Case Histories: Series 2

Jason Isaacs returns for a second season as Jackson Brodie, the emotionally troubled but highly empathetic and determined Edinburgh private detective from Kate Atkinson's successful mystery novels. In the three feature-length episodes compiled here—the first based directly on one of her books and the other two newly written by others—the overarching theme is the difficulty of family relationships. Brodie is haunted by his mother's abandonment of him when he was a child and by the deaths of his siblings, although his own 12-year-old daughter opts to live with him rather than her mom, and old flames periodically reappear in his troubled life (and even his adoption of an abused dog points to a damaged past). Meanwhile, the cases he takes on often reflect the same kinds of issues. In the first, based on Atkinson's 2011 novel Started Early, Took My Dog, Brodie works on a custody fight and searches for an adoptee's biological parents, a course of action that leads to the revelation of a potentially destructive secret. In “Nobody's Darling,” he's hired by a woman to investigate her fiancé's fidelity, which in turn raises questions about the death of the man's ex-wife. And in “Jackson and the Women,” Brodie looks into the cold-case murder of a boy's mother while also searching for a teenage girl who's gone missing. The interlocking plot elements sometimes strain credulity, but Isaacs's lived-in performances keeps the series grounded, and the show benefits from arresting locations, an expert supporting cast, and literate writing (although given the Scottish accents, American viewers may find the subtitles a welcome option). Compiling three episodes from 2013, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, and interviews with the producer and cast. Recommended. (F. Swietek)