The Tourist season 2 review: Does Jamie Dornan's returning thriller live up to the hype?
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The BBC memory-loss thriller The Tourist is back for a second season, despite the fact its star Jamie Dornan openly admits that all-writing, all-producing sibling duo Harry and Jack Williams had previously insisted it would never happen.
But now we're leaving behind the Australian Outback in favour of Elliot Stanley's (Dornan) native Ireland, where Helen (Danielle Macdonald) has persuaded him to return in search of some insight into who he actually is – the more we learn, the more the answer seems to be 'nobody good'.
For those concerned that the dusty, apricot setting was integral to The Tourist, it turns out the show's violent slapstick blend can be successfully transplanted elsewhere, albeit with less of the out-and-out warm escapism under the beating Oz heat.
Instead, we have the lush leafiness of Ireland, which appear to be entirely populated with frightening folk hellbent on wreaking revenge on Elliot for past wrongs, none of which he can recall.
Helen and Elliot are very quickly established as relationship official, but given the setting shift, the second season loses a number of faces from the first. They have been replaced with a new batch of offbeat characters, including Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill), who is as endearing as he is creepy as a detective going through some rough romantic fallout, as well as Elliot's equally enigmatic and quintessentially Irish mother Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré).
But some of those familiar faces do manage to worm their way back into the drama, including a terrific stint from Helen's overbearing ex-boyfriend Ethan (Greg Larsen), who is trying to tread the incel-littered path towards redemption for his toxic masculine ways. The stint where Ethan and Elliot enter into an unlikely and rather unwilling alliance has all the flavours of a buddy comedy we would happily have spent several of the six episodes with.
Meanwhile, Macdonald's Helen is somewhat purposeless this time around, having stepped away from her policing job despite the fact she still shows moments of brilliance compared to Slater's fairly inept copper. Although, this is something that might be rectified in the episodes not yet made available for review, since it isn't all sunshine and rainbows in Helliot land.
As with the first season, if you have come here looking for a linear, plodding or even wholly sensical plot, this is not the place for you. Harry and Jack Williams have explained how they go about story-crafting over long lunches in which they try to get each other to gasp or laugh or both. It's extremely evident.
Fun is put at the centre of everything. The option of some logical action is superseded by the alternative ludicrous one, so long as it promises to maximise the fun. Just when you think the show might have exhausted its twists as this tale of a long-standing family feud plays out, The Tourist finds more kinks to knock into place.
Like their most recent show Boat Story, this also isn't one for the squeamish. The first episode alone involves Elliot plunging his paws into the bowels of a pig, while elsewhere a knife meets its blood-soaked moment in a rather unfortunate chap's face. But to balance the jolts with the jokes, Elliot also spends much of the initial episode running down lone country lanes or up comically steep hillsides to the tune of Pretenders hit 'Don't Get Me Wrong'.
After years of hostage-style acting in the Fifty Shades franchise, where Dornan looked like he was assembling a coded message of pained expressions to convey his desperation to be contractually freed, he has found a role that showcases his abilities. Under the capable guidance of the Williams brothers, Dornan is a Jason Bourne-style action hero while also capitalising on his very real knack for comedy.
Let's just hope they find another sumptuous locale for season three, so we can sit down for more of the madcap madness.
The Tourist season two will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from 6am on New Year’s Day, and will begin on BBC One at 9pm that night.
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