AppleTV have a renewal problem. Unlike Netflix who just haphazardly go round and cancel half their projects after being green-lit, Apple take a much different route by renewing absolutely everything when it doesn’t really need it and cancelling those that should be renewed (looking at you, Shantaram!) After a poor showing the first time around, Apple are back with a second season of The Mosquito Coast which absolutely does not justify its renewal. Instead of the frantic, manic pace the first time around, The Mosquito Coast instead slips to the other extreme, delivering a laborious, eye-wateringly slow story that does very little to justify its existence. The story this time around sees Allie, Margot, Charlie and Dina off together, trying to find a refuge for themselves. They soon find it in Casa Rojo, but they quickly realize all is not what it seems. The place is surrounded by the cartel, and the leader of Casa Rojo is actually working under a far more dangerous player called Guillermo. When Allie and the family arrive, they find themselves caught right in the middle of this. If that wasn’t enough, family drama ensues between the group as more of the past is unveiled, including exactly why Allie and Margot are on the run and what led to this very moment. It’s a shocking reveal for sure and this first episode sets things up for the rest of the show… which tiptoes around without doing very much for far too long. And then of course, everything bows out long after the party has ended. There are few stand-out moments here but they’re overshadowed by the fact the pace is so damn slow. The series is about 5 episodes too long for the material that’s here and several of these chapters do little to actually push the narrative forward. We get a tepid teen romance between Dina and Adolfo, a boy who shows up in the community, and another featuring Charlie “finding himself”, although the irony is by the end he’s still in the same position he started from. These roundabout character arcs ultimately shape much of the second season and the show does itself no favours by dragging everything out longer than it should. The set-pieces are few and far between, while the sheer lack of logic and idiocy our characters adopt make for a rather frustrating experience overall. This is one show that should have stayed dead and buried.
