'Coroner' Review: Season 2 explores darker themes making for nail-biting episodes and character arcs
'Coroner' is a character-driven crime drama series, one of the best in its genre as it chronicles the events after Dr Jenny Cooper (Serinda Swan), a former ER doctor and recently appointed coroner loses her husband. Grief-stricken with anxiety and a widow with a teenage son, Jenny continues to chase after the truth when it comes to relentless deaths that sweep the city of Toronto. Besides Jenny, the series comes with strong characters that she works with such homicide Detective Donovan “Mac” McAvoy (Roger Cross), pathologist Dr Dwayne Allen (Lovell Adams-Gray) and his assistant River Baitz (Kiley May), and Alison Trent (Tamara Podemski), Jenny’s assistant. Season 1 of the series was an intense one, reeling in audiences for very good reason. Season 2 further explores the dark themes of the crutches of clinical anxiety, grief after death and the value of instinct and trust in unfamiliar situations.
Season 2 is bold in its themes as Jenny continues to follow the course with her determination to protect those who are living by figuring out the story of those who have died. The first episode titled 'Fire' sees an apartment in flames and Jenny learns to cope with her anxiety with another outlet, she gets close to the woman named Nicola Correia-Damude (October Faction) who survived the fire yet lost everything. The cases that follow in each of the episodes push the narrative of all the characters forward, even as Jenny unravels the case as best she can. From the death of a lab assistant and a mass shooting to solving a murder with nobody, there is no doubt that each of these episodes will keep you at the edge of your seat. If you enjoyed Season 1 of the series (if you haven't watched it, you must) or if you enjoy crime drama with characters that you can't help but invest in, 'Coroner' is the show for you.
On a personal front, Jenny deals with her father's dementia as it progresses, her son Ross (Ehren Kassam) turning eighteen and her live-in boyfriend Liam (Éric Bruneau) who has to deal with brushes of death on his own. The season is a beautiful way of embodying the fact that personal struggles does not mean a person isn't capable - Jenny shows up for the dead and investigates why they lost their life, meanwhile, her downward spiral exposes how a mind compartmentalizes its priorities.
The series is not shying away from the realities of mental health, as Jenny, the series' protagonist self-medicates and suppresses her demons as much as she can. As an individual with a work position that brings on its own pressures, Jenny suppresses much of her anxiety. Season 1 not only saw the death of her husband but also saw Jenny figuring out that she had accidentally killed her sister when they were young and her resentment towards her father Gordon (Nicholas Campbell) for hiding that fact. The unraveling of Jenny as a character does not end in Season 1 as Season 2 sees her dealing with crippling panic attacks and anxiety as well. It mirrors the true reality of mental illness, where in most cases, things aren't just said and done - the time is required to gently push forward the process of healing. Jenny's relationship with herself is not the only thing that's tested this season 2, but she is forced at some point to deal with the reality that is her father's deteriorating mind, her son's inability to understand his mother's rage and working on a relationship with her boyfriend who carries the trauma of PTSD.
It's is a devastatingly raw season, definitely, a must-watch.Season 2 of 'Coroner' originally aired in January 2020 in Canada. It will air on October 7, 2020, on The CW at 9/8c.