses on a strange bus accident and doesn’t convey the same feeling. Season 2 of Only murders in the building is fun, but the mystery surrounding the death of Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell) isn’t as powerful as Tim Kono’s (Julian Cihi) in Season 1.
Why does a solid second season of a murder mystery show feel so difficult? You could argue that when a first season is nearly perfect, with character development, a logical conclusion to the murder, and lots of clues along the way, magic can’t strike anymore. A murder mystery is a staple of the thriller genre and the truth is that a TV show is not interesting just because a character has been murdered. Death must be strange or confusing, or the main characters must be compelling, leaving viewers wanting to join the adventure to solve the mystery.
Season 1 of Veronica Mars works so well because Veronica misses her best friend and has a personal investment in the business. Season 2 has a random bus crash, and while it’s sad and scary, it doesn’t make sense that the show would spend so much time on it. Season 2 of Only killing has great characters, but the mystery itself is a bit boring. While Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) try to discover Bunny’s killer, they do so because they live in the same building as them, are already recording a podcast, and are happened to be suspects in the murder. If this were not the case, it seems as if the three main characters can shake themselves off and move on with their lives.
The rule “once is funny, twice is not” also applies to murder mysteries, and you could say that “once is scary, twice is not”. It doesn’t make sense for the same character to be involved in the same type of murder more than once. This often means that murder mystery shows are anthology series like American horror story. This is the route that real detective took because every season there is a new mystery and new characters.
the murder is a perfect example of how a series fails when it tries to go beyond one season. While season 1 of the murder felt fresh and exciting, once fans knew who killed Rosie Larsen (Katie Findlay) it was boring. The show famously didn’t say who the killer was in the Season 1 finale, which upset and confused fans who were looking for a clean solution. While the other seasons of the show focused on Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holden (Joel Kinnaman) solving other crimes, the feeling was lost and it wasn’t as exciting as hearing what had happened to Rosie. Every other story pales in comparison to the questions of why this tragedy happened to a teenage girl.
While fans hope for season 4 of real detective, it may never feel as good as Season 1, and that is most likely true of any thriller or horror TV show that tells a murder mystery story. There’s a lot that goes into making a compelling season 1 of television that fans will want to spend many hours on. Even if the same popular characters come back and solve another crime, their motive may not make sense, or there may not seem to be any real reason for doing so. The X files is a great sci-fi proceeding, but sometimes that genre can feel boring. Every mystery should feel compelling and necessary, and that’s not always the case.
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