The Artful Dodger season two

Six months after pickpocket-turned-surgeon Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) was arrested at the end of the last season, the latest series of The Artful Dodger begins with Fagin (David Thewlis) saving the former street urchin from the gallows by the skin of his teeth. Dawkins is then reunited with Belle (Maia Mitchell), only to be told by her mother that they need to stay away from each other or be sent back to the hangman. It’s a bombastic opening that gets the latest chapter of this Dickensian reimagining off to a running start. From here, the show pinballs between period romance, crime comedy, and medical drama without stopping for breath. There’s a lot of riotous fun to be had in the ensuing mischief, but an overly cluttered script causes some tonal whiplash.

Alongside the forbidden love subplot between Dawkins and Belle, Fagin is scheming to rob the “toffs” by infiltrating the social elite. Meanwhile, Belle’s unruly uncle (Jeremy Sims) has come to visit, and every episode features a medical emergency that must be handled. The series never takes itself too seriously, with one unexpected death in the third episode coming as a wicked surprise. The show is at its best when Thewlis is on the screen. Not only does he make for an excellent Fagin, but his plotline is the most interesting and drives everything else forward.

Brodie-Sangster and Mitchell remain a charming duo whose playful banter is always a delight to watch. However, their now-forbidden love has devolved into a clichéd way of artificially inflating the drama, with each of their scenes containing some variation of the line “We shouldn’t be seeing each other”. Amongst all the thievery and stolen glances, a mystery involving a potential serial killer also begins to manifest. Like everything else in this series, it’s constantly fighting for attention as the script switches between plotlines and genres at an exhausting rate.

The second season of The Artful Dodger wastes no time in jumping straight back into the action. It’s stylish, energetic, and brimming with charismatic and likeable characters. However, it tries to wear a lot of hats at once while not quite excelling in any. Despite its messiness, returning fans are bound to have a blast.