Summary
Joe Pickett performs the rare feat of having Season 2 be better than the first. Julianna Guill and newcomer Aaron Dean Eisenberg steal the show.
This review of the Paramount+ series Joe Pickett Season 2 does not contain spoilers.
Joe Pickett has returned for a second season. Throughout season one, we saw Joe Pickett (Michael Dorman) and his family adapt to the small town of Saddlestring. The city wasn’t enamored by Pickett’s way of doing things, causing a massive war for him. We saw at the end of Season 1 that Pickett and his wife Marybeth struggled after her getting shot and losing their unborn baby.
Joe Pickett Season 2 review and plot summary
Joe Pickett Season 2 picks up over a year after the events of the first season. Joe and Marybeth continue to struggle to deal with what happened while new tests are thrown the game warden’s way, with a serial killer on the loose.
The season begins with the one-year anniversary of the shooting of Marybeth and the loss of their unborn baby. While Marybeth continues to project her emotions, Joe struggles, leading him to shove his face in anything work related so he doesn’t have to feel things.
Throughout the season, we explore Joe not facing those feelings by trying to hunt down the Grimm Brothers, a serial killer, and take on anything else that comes his way. As a result, Joe takes butt whipping after butt whipping, causing Marybeth to make him understand his actions have consequences.
As you watch this season, the stakes in the town of Saddlestring are at an all-time high with a serial killer hunting and killing hunters. We meet a hunting activist, Klamath Moore, who enters the picture and takes the murders of these hunters to another level.
I was deeply intrigued by the writing of Klamath Moore when watching. Moore is an activist who stands up for the animals of the world being hunted, and you can root for that aspect of his character. However, the flip side of that is you have Moore, who is leaning heavily toward being this cult leader, which is very problematic. How Aaron Dean Eisenberg brings this character to life with this oozing charisma is perfection. In front of the crowd, he has that presence needed to be a leader, while behind the curtain, he is more grounded. A truly fantastic performance.
Another stand-out performance was Julianna Guill as Marybeth. She is the glue that holds Joe Pickett, the character, and the show together. Marybeth has so many profound emotional moments that bring so much raw emotion out in you that Guill does a great job of portraying.
Is Joe Pickett Season 2 good or bad?
Rarely does a second season take such a massive step forward, but with Joe Pickett, it felt like things mattered a little more as the Picketts were reeling from the loss of their unborn baby. Because of this, the emotions led to some incredible scenes that kept you wanting more. On top of that, the writers do a great job of balancing the Picketts and the happenings in Saddlestring, resulting in great television.
Is Joe Pickett Season 2 worth watching?
Fans of Joe Pickett Season 1 will be rewarded as Season 2 is top-notch. Beyond that, I believe that if you aren’t up to date on Joe Pickett, take this as your sign to binge season one, so you can catch up with the rest of us. It’s one of the better-acted shows on TV that deserves everyone’s attention on a week-to-week basis.
What did you think of Joe Pickett Season 2? Comment below.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Paramount+.
