What I’m Watching: National Treasure (Season Premiere)

National Treasure: Season 2, Episode 1 “Kiri: Episode 1” (B-)

I was very impressed by Hulu’s import from Channel 4 starring Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters, and Andrea Riseborough that anticipated the #metoo era with its portrait of an older actor who honestly couldn’t remember whether or not he had done the terrible things of which he was accused. I would have been very intrigued to see those characters again and have that story continue even though it did had a satisfying conclusion, and instead we get another four-episode story that’s completely unrelated. Objectively, this material isn’t nearly as interesting, although I suppose it’s meant to be topical since it does deal with race relations and childcare. I’m not familiar with Sarah Lancashire, a popular British actress, who here has the role of Miriam, the social worker who managed to let this whole unfortunate process get started. The incredulousness with which she responded to the news of Kiri going missing was truthful, since she doesn’t have a good handle on what she’s supposed to be doing, and now she’s going to take the fall for a situation that involves other parties doing things they shouldn’t be. With more and more four-episode shows like this premiering, mostly from the United Kingdom, I’ve learned that it’s not a whole lot of time to commit, but I have yet to see anything as immensely intriguing and involving as the first season of this show, which impressed me right from the start. This story just doesn’t compare to that one and therefore isn’t something I’ll plan to continue watching.