Agatha Raisin

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            Oh, Agatha Raisin.  How I have missed you.  Yet, despite my missing you, you still drive me crazy.  If I feel this way watching, Agatha Raisin, how must the other characters feel having to deal with her directly?  It must be difficult being driven crazy by all Agatha gets up to, but loving her anyways.     

                It has been a year since Agatha Raisin (Ashley Jensen) went off to find her runaway fiancé in Cyprus.  Now she is back in Carsley, and things aren’t exactly as she left it.  Gemma (Katy Wix) and Bill (Matt McCooey) are no longer together.  Sarah’s (Lucy Liemann) husband, the vicar for Carsley, is away doing missionary work in Nigeria.  New people have come to town.  And James (Jamie Glover), her ex-fiancé, has not returned.

                For the most part it’s okay James isn’t back in town.  He did leave Agatha at the altar, after all.  It is not revealed what happened between them in Cyprus, but it must have been bad enough that Agatha doesn’t know what to say to James if she does happen to see him.  Which is why it is a good thing for her that people in town start getting killed again.

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                Having a murder to investigate gives Agatha something to do.  Community activities aren’t enough for her.  So, when a popular hair stylist is killed, she’s off and running to figure out the culprit.  Gemma and Agatha’s friend Roy (Mathew Horne) help her.  Usually James does too.  With him gone, though, Sir Charles (Jason Merrells) is the one to join the group.  Charles has always been attracted to Agatha.  With James out of the picture, he can really make his move.

                Agatha is well aware if Charles’s womanizing ways, though, and she tries to keep him as only a friend.  This works to a point, because as they spend more time together, the more she lets him in.  Then Charles ruins it.  Every time Agatha starts to let Charles in, he does something to eliminate the trust that was forming.

                Charles, however, does not give up.  He even pretends to be engaged to Agatha while investigating the death of a visiting vicar.  Who knows what would have happened between him and Agatha had James not suddenly returned to the scene.

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                All this romantic confusion is why it’s a good thing Agatha has cases to work on.  Despite being around these two men, Agatha is able to keep some sort of sanity by distracting herself with murder.  Of course, as usual, her investigations don’t go smoothly.  Man trouble has definitely not changed that.

                In the three episodes of this second season, Agatha gets caught in a window, stuck in a house set on fire, is accused of murder, and hit on the head at least twice.  Fortunately, Agatha has started going places with other people.  They wait in the car, making sure she gets away from whatever she’s doing okay.  Having people with her isn’t foolproof, and they aren’t around all the time, but it is an improvement.

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                Something that hasn’t improved is Bill’s boss, Detective Wilkes (Jason Barnett).  He still thinks he knows more than he does, leaving Bill to clean up the pieces he leaves behind.  Bill must have an infinite amount of patience to put up with this man.  I certainly doubt I would ever be able to do it.

                I was happy to see that Sarah was more involved in the investigations this season.  Instead of being just the person everyone goes to when they want something, Sarah was included in what everyone else was doing. This was more difficult to do when she was the murder suspect, but still, it must have been nice for Sarah to be seen as her own person, not just the vicar’s wife.

Image provided by Acorn TV.

                As for Bill and Gemma, I’m not sure what’s going to happen between those two.  They clearly still have feelings for each other, and the reasons behind their breakup are vague.  Gemma at one point does say what the reasons are, but I’m not sure even she is convinced they are good enough reasons for them to stay apart.  In the third season, I wonder if they will find their way back together.

                There are a lot of things that could happen in the third season other than the resolution of the relationship between Gemma and Bill.  Charles has not given up on Agatha.  Sarah’s husband is still away serving as a missionary.  And both Agatha and Roy have made life-changing decisions.  Along with the usual murders, there is so much that can happen in season three.

Image provided by Acorn TV.

Note: I have received word from an Acorn TV representative that season three of Agatha Raisin will be coming soon!  There is already a Halloween special available for streaming on Acorn TV.  Then, early next year, in 2020, the three movie episodes for season three will be released.  That is a total of four more episodes of Agatha’s antics to enjoy.

(Note added 12/4/2019.)