I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I wasn't a big fan of the first season. It did have splendid dialogues and an authentic UP look and feel in literally every frame, but the plotting was predictable and clumsy at times which never let it soar like it should have. Still, flashes of brilliance were evident in the strong casting, audacious use of the dialect and the live wire characters who left more than a lasting impression.
The stakes in the new season are much higher. Sucking you straightaway into its dark murky world, it starts with a roaring dream sequence (which frankly seemed quite believable) and sets the tone for the gripping and meaty crime drama that ensues. New characters are thrown in for good measure, the nexus between political parties, mafia and inter gang rivalries has become a complex cobweb of sorts, the episodes are intercut with different cities of UP and Bihar where key characters are plotting their next move and so much more.
Synthesizing the synergies of these spread out epicentres of action with a juicy eclectic ensemble of bonafide actors and cheer inciting dialogues, creator Puneet Krishna and directors Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai make magic on screen with the material at hand. Aided by a pulsating background score, especially the one which marks the beginning and end of an episode, they give each of the characters an arc that is at once believable and at the same time wildly unpredictable.
Barring a few characters who stick out like a sore thumb (I don't understand why Kulbhushan Kharbanda is given so much screen time), the actors mostly sparkle. Of the old cast, Rasika Duggal, Divyendu Sharma (aka Munna) and Pankaj Tripathi sizzle with their performances and the way they play off each other. From the new entrants, Vijay Verma (whose character frankly deserved a more fitting presence in the story) and Priyanshu Painyuli leave a solid mark.
And just when you think the show cannot get any better somewhere in the 7th episode, it begins to roll downhill from there, ultimately snowballing into a cop out and underwhelming climax which leaves you frustrated and disappointed as you witness it take all the wrong turns at crucial junctions of the story. The makers themselves get caught up in the cobweb created by them, as a result of which the screenplay goes all over the place. What could have ended in 7 or 8 episodes has dragged on for two painful long hours constantly punctured by gratuitous subplots and stretched emotional scenes that seem out of place.
I'm still going with 3.5/5 for Mirzapur season 2. A major chunk of the show provides wholesome entertainment as it goes all guns blazing, until the makers decide to eat way more than they can digest. Like they say, the show must go on...for that we'll have to wait for season 3..but until then, "yeh bhi theek hain"...
