Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: Thomas Napper, Hong Khaou, Foxtel.
Season 2 of the mystery television series Baptiste reintroduces us to a familiar face – the ghostly white countenance of a certain Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo).
After having an operation on his brain tumour, Baptiste claims he is not the man he once was. He has pushed his wife Celia (Anastasia Hille) away and is looking for a distraction to consume him.
Baptiste travels to Hungary to help the British ambassador, Emma Chambers, (Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve) find her missing family, who vanished while they were on vacation. When her husband’s body is found, the pressure is on to save Emma’s two sons, Alex (Stuart Campbell) and Will (Conrad Khan). A witness saw a man with a tattoo on his neck and that’s a strong clue.
The six-part second season sees him dive into Budapest’s secretive corrupt underworld. This determined detective is more troubled than he has been before.
However, when the case turns into something far more brutal and desperate, Julien must navigate a Hungarian police force he doesn’t trust and an unrelenting media that’s hungry for information on such a high-profile international case. Julien must remain rational in the face of chaos in order to find Emma’s family.
Karyo reprises his role as Julien Baptiste, who first appeared in the drama The Missing between 2014-2016. An audacious new story in Hungary created by Harry and Jack Williams, this was Baptiste’s second and final series.
It delivers just as many thrills ‘n’ spills as the original series that introduced us to Karyo’s intriguing character.
