Breathe: Into The Shadows Season 2 Review: Slick, intense, and has good performances but also suffers from loopholes

REVIEW: Avinash Sabharwal (Abhishek Bachchan) shows great progress in his treatment at the mental asylum, but the doctors tell him in no uncertain terms that he will never walk free. While he’s making peace with it, his alter ego, J, warns that he will finish what he started and kill everyone who tormented Avinash back in the day.

As he cannot get out, J forces Avi’s wife, Abha Sabharwal (Nithya Menen), to murder the first enemy, real estate mogul Neel Bahal. After that, he has a list of 5 more people symbolising vices that need to be finished — pride, ego, insensitivity, etc.

Season 2 (technically third, if one considers R Madhavan’s outing) of the psychological thriller sputters until mid-season and struggles to catch pace, despite all the plotting, planning, and killings. The narrative this time is considerably more buffed up than in the first season, with a menacing man, Victor (Naveen Kasturia), helping J in his mission. And officer Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh) is roped in again to stop the serial murders.

Each episode of approximately 42 mins has a backstory about Avinash’s encounter with the victim and why the latter deserves to die. The show’s direction (Mayank Sharma) and treatment will keep you gripped, but the murders and the escape seem too convenient, and many sequences don’t make sense. For instance, Abha doesn’t seem too distressed about killing someone. J’s tricks, such as bringing his next prey Ramneesh (Rohit Khurana), out or manipulating Kabir to turn his love interest Shirley (Saiyami Kher) against him, make things convoluted.

Abhishek Bachchan delivers a power-packed performance, and since J does not have the mask on this time round, one can witness the actor’s prowess. There’s a scene in which one can see him as Avinash, but by the time the camera circles around him, J has made an appearance. Amit Sadh is less angry than in the previous season but plays the brooding cop powerfully. Nithya Menen and Saiyami Kher had more to do in Season 1, and the former is especially underused in the new season. However, it’s Naveen Kasturia who stands out with his brilliant performance.

Shorter episodes and a tighter screenplay would have helped, but Breathe: Into the Shadows Season 2 might keep you hooked and is worth a watch for the performances.