Season two is pleasantly surprising
The Artful Dodger’s first season premiered in November of 2023 and was a huge success, earning a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it was no surprise when it was renewed for a second season. As soon as it dropped in February, I was sat on the couch to watch it.
For those who don’t know, The Artful Dodger is an Australian historically-based show that was released on Disney+. The show is set in mid-1800s Australia in the same universe as Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist novel and contains some overlapping of characters including two of the main characters, Jack Dawkins and Fagin, and a brief Oliver Twist cameo in the first season.
The show tells a sort of star-crossed-lovers story between a surgeon/thief and the governor’s daughter who wants to be the first female surgeon in their British colony. The show deals with various obstacles they face including their different classes and outlooks on life, navigating unprecedented surgical procedures and the underlying criminal doings in the colony that Fagin, and sometimes Jack, are involved in.
Previously having watched the trailers for this new season, I was a little worried when they teased a new character, Inspector Henry Boxer, as a potential love interest to the main female character Belle Fox, played by Maia Mitchell. I was worried about how his introduction would affect Belle’s romance with Jack Dawkins, played by Thomas Brody-Sangster, as the trailers already showed some strain between the two this season.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by most of the characters this season. While I was wary of Inspector Boxer at first, he turned out to be a very stand-up guy who I was rooting for, though not for Belle’s love interest.
Aside from this potential love triangle, I was nervous about the turmoil that Belle and Jack could potentially face. The beginning of the season begins with Jack escaping from being hanged after residing in jail for multiple months. Their turmoil begins with Jack believing that Belle never tried to visit or communicate with him during his sentence, despite Belle having passed letters to Fagin every day to give to him. I was worried that this miscommunication caused by Fagin was going to last multiple episodes, but was happy when they resolved it rather quickly. I hate miscommunication plotlines and was glad that Jack and Belle hashed things out and discussed their future together. While they continue to have some mild disagreements on how to best handle Jack’s potential freedom and their future together, they remain loving and faithful to each other for the majority of the season.
In addition to the plotlines of the main characters, I thoroughly enjoyed the sideplots of characters like Sneed and Fanny. Although his part this season was relatively small, seeing Sneed go from the arrogant lead surgeon to a more supportive ally to Jack and Belle was very gratifying, and I found myself wanting him to succeed, unlike last season.
By far, the best character development of this season was Fanny Fox, the younger sister of Belle. After a budding romance gone wrong (very, very wrong), she uncovers a natural talent for criminal schemes, using her artistic skills for forgeries and her unassuming personality to swindle people along with Fagin and his group. I loved this new role for her and was really happy that they gave her a bigger part this season.
As much as I loved this season overall, there were a few critiques I had. In my opinion, there were a few too many plotlines this season for the number of episodes they had, which led to some being unresolved. For example, there is a plot towards the beginning of the season when Fagin and Jack unsuccessfully try to steal a platinum bar, but end up losing it in the sewer system. The metal bar is never really brought up again, and they don’t try to go back into the sewers to retrieve it, despite it being relatively valuable.
Similarly, the first season reveals that Belle’s father, the governor, is having an affair with a local Madame whom he appears to care for deeply, but this is never referenced in the second season. In fact, the governor appears very devoted to his wife and family.
Despite these small inconsistencies, I really enjoyed this season. My love for Jack and Belle as a couple has grown even more, partially due to their amazing acting and partially due to Thomas Brody-Sangster’s swoonworthy portrayal of Jack. I can’t wait to see what their future holds if it (hopefully) gets renewed for a third season!