I’m a bit surprised by how quickly a second season came around for Based on a True Story, though news of new episodes seemed to hardly be advertised anywhere for it!
While I walked away from the first season feeling just middle of the road about it, I wasn’t itching to watch this as soon as it came out. But, with only one month subscribed to Peacock, I did actually manage to finish it in two days! To be fair, there are only eight episodes at 30 minutes a piece, so it’s not too difficult. It also helps that each episode ends in a bit of a cliffhanger. While the concept is fun, podcasts are generally annoying and so is Kaley Cuoco. At least, I find her to be. She will always leave this series a little less-than for me.
The first season left off with one of Ava rich-bitch mom friends dead and she and Nathan are left to clean up the pieces. What doesn’t help is that the dead woman’s husband, Simon, comes to their house in the middle of them cleaning everything up. We’re given answers almost immediately. With a little bit of help from Matt, all signs point to Simon as the culprit, so Ava and Nathan can breathe easy as they prepare for life as parents. That’s right, baby Jack is here and they are struggling through it like any normal couple. Ava is trying to overcompensate in all the areas her mother failed her and her sister, but it’s kind of making her miserable and crazy. Nathan is holding onto any shred of a career, but he and Ava are on different pages since Jack’s birth.
All things start to go haywire once they learn of a new victim who seems to have died in a very similar fashion to the MO of Matt. They learn his rehabilitation is more of some strange, fancy retreat, and that Ava’s sister, Tory, is also there. Tory knows what’s up with Matt and is more mad at Ava and Nathan from keeping it from her. She’s convinced Matt has turned a new leaf and claims they are in love. Once this copycat killer strikes a couple more times, they decide they need to get married ASAP in order to enact “spousal protection.” Ava, rightfully, is not on board with this, but she doesn’t want to alienate her sister. Instead, she seeks solace in a mom she meets at a local park who seems to share a lot of similarities with her.
This friendship seems too good to be true, and while I was able to guess the ultimate connection, she is an excellent addition to the cast this season! The true copycat killer is brutal, so there is plenty of blood and guts to go around this season. It was also a treat to see Matt truly try and change for good. He may not always keep both feet on the track, but it’s fun and funny to see him try. His bond with Nathan is also pretty special and comical. Nathan, though smart at times, is ultimately too trusting, to his and Ava’s detriment. While the series could end here, the cliffhanger is significant enough that I hope Peacock doesn’t leave us hanging. All in all, I found this season to be significantly better than the first, so if you liked it before, you’ll really like it now!