With the release of The Code season 2, Acorn TV demonstrates they are a significant player in the world of online TV. If you remember, The Code season 1 showed up on Netflix in spring, 2015. It was a contemporary Australian series mixing environmental politics, government conspiracies, and the unlikely, somewhat unwilling, investigative team of two brothers, Ned and Jesse, a journalist and a computer hacker.
The Code season 2 follows almost exactly the same recipe for its story. That’s both good and bad. We already know how the brothers’ relationship works. Hani, Jesse’s girlfriend – one of the better characters from the first series – is back. But, after the first half hour of excitement, the show starts to feel like it is suffering from a sophomore slump.
Our suggestion, stick with it.
New character Jan Roth and Hani
Despite some predictability in the first couple of episodes, the story starts to take some unexpected turns. There are still places where the plot loses momentum, but it has a strong finish, leaving us to wonder if there are plans for The Code season 3.
The Code season 2 does not feel as fresh as the first season. Our review team is not convinced of the likelihood of almost anything that happens, but it’s still an entertaining series. That’s still largely due to the character of Jesse, played by Ashley Zukerman, even though crime solvers who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum are now fairly common on TV.
There is a point partway through The Code where we think the story is over, yet several episodes remain. Surprises like this are part of what we enjoyed about the series when we first saw it on Netflix.
Jesse and Hani, together again
Though it first appeared to a resting place for stuffy British mysteries, Acorn TV now has enough modern, foreign thrillers – The Disappearance, Janet King – to more than justify the low subscription price. As they do with some of their better series, Acorn TV released The Code at the rate of one episode per week. (This may account for some of our on and off, hot and cold feelings it.) It’s a feather in Acorn’s cap that they, not Netflix, are streaming The Code season 2.
(This post was updated in November, 2016, after viewing the entire second season.)
