Summary
The Mire Season 2 is a bit fuller and deeper than its predecessor, weaving another slow-burn crime tale through ’90s Poland.
This review of The Mire Season 2 is spoiler-free. You can check out our thoughts on the first season by clicking these words.
The second season of Netflix’s Polish original The Mire jumps the plot forward by over a decade (it’s subtitled, simply, ’97), but is happy to be trapped in its own history. Many characters and events from the first outing either return or are referenced, and the plot, which is kick-started by catastrophic flooding dislodging a mysterious corpse, has mysteries winding all the way back to World War II. Another grim, slow-burning mystery, this one occurring against the backdrop of a dissolved USSR and lingering atrocity, fans of The Mire will be well-served here – anyone who isn’t keen on this particular brand of crime thriller (and you know the type) won’t find any surprises.
Those who watched the first season will also find themselves in familiar territory. The whole thing’s steeped in local flavour and atmosphere. Poland in a period of great political and social transition is full of character, even without the sordid history of the war, though the six-episode season does well to layer past within present. The fortunes of the characters are similarly representative of these changes; Piotr (Dawid Ogrodnik), especially, now happily married, the father of a teenage girl, and recently promoted, is in a vastly different place, but old habits die hard, and before long he’s drawn into another web of murder and mystery.
Also hogging a lot of focus is Police Inspector Anna Jass, a driven woman-in-a-man’s-world copper and an intriguing, fresh alternate point of view. She helps to liven up a second season that is an episode longer but doesn’t feel any saggier thanks to the big twists landing a bit earlier than last time out. The vibe is very much the same, though, and the script digs deeper into both the mystery and the setting. All in all, it’s a step up, and in the right direction for one of Netflix’s sleeper hits.
The Mire season 2 might be overshadowed come the weekend, but it’s worth a look.
READ: Feedback Season 1 Review – Gripping Polish Thriller
