Instinct episode 2 review: The Alan Cumming drama shows great improvement

While the first episode was very good, we do think that Instinct episode 2 needed to do something to up its game. We’re talking not only in terms of the case, but also seeing if there is a way to up the ante and raise the stakes for characters like Dylan and Lizzie. These two were unlikely partners who forged a good working relationship in episode 1; moving into episode 2, however, their relationship quickly started to become a friendship.

Tonight, Lizzie and Dylan found themselves working together once more on a murder that eventually escalated into something even more serious. A string of deaths hit the restaurant industry and the two parties had to figure out not only what happened, but also why.

In some ways, Instinct is a familiar murder-mystery show with a few simple, fundamental twists at the heart of it. You are, after all, watching a crime get solved every single week. Yet, what makes the episode interesting is that the writers really keep some of the guesswork going with the show. It throws you more into the shoes of its main characters and helps you understand more of how they tick. Also, it’s rather nice that we can just focus on a blossoming friendship between two characters as opposed to a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that is going to evolve over time. Taking romance out of the equation is one of the smartest things Instinct has ever done. (With that being said, we do think that the writers could do more to bring in Dylan’s husband, though we understand that he works a separate job and isn’t directly related to many of the cases.)

By the end of the episode, we did get the sense that the partnership was finally going to be a permanent thing and that’s worth celebrating — as is the idea of Lizzie hanging out in his class. He’s routinely getting to be a part of her world now and with that in mind, it only makes some sense that she also do whatever he can in order to be a better part of his.

Related – Be sure to see a preview now for Instinct episode 2!

CarterMatt Verdict

Instinct episode 2 kept us guessing for most of the episode and in between the farm scene at the end of the episode and Dylan having to talk down the target in the closing seconds before they were finally captured once and for all.

Overall, Instinct episode 2 established a much better comfort level and also an intelligence that puts it a cut above most other series in this genre. Beyond just that, Alan Cumming is fantastic as Dylan and we could probably watch him solve crimes any day of the week.

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