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.
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+.
Additional reading:
- Joe Pickett Season 2 Episode 1 Recap
- Joe Pickett Season 2 Episode 2 Recap
- Joe Pickett Season 2 Episode 3 Release Date
Which C.J. Box/Joe Pickett series book is season 2 adapted from?
Have not seen season 2 premiere but plan too when it debuts. I can say season 1 was fantastic and loved it.
I love the book series of Joe Pickett and was thrilled when the television series came out on Paramount. I’m looking forward to watching season 2!
Great again this season
5 stars great watch love it??
No. This isn’t a good series. The lead character is both stupid and uninteresting. The towns people are all portrayed as dumb and lazy. It’s just not good. A law enforcement officer who keeps getting into shootouts and only carry’s a five shot revolver…that he can’t hold on to. It’s a trash show.
I love this show but took a major pause after the second episode of Season. 2 – it freaked me out so bad I’m not sure I can go back – anyone else get that?
Show is bad. Period. Not like the books at all l except for the names used
I’m a big fan of the Joe Pickett books…have read them all. I watched the first couple of episodes in Season 1 and couldn’t watch anymore. Joe wears a stupid hat and has a silly little mustache. But the main point of contention its that he’s portrayed as a doofus. The literary Joe Pickett is NOT a doofus. OK, so Season 2 rolls in and I give it another try. Great, the hat is better and the mustache looks better too. Excellent start. But movie Joe pulls some moronic moves, like I’ll leave my family at a time when they’re seriously grieving to look for a missing hunter. And of course I’ll follow a follow a 7 ft tall psycho fisherman into the forest to see if he has a fishing license. So I can find out there are two 7 ft psychos! Twins! But still gonna write that fishing ticket by golly! All does not end well. Lord, I’ll watch this thing I guess, just so I see how Nate bails him out at the end. But the actor who plays Joe and the script need a lot of help. The actors who play his family are excellent, as is Nate. Very disappointing. In the unlikely event there’s another season, hopefully there will be better writers.
I’ve read all the CJ Box books featuring Joe Pickett and love the stories so I was excited to watch the series. I find Season 1 and what I’ve seen so far of Season 2 good drama, but only loosely related to the books. In the books Mary Beth is a librarian, not a lawyer, and Joe is more level headed, not such a stickler for the rules, even though he does get into a lot of difficult situations. I don’t recall any background on Joe’s upbringing in the books like we see in Season 1 and no raw emotions among the family that we see in Season 2. The writers has taken a lot of liberty in crafting new stories which I guess I don’t mind, just need to accept that the point of view is very different from the characters in the books.
I think the ego on Joe is ridiculous. But the writers portray him as dumb and ineffective. Always getting hurt and making bad decisions. I’m not looking this direction. I like a hero, not a doof.
I loved season 1. Season 2 is much darker. Just watched S2E3. Had enough. Quitting now.
Season One was watchable. Season two was dark and a little creepy. I heard Box pulled the plug because Paramount was drifting from his original stories and character development. I stopped watching after episode one of season two. I liked stories revolving around his family. Apparently some Yellowstone writers were contributing. I pretty much dislike the dysfunctional Dutton family , pointless murders and their basic philosophy.
Maybe Netflix could do a few seasons. They did a good job with Longmire when they took over from AMC.
I read and enjoyed the books. Season 1 wasn’t too bad, but season 2 is unwatchable. The writers are writing for themselves, not the audience. Really bad.
Not familiar with the books but I generally like AMC shows. S1 was good. Joe is kind of a duff but that holds true to the rep Game Wardens have in the law enforcement community. S2 however is really stupid. Seems pretty politically motivated. Gun obsessed hunters are the victims and animal rights activists are the villains. Who’s buying that story.
I really want to like this show, but the storylines, so full of potential, end up being so absurd when they play out, and I keep losing interest. I don’t think the writers give a s**t about plausibility. Too bad.
Magnificent!?! ? ?
Terrible show, not like the books at all.
Sick of Joe’s whiny attitude and ineptitude. he is basically a cry baby.
Nate is another character not even remotely close to the book, Nate in the book is not soft spoken and understanding.
Great casting on Missy but not as nasty as the books.
Only thing good is the scenery which is Alberta not Wyoming.
Just fast forwarded through most of episode 9, just garbage.
Another “brilliant” woman takes over a show where the man is again reduced to a blubbering idiot. I’m sick of these FAKE and UNBELIEVABLE portrayals of what are supposed to be men and women… Especially the stereotypical “evil” men. Writing shows to “teach” us how to act and think is the worst thing that ever happened to TV and Films. We are witnessing the cringingly painful denouement of the visual arts.