"The Outlaws" was a show I came to as it's on the Guardian's top TV of 2022 list, naturally I watched the first season before starting this one. I thought that, though it had a number of funny scenes, when it tried to get more serious and darker, then it struggled for plausibility. This second season overcomes that problem, but perhaps sacrifices some of the humour to get there.
Though the immediate problem seems to have been avoided, the gang are on the hook for The Dean's (Claes Bang) stolen money. In order to recover it, they turn to the only option available to them, they take over Christian's (Charles Babalola) drug operation whilst he goes to Prison. Though actively repulsed by some aspects of the job, they have various skill sets that help progress the business. But the police are curious as to who has taken over the operation and look for weaknesses, and not all of the group are quite as opposed to the exciting life as others.
I'm not sure why, but I just don't seem able to be as enthusiastic for "The Outlaws" as other people have been. I thought this season was probably a little better than the first, even with the slight shift in tone. Seeing middle class Darren Boyd bundling his way through a coke buy was still funny, as was pretty much anything that Stephen Merchant was doing. The drug organisation element led to a more complete season long story and less of an episode of the week feel. The more driving focused storyline is to the shows credit. They all still have their own narrative moments away from this plot, Walken's Frank needs to decide just how committed to his family he really is for example, but again the heart of the story is Rani, played by Rhianne Barreto and her relationship with Ben (Gamba Cole) who heartbreakingly choses to ignore the truth even though he can plainly see it.
As I say, I'm still not as enamoured with the show as others, but I like it enough that I'll stick around for the proposed third season.