The Gone Game 2 Review: A Thriller that Undertakes A Wild-Goose Chase

The Gone Game Season 1 was an intriguing show– cleverly shot bang in the middle of the pandemic, it managed to keep the audience at the edge of their seats. Almost entirely shot during the lockdown, it required the actors to shoot the show themselves. And it was precisely this sense of a looming threat in an already uncertain environment that made the show stand out.

This time the show takes all its strengths and throws them out the window. It’s still 2020, but sans the lockdown, the family members are all in a single frame. Sanjay Kapoor’s character, Rajeev Gujral, insists that the family must stay together to face any challenge the police may hurl at them – making clear that the show has drastically veered from its experimental roots despite the success of its predecessor.

In this season, the pandemic isn't integral to the plot, it's mere background noise.

The unfortunate by-product of the change in USP is that now the thriller falls into the trap of age-old tropes and baseless plotlines that the show could have done without. For instance, Sahil Gujral’s (Arjun Mathur) attempt to escape the country comes across as a glaring distraction, which ideally should have propelled the plot into motion.

The basic premise of the second season is Suhani’s (Shriya Pilgaonkar) murder while she was on the cusp of proving her innocence. And now, with her death, a killer on the loose the Gujral family find themselves again in the thick of things. The singular focus of the story seems to be investigating the case and the CBI officer (Harleen Sethi) seems convincing enough as she interrogates the family. But throwing in questions of the officer’s sexuality in this mix seems misplaced and unwarranted.

Sanjay Kapoor diligently portrays Rajeev, as the character scrambles to keep his family together. And Shweta Tripathi makes do with Amara Gujral when the character comes to terms with her complicated family dynamics.The show centres around them and the actors manage to essay the roles with credibility despite the frills in the storyline.

But despite the strong cast, the plot falls short because of its less-than-stellar writing.

And keeping aside its previous success, the new season does not quite manage to create the unexpected twists the predecessor brought on. The plot at times seems amusing at best but mostly ludicrous in instances which was perhaps not the intention of a murder-mystery show.

All in all, if you decide to give this show a watch, you are more than likely to forget about the five-episode long season with its wild-goose chase and some unnecessary plotlines. But perhaps the biggest disappointment is that the show didn't have to become a cumbersome watch, it could have simply stayed true to its roots. In the end, following a more traditional path made it difficult for the show to find its footing.