Finding Joy

Oh dear. The gem that was Series 1 was ruined - simply destroyed - by the disaster that was Series 2.

The second series was played out like a completely different drama. The backstory of the lead character was lost, for a start. The best friend's nature/outlook was altered, & not to a believable character. The quirky little talking-dog feature - an original use of the concept - was sadly minimised. The housemate/lodger was changed & became a tarot-card-toting fool, simplistic in personality . . . Another incredible character. Where was the troubled but 'layered' housemate of the first series? Plus the friend/colleague/love interest cameraman became a babbling idiot, & unlikeable to boot.

The second series seemed as confused as the lifestyle & workplace that 'Joy' now found herself in. The drama had altered to being written like a bad romcom. Superficial characters, lacking any psychological depth. Chaotic & frankly crude in its structure - on several levels. Yes, it now reeked of poor workmanship . . . But fundamentally it felt like a completely different series!

Just 10 minutes into episode 1 of the second series, & couldn't get why I had enjoyed watching the first series so much. Maybe I hadn't, I thought. Maybe I had a false memory?! Surely this drama wasn't the same programme that I had found so entertaining back in 2020! Back then I'd have given this well-scoped drama an IMDb rating of 7 or 8 stars out of 10. But I was so disappointed in Series 2 that I genuinely wondered if the year-and-a-half of COVID-19 stressful events that we'd all gone through, had finally got to me . . . I.e. That perhaps it was just me & I was simply feeling too low by 2021 to 'get' this programme any more . . .

So I Googled for reviews, to see if I was alone in my dismay at the change in the second series. A series that now seemed to be written by an inexperienced 18 year old . . . And aimed at even more focus-less teenagers. And nothing like Series 1.

And I was delighted to find that - no, COVID hasn't yet got to me mentally! - that there WERE other people who felt the same way. The series HAD changed & NOT for the better.

Rather than state my own detailed opinions here, I shall - for the one & only occasion in my life - restate something online (retweeting, or indeed Tweeting, not being my thing!). I shall quote here what several other viewers have stated at IMDb. These reviewers have quite literally picked the gist of what I myself would have written, & stated succinctly too. So it would be better - rather than iterate the exact same opinions - to instead acknowledge these contributions at IMDb. If I may, I suggest you read these reviews & you'll see what I myself would have written (almost verbatim!): ▶ Sonerila7 ▶ kathrinchow ▶ claredlynch ▶ mkhiggins-22945

Their reviews state exactly what I could & would have said, and uncannily so. I want to credit their words & their phrasing. It is also relevant in my review to state that others' opinions were the same as mine. So I want to credit IMDb's review section for enabling this support. As that was my first concern: i.e. Not was the series any good overall, but was I correct in thinking that Series 2 was nothing like the first series.

As the second series appears to be an almost completely different style of programme, it was calming for me to realise - when I read the myriad reviews at IMDB - that I hadn't got this enormous fact wrong. It WAS different from Series 1, greatly so, & to no good end.

So from 7 stars down to 5. Sorry RTE, but you got this wrong. You should have stayed with a sufficiently in-depth analysis of a girl whose life had gone somewhat off-piste. Not careered into a lost set of characters!