Customer Reviews

Jonathan Creek: Season Two

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another installment of the outstanding Jonathan Creek series. Jonathan designs magic illusions for a magician (Adam Klaus), but when teamed up with reporter Madelyn Magellan, they solve impossible crimes. The only drawback is the DVD presentation. The show being about 8 years old, I expected bare-bones production values, but the box says "enhanced for 16x9 TV's" If by "enhanced" they mean "the 4:3 PAL picture is stretched out to fit your screen, with small letterboxing," then they got it right! This IS NOT enhanced for widescreen TV's! This is the only reason for the one star loss. Otherwise, it is wonderful.

This is the best series. Too bad there isn't more. Smart, funny - why can't we make tv like that in America?

what other Mystery can include Magic and Mystery. plus humor and confusion. Jonathan Creek has it all. It has the two main characters playing off each other in humor and wit. It is a pleasure to see films like this that do not have to depend on sex, gore, extreme violence, or SFX to being interesting. Thank you Allen Davies and BBC.

Johnathan Creek is a funny mystery series with colorful characters. The twist is that Johnathan,(Alan Davies) who lives in an old windmill and designs tricks for a magician, solves crimes by figuring out how the impossible was possible. He is an intellectual, a logical and patient companion to Caroline Quentins disheveled character , an erstwhile crime writer. She is always late, and wildly disorganized and constantly stuffing her face with anything edible. Sexual tension comes into play in a comedic fashion and is never brought to any fulfillment. Nice for the family.

The Jonathan Creek mystery series is a gem - the thinking person's crime series that doesn't rely on
the hackneyed formula of gun fights, car chases and things that explode. Each is a seemingly impossible puzzle with a solution provided by the shy but brilliant Mr. Creek. The only thing wrong with the series is that there aren't more of them. Warning- If you are an Anglophile can be addictive.

This is a delightful British TV Series, with mystery & comedy. It actually gets better with each season, but even the First is very good. The staring actors are excellent at both generes, mystery & comedy.Plot often involves mjrder, but not always. What is so enjoyable is that even for us British murder buffs, this series has the different focus of Johnathon being a brilliant individual who creates all the Illusions that a famous
magician uses, so that the stories focus on situations that "should not be humanly possible". e.g. a murderer kills and then apparently exited a tightly locked room, with no possible exit. Johnathon always shows in the end how the caper was carried out, and the figuring out is interesting and often rather comical! Supporting acting is also quite good. A MUST SEE SERIES!

This is the second season in this interesting British mystery series. Very unconventional but good stories and some really enjoyable characters.

Blending mystery, humor, and hormones can't be easy, but it is done stylishly in the Jonathan Creek series. Each episode deals with what appears to be an impossible set of circumstances, which seem perfectly clear and logical when Jonathan explains them. The banter between Jonathan and his pushy, reporter friend Madeline is clever and entertaining. Also, the sexual tension between Jonathan (who is a genius-level geek) and Madeline (who is a plump nervous-eater)adds to the general suspense.

Nobody knew much about Jonathan Creek when he was just the anonymous brain behind clever magic tricks. But in "Jonathan Creek: Season Two," he discovers that you can become a lot more famous just by solving mysteries -- and the mysteries are as baffling and bizarre as ever, just as Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin have the same sparking chemistry.

A vicar arrives on Maddy's doorstep, with suitably bizarre and baffling case -- his mother-in-law, a well-known horror writer (think a much, MUCH schlockier Dean Koontz), was shot dead on Halloween night. The costumed murderer also carried off the vicar's wife as a hostage... but after being chased into a garage by the police, he vanished without a trace.

Then in "Time Waits for Norman," Maddy's editor asks Jonathan to figure out how her husband could have been on both sides of the Atlantic, with witnesses and evidence on both sides. In "The Scented Room," an El Greco painting vanishes from a small room... which is surrounded by schoolgirls on a field trip. Jonathan knows how it was done, but he also has a grudge against the owner.

In "Mother Redcap," a judge is found stabbed in the heart despite his police guards, and Maddy and Jonathan soon learn that it's connected to an infamous inn where seven men died mysteriously. And finally, there's a "Problem at Gallows Gate" when Adam's sister spots a man strangling a young woman... and the problem is that that man committed suicide in front of witnesses a month ago!

One major change that has taken place in "Jonathan Creek Season Two" is that Jonathan and Maddy are now minor celebrities, to the point where Maddy's editor starts designing sexy new covers of the two of them. But the main thrust of the series -- Jonathan solving bizarre and impossible crimes -- is still very much the same.

And the writers maintain the right combination of whodunnit and quirky Brit-drama, with subplots like Adam being blackmailed by a stripper with a fondness for Verdi. The dialogue is snappy and fun ("Didn't you get suspicious when you were running your fingers through her hair and she wasn't even in the room?"), but there are also some heartrending moments, like the revelation of who killed the horror writer.

Davies and Quentin are still sparkling as the eccentric Jonathan and the firecracker Maddie. They have plenty of fun banter and romantic tension, but they seem to have settled into a more comfortable groove with each other. And watch out for Peter Davison as a sweet, confused vicar in the first episode.

"Jonathan Creek Season Two" is more of the same -- more quirky problems, more brain-bending solutions, and more magic.

This is a wonderful show. PBS in Washington State had doubts about showing the series initially, and I cannot imagine why. Usually, I can figure out mysteries before the end (even many of Christie's) but I've never figured out a Jonathan Creek before the explanation.

The only disappointment is that since they are offering a full season, I expected 13 episodes, and they've only included 6. In season 2, they are:

Danse Macabre
Time Waits for Norman
The Scented Room
The Problem at Gallows Gate-1
The Problem at Gallows Gate-2
Mother Redcap

Apparently, in England, you can get all the episodes on one disc, but the quality isn't as good. The mysteries are ingenious, the characters are enjoyable, and the relationships are fun. This is an excellent series that you won't be disappointed purchasing.