BURYING THE TRUTH (SMOTHER, SERIES TWO)

Ireland's dodgiest well to do family are back.

Series two of RTE and Acorn's thriller 'Smother' sees the Aherns trying to piece together their lives in Co Clare after the death of their patriarch, Stuart Graham's Dennis.

However in order to do that, Dervla Kirwan's matriarch Val, her daughters Gemma-Leah Devereux's Anna, Seana Kerslake's Grace and Niamh Walsh's Jenny and Dennis's ex lover Justine Mitchell's Elaine Lynch have to stick to a pact they forged at the end of series one to hide the truth of what really happened to him.

(SPOILER ALERT!!)

In the final episode of the previous series, Anna's husband, Lochlann O Mearain's Rory Dwyer agreed with the five women to take the rap for Dennis' nighttime plunge from a clifftop.

Dying from cancer Rory, who was Elaine's ex, also wanted to atone for engineering a fire in the family home which she was blamed for when their boys, James O'Donnoghue's hot headed Callum and Elijah O'Sullivan's Jacob were young.

With Rory dying after being sent to trial, tensions in the Ahern family circle remain high in the second series, with Anna unhappy about him taking the rap and being labelled a murderer as he went to the grave.

Anna is keen to return to Indonesia with Callum and Jacob but Elaine, who is a recovering alcoholic, is standing in her way and is anxious to forge a closer relationship with the boys.

Callum, in particular, remains a sullen boy and is struggling to come to terms with Rory's death and his admission of guilt.

As he strops around the Ahern family home like a Co Clare version of Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager, Callum makes it clear he prefers his birth mother to Anna and has no desire to return to Indonesia.

Meanwhile Jenny is still working as a GP after somehow managing to scramble out of the debts she was exposed to by Dennis in the first series.

However her colleague, Hugh O'Connor's priggish Kevin is working with her under sufferance, after reluctantly helping her cover up the fact that she invested some of the surgery's funds in Dennis' dodgy property development.

Kevin warns Jenny if she steps out of line again, she'll be fired.

Grace is focused on the opening of her new cafe, while trying to mend her broken friendship with Ayoola Smart's Cathy Cregan.

During the previous series, they fell out because Cathy was pregnant with the child of Grace's ex boyfriend, Eanna Hardwicke's local Guard Joe.

Off her meds and reeling from discovering Joe and Cathy were an item, Grace responded badly to the realisation that her ex boyfriend and closest friend were an item.

However in series two, Cathy is the one who is struggling following the birth of the baby.

As she battles post-natal depression, her relationship with Joe is strained.

Grace is also unnerved when Joe reveals he still has feelings for her.

Conor Mullen's Uncle Frank is seeing through Dennis' housing development and has literally got into bed with Hilary Rose's Alanna Hutchins as he delivers it.

Alanna, though, is one of Dennis' ex-lovers and she takes great pleasure in undermining Val at any opportunity, even though Val is on good terms with Frank.

Carl, Val's former Danish boyfriend has left Co Clare to return to Copenhagen, although his daughter and Callum's girlfriend, Hazel Doupe's Ingrid has remained - living with Carrie Crowley's Mairead Noonan.

The Aherns' uneasy peace, however, is disturbed when Dean Fagan's Finn suddenly arrives from Manchester, revealing he is Dennis' illegitimate son.

Finn is eager to forge a relationship with his family but is especially keen to understand who Dennis was and how he died.

His presence unnerves Val, Anna, Grace and Elaine - especially as Callum seems to idolise him and Jenny begins to get romantically involved with him.

As the series unfolds, they wonder if Finn is everything he seems?

But their biggest concern is whether he  discover what really happened to Dennis and how it was covered up.

One of the frustrations of watching series one of 'Smother' was its rather clunky exposition despite the best efforts of its cast and Daithi Keane's solid direction.

After a good opening episode, it was clear in series one that Kate O'Riordan's drama had the right ingredients for a solid mystery thriller.

However it overloaded those ingredients and simply tried to do too much.

Unfortunately, the second series of 'Smother' also fails to live up to its potential despite the best efforts of its cast.

While it rumbles along while just about maintaining your interest, it tests your patience because there's an unhealthy addiction to soap style revelations.

Kirwan continues to do her best as the Aherns' scheming matriarch, with Val constantly having to think on her feet as she tries to figure out Finn's motives and keep a lid on the family's secrets and lies.

It's an exhausting watch as she races around Co Clare, cleaning up the messes her family regularly leaves behind.

Walsh is once again an appealing screen presence as Jenny and it's good to see Hilary Rose getting more to do in this series, albeit in a role that often teeters on the brink of becoming a 'Dynasty'-style character.

Thankfully we are spared any OTT Krystle and Alexis Carrington-style catfights between her and Val.

The Dwyers, however, remain the weakest characters in the show and very little effort is made to develop them.

Devereux's Anna is still terribly moany.

O'Donnoghue's Callum is a stock, angry teenager and Elijah O'Sullivan's Jacob seems too sweet to be wholesome.

As Grace Ahern, Kerslake's considerable acting talent continues to be wasted to the point that her character disappears for a few episodes and you don't really miss her.

The climactic scene of the series offers some hope though, holding out the possibility that Grace may have a more significant role to play in turning the Aherns' world upside down in series three.

Conor Mullen, Hazel Doupe, Carrie Crowley, Ayoola Smart, Eanna Hardwicke and Hugh O'Connor feel like they are just going through the motions, while Justine Mitchell's character is subjected to the indignity of a ridiculous plot development where Elaine's drink is spiked and she is rather conveniently involved in a car crash involving another character.

Aoibhinn McGinnity is a welcome addition to the cast as a less buffoonish Garda than Michael Patrick's Sergeant Manning in the previous series and you hope she is given more to do when it returns.

A lot in Series Two, however, hangs on Dean Fagan's performance as the mysterious Manc, Finn Ahern.

Fortunately Fagan brings a lot of swagger to the part and is good value as Finn, keeping audiences guessing as to his character's true motives.

Stuart Graham periodically pops up in flashback moments as Dennis but isn't around long enough to make an impression.

Thanks to its cast and its high production values, 'Smother' is a handsome, watchable Sunday night show that has proven a big hit with RTE viewers.

However it is also a very frustrating watch, often failing to live up to its potential and adopting soap opera tactics.

A third series is inevitably on the way but 'Smother' has a lot of work to do if it is to be regarded as a decent series.

It needs to dial down the soap opera and develop some of its characters.

O'Riordan also needs to let some of its strongest cast members off the leash.

Third time lucky, eh?

We'll see.

('Smother' was broadcast on RTE1 in Ireland from January 9-February 13, 2022)