It is a performances centric movie

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This one isn't written by La Plante and it shows. The cacophony of the station room is replaced by a hum. Things are more sorted, the plot details pointed to ostentatiously.This one is about racism - about how racial tensions cause destruction all around. Many of the familiar faces from the first episode are back, but others are unfortunately gone.This one goes on forever. All these episodes are four hours long but this one feels that long. Two hours through it and you'll expect an ending and then you'll check the clock and you're likely to yelp 'OMG another two hours?'It's not bad - but it does drag. As all these stories, it's incredibly complex and intricately woven - and it will beat most television crime drama fare. But odds are at the end of the game you'll long for the return of La Plante.

Spoilers: Helen Mirren returns as DCI Jane Tennison, now enjoying the notoriety and success of capturing a dangerous serial killer. Now, she must solve the murder of a young girl, whose remains were found buried in a back yard. The body is found in a minority neighborhood, one that has been at odds with her police station. Tennison must confront racist attitudes amongst her own team and from within herself, while trying to identify the body and track down her killer. Added to that is her brief affair with a subordinate, a black detective sergeant.Mirren provides another great performance, again aided by Lynda La Plante's excellent script. This time around, she doesn't have to prove herself; but, she does have to overcome racial obstacles and political hurdles. Her task is further complicated, when her former lover, DS Bob Oswald is added to her team, without her knowledge. She is desperately afraid that their affair will become public knowledge and hurt her career. This leads her to treat Oswald with disrespect.Colin Salmon makes a tremendous debut as Oswald, a man who shares many traits with Tennison. He, too, has had to overcome obstacles in his career; where she had to overcome gender discrimination, he has faced racial discrimination. He possesses the same obsessive nature, which ultimately leads to tragedy. It's amazing that Salmon hasn't appeared in more prominent roles, at least here in the US. He is far too talented to be wasted in minor supporting roles in James Bond films.This case ends on a less satisfying note than the previous one. Although Tennison and Oswald solve the case and catch their killer, their careers have been harmed. Oswald is disciplined for his actions which contribute to the suicide of a suspect, while in custody. Tennison is passed over for promotion, in part due to her gender, but also due to her involvement with Oswald. To make matters worse, she is passed over for a junior colleague with political connections. Tennison resigns rather than face the humiliation of working for her adversary, Thorndike. Although not as tightly paced and suspenseful as the first series, this succeeds quite well. There is an interesting feature to the broadcast of this series: in the recent dvd release, there are scenes added which did not appear in the original PBS broadcasts, or in the video release. These mostly involve shots of nude or partially nude photos, and at least one graphic scene involving Jason Reynolds (well, graphic in comparison to what was broadcast here). More curiously, several racial epithets are heard, which were censored in the PBS broadcast. Equally curious, is the deletion of a scene where young men from the neighborhood hurl bricks and stones over a wall at police working in the back yard.

The always calm, clear thinking, and very busy Brit Detective Jane Tennison (Mirren) is back in "Primary Suspect 2" solving a pornography laced murder case while mired in police brutality allegations and suspicions of inappropriate conduct involving an affair with a fellow cop. This edition of "PS" is more emotionally charged than the first and rumbles with racial undercurrents. However, like the first in the series, it ends abruptly with unresolved issues and plenty of room for a follow up installment. Okay stuff for sofa spuds into realistic police/crime drama tv fare out of the UK. (C+)

Yes, this terrific four-hour (really 3.? hours) miniseries (actually, just a long movie when you think about it) deserves far more accolades on this here site.I don't have much to add, except to say that I thought this was a notable improvement on PS I -- truly impressive stuff that, for me, didn't QUITE live up to the hype.This one, however, exceeds it. If you're a fellow fan of T.V. police procedurals, this is possibly better than even the very best episodes of "Homicide" and definitely far more fleshed out and believable than any episode of "Cracker" -- and with an lead actor every bit the equal of the amazing Robbie Coltrane. This one was powerful stuff indeed, upsetting at times, complex in the best possible way and constantly fascinating.And Helen Mirren as Jane Tennyson is, in her own way, almost as morally ambiguous and psychologically messed up as poly-addicted Fitz of "Cracker"...In a world where most movie cops fear promotions and the specter of a desk job more than death itself, she just may be the first truly careerist detective hero.The only thing missing is that there's little humor here, but that's probably appropriate too. In the case of Jane Tennyson, a policeman's lot is definitely not a happy one!