The much anticipated second season of the Jennifer Winget starrer mystery thriller series ‘Code M’ is all set to start streaming on Voot Select from 9th June onwards. As S2 is inching closer towards its release, an eerie thought crossed our mind. The thought was about an uncanny pattern of second seasons of eminent shows not living up to the expectations compared to the first season.
Considering the fact that ‘Code M’ Season-1 had struck the right chords with OTT viewers, audience expectations from the show’s second season are naturally quite high. So, the golden question is: Can ‘Code M’ Season-2 surpass or at least be at par with its predecessor in terms of its entertainment value? In other words, can it overcome the infamous second season syndrome or what is called by some as the curse of the second season?
It is interesting to point out that barring a few exceptions like ‘The Family Man S2’, ‘Panchayat S2’, ‘Breathe: Into the Shadows’, ‘Kota Factory S2’, and ‘Gullak S2’, there have been many shows in the recent past where the second season wasn’t able to match up to the expectations of the first season.
For instance, although Season-2 of Disney+ Hotstar’s gripping crime drama ‘Aarya’ was liked by many viewers, it couldn’t surpass the high benchmark set by Aarya Season-1. Similarly, in the case of another Disney+ Hotstar show ‘Out of Love’, Season-2’s story was neither pathbreaking nor novel and hence arguably inferior compared to the first season.
Moreover, the Season-2 of the widely admired SonyLIV series ‘Undekhi’ had also perhaps become the victim of the second season syndrome as it was considered not as good as Season-1 by a segment of OTT audiences.
Another relevant example might be that of Amazon Prime Video’s cult show ‘Mirzapur’, whose first season made a lasting impact on the audience. However, after the release of ‘Mirzapur S2’ and despite its massive viewership, some of the viewers found it somewhat less intriguing compared to the sheer brilliance and the Game-Of-Thronish unpredictability of Mirzapur Season-1.
Likewise, another celebrated web series – the Netflix original ‘Sacred Games’ ostensibly suffered from a rather similar second season syndrome.
Coming back to ‘Code M’ Season-2, the show’s premise revolves around an upright Indian Army lawyer Major Monica Mehra (Jennifer Winget), who will be investigating the high-profile case of an assassination attempt on an influential politician inside an Army base. Now, it would be interesting to see whether ‘Code M’ Season-2 would turn out to be as good as Season-1 and survive the dreaded second season syndrome or, who knows, might even surpass the entertainment quotient of ‘Code M’ Season-1.