Dirty John (USA Network) S02: B

After the success of season 1 with Connie Britton and Eric Bana, USA Network decided to transform this mini series into an anthology series, portraying real life stories of women abused by their husbands.

This second season is the story of Betty Broderick and her infamous divorce of husband Dan Broderick a successful lawyer, that used all of his jobs connections and knowledge to successfully divorce his wife and destroy her completely.

Amanda Peet plays Betty in such a magnificent way. I was wondering the whole time, where has Amanda Peet been all of this time? Is it because she looks so much like Denisse Richards, that se wasn't given the chance to showcase her talent? Was she another victim of Harvey Weinstein or someone alike that blocked her career after not getting what he wanted?

Trust me Amanda needs to make some noise for her job here, although the drama category is already a tough one to break in. The pain in her eyes, behind all of that crazy you can really feel the pain she's going thru. For me they were some very powerful episodes in which I completely felt all of her frustration. Of course she made so many bad decisions, it was really hard to root for her, because she really messed up big time. But still, whenever she got quiet, Peet gave you that terrifying stare, that at the same time somehow she managed to get your empathy.

Christian Slater plays the husband Dan Broderick. Slater has this talent, that you just hate him. He is so easy to hate. Here as Dan a dirty lawyer that navigates with this charm, and this I am the victim here flag. ugh! I just hated him every single time he was on screen. He might not be nominated, or maybe he will after all men get always different treatment. But he is also great here in this series.

For me the show started strong on its first episode, for a moment there they got me fooled, there's a small twist for the second episode. I mean I am not familiar with Betty's story so I was. kinda rooting for the wrong side the first episode. Then at the second there is this realization that he is so wicked. Then a couple of episodes where Amanda starts shinning, but the story in general sort of stabilizes. Towards the end of the season, of just eight episodes, Peet shines even more, and she carries the whole series. I'm going to be honest with you. In general terms season 1 was superior, here the show is not that level good. Maybe in part because well Betty, she is hard to root for unlike Debra in season 1 played by Britton. But Amanda's performance is the true star of season 2. Nobody stood a chance standing beside her.

The season finale for me was sort of flat. Mostly because I didn't like how it ended, but hey, its based in real life events, there's no much they can do about that. Still the series is totally worth watching, the big plus is just eight episodes long, it has a beginning a middle and an end. It won't leave you hanging for a next season.

I would love to see a season 3, but the thing with networks like USA is that they renew or cancel shows with very different standards than other networks, so I just don't know what are the chances of them giving us a season 3. It has the advantage that Netflix has international distribution rights, so that always basically makes a show profitable and with that a much better chance of renewal or being saved by the streaming platform.