Tell-Tale TV Panel: The Catch Season 2

On The Catch Season 2, former enemies teamed up together, the bad guys worked with the FBI, and a secret daughter came back into the fold.

Unfortunately, this is the last time we will follow around former members of the Kensington Firm and the AVI team. It was one fun ride, that’s for sure.

Our panelists are:

• Allison Nichols, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Jasmine Peterson, staff writer for TV Fanatic
• Cortney Persiani, contributor for TV Goodness

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the season overall?

Cortney: 10

Allison: I’m going to give it an 8 or a 9. I did really enjoy the season, and I loved it a lot more than the first season, honestly. This season was a lot more fun.

Jasmine: 9. It immediately got an upgrade just for having Gina Torres. Gina Torres makes everything better.

What was this season’s biggest problem?

Cortney: There were a few storylines that were teased or touched on but not really fleshed out or were quickly dropped. I LOVED getting more on Val’s backstory as a cop and her partnership with Nick but that was over as quickly as it began.

And we also never really got an explanation on why Alice and Ethan broke up or had a chance to see what happened to the two of them that resulted in such animosity on Alice’s end in the current day. The addition of flashbacks were wonderful, but we needed more!

Also, the whole story with Edgar Diaz felt very flat. We weren’t given time to care about him enough to feel invested so when he turned out to be a bad guy, it

Allison: I agree with Cortney. There were a lot of storylines that never really developed or just didn’t really work. As much as I love Gina Torres, I did not care for her quest to find her husband. There were enough side storylines involving other characters that I would have loved to see developed more.

Jasmine: Yeah, I definitely agree with both of you on that. I expected to know more about Alice and Ethan. In fact, it felt to me like Alice took a backseat on her own show, and it shifted more to Margot and the rest of the gang. I didn’t mind it per se, but I would have liked to have known more.

They did drop random tidbits, dangled them in our faces and then never fleshed them out. Val was so underused in this season. I would have loved to have known more about Alice and her life story that has her constantly drawn to or connected to con-artists and criminals. There were just so many missed opportunities.

What worked really well this season?

Cortney: Everything else! The pair-ups were fantastic all around! Rhys, Ben, and Justine were stellar. Ben, Margot, and Tessa were phenomenal.

Alice and Margot were wonderful. Alice and Rhys were entertaining and even Ben and Ethan were fun! Also, lots of great guest stars who really brought things to the next level.

Additionally, the fact that all the “cases of the week” applied to our characters and the bigger picture as a whole rather than being random one-off cases really added to the season and made everything feel much more relevant and compelling.

Allison: One of the best parts of this season for me was all the different team ups. Rhys and Margot (and Ben) were the bad guys last season, so it was a ton of fun watching them work with Alice. There was so much history between all these characters, that seeing them having to put all the bad stuff aside and work together peacefully was ridiculously entertaining.

Margot hiring AVI was such a smart move and it provided us with so many fun cases that did, as Cortney said, tie into the bigger picture.

Jasmine: Yes, the team ups were the best. The crap with Justine’s husband, I could have done without, but everything else with her working with Rhys and Ben was stellar.

I loved how begrudging she was to most of their shenanigans, but they sort of dragged her to the dark side, but I also love how surprised both of them were with how good she was at conning etc like them. It was a fun dynamic. Plus Rhys looked at Justine the same way I look at Gina Torres, complete awe and reverence.

Margot and Alice was unexpected but so much fun. I only hate that we didn’t see more of them specifically interacting and working together more. It shifted to Margot and Danny’s romantic relationship. I honestly could have done without that.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Cortney: That Rhys was Mockingbird and playing everyone all along!

Allison: The mockingbird twist was so great, but for me, the biggest surprise was how much I loved Tessa. She was such a great addition to the mix, and she was entertaining no matter if she was working with Margot or Alice.

I fully expected to hate her. I mean come on, whenever a show brings in a long-lost child, the result is never good. Thankfully, Tessa didn’t drive a wedge between Ben and Alice. Instead, she brought everyone together.

Jasmine: I was surprised that Rhys was Mockingbird. I mean I knew he wasn’t on the up and up because he’s still Rhys, but I just didn’t think expect that he would be playing everyone like that.

I didn’t believe that it was Tommy, in part because I can never see baby-faced T.R. Knight as someone threatening no matter what character he plays. I just didn’t think it would be Rhys.

If there was a third season, what would you have liked to see?

Cortney: More of the same! Would’ve loved to have seen Ben going after Rhys. More Margot, Tessa, Ben shenanigans.  More Justine and Rhys, especially since they’re now on opposite sides. More backstory for Val and Ethan. And most of all, the reunions between Alice and Ben now that he’s on the run.

Allison: I would love to see a season long take down of Rhys. It would be really interesting to see how his relationships with everyone changes now that the Mockingbird news was out.

Margot and Tessa could have joined in on the fight to take down Rhys (or take over his empire). I really love Alice and Rhys’ relationship, so I would want to see more of that. Like he pointed out, she likes him, which makes the whole thing even more entertaining.

Jasmine: I definitely would have liked to have seen a season long take-down of Rhys. It’s called “The Catch” after all. I liked the family dynamic of Margot, Ben, and Tessa.

I would have liked to have seen a stronger story arc for Sophie. I felt like, while this season has been good, they forgot about Sophie and Val a great deal and that bugged me. They both could have used stronger arcs and more development.

I also would have liked Ethan and Justine to stick around. Justine going after Rhys and Margot would have been fun to watch, and Ethan hanging around Alice, so that we could get a better understanding of their relationship, and it posing a threat to her relationship with Ben would have been nice to see.

What did you think of the final season of The Catch? Share your thoughts and Season 3 dreams in a comment below.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!