A Place to Call Home: Season 2

Picking up where the first season left off, the second run of this handsomely-mounted period drama from Australia's Seven Network continues the story of Sarah Adams (Marta Dusseldorp), a nurse who returns to her hometown Down Under after two decades in Europe and becomes romantically involved with wealthy widower George Bligh (Brett Climo), only to face hostility from his mother—family matriarch Elizabeth (Noni Hazlehurst), who fears that Sarah might reveal a secret about her recently-married grandson James (David Berry). It would be a considerable spoiler to reveal specifics concerning the numerous plot twists and shocking revelations that fill the narrative's timeframe of 1953-54, but they involve the sort of things found in any soap opera—husbands who come back from the dead, babies lost in miscarriages, and folk who discover that long-ago affairs produced children. As if that weren't enough, a murder is also covered up, and that still only scratches the surface of the convoluted goings-on during this season, which also makes room for new characters, who often arrive with nefarious motives. A Place to Call Home is more Dallas than Downton Abbey, but it's a classy example of this kind of fare. Extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, interviews, and character profiles. Recommended. (F. Swietek)