The season's first episode is all about finding out who wronged Lovejoy and put him in prison for several months. The episode flashes between the events leading up to his arrest and the time after he gets out and works on figuring out who exactly framed him and why they chose Lovejoy.
This season, Lovejoy will have to help the younger brother of a wealthy family get the money he deserves by using the man's forgery skills. Lovejoy will also have to stop several crime sprees, all of which the cops feel he is involved with. In one, the stolen items keep appearing in trash piles, while another has the criminal group stealing everything from the victim's homes - even fireplaces and staircases.
In another episode, Eric (Chris Jury) is asked to sell a supposedly cursed gold idol. Unfortunately, the curse seems to be in full swing as the man who stole the statue and asked Eric to sell it is killed in an accident. As Lovejoy and company do some more digging, they find that it was a part of a band's image and, as it turns out, the idol is only part of the statue that is worth a lot more than anyone imagined.
In "Who Dares, Sings," we get a look at Tink's (Dudley Sutton) past when an old army buddy of the barker hires Lovejoy & Co. to outfit his new pub with some classy antiques. Unfortunately, at the same time, Lovejoy ends up duped into helping to rob a house. When the stolen items start showing up in Tink's friend's pub, Lovejoy has to work doubly-hard to not only track down the con artist, but to also make sure no one notices where the stolen goods end up.
Lovejoy: Series 2 also features an episode where the military hires Lovejoy to track down a traveling artist, supposedly to hire him to paint a mural. As Lovejoy digs deeper, he learns that the artist has a habit of not only painting countryside cottages, but bedding the ladies of the same cottages. There is also an episode taking place at Lovejoy's daughter's school, as well as one that puts Lady Jane's (Phyllis Logan) husband at financial risk because of a potentially bad business deal.
The season's final episode is a two-part caper. When Lovejoy learns that a wealthy Greek antiques dealer is knowingly selling many of his clients fakes, two of the man's most recent victims ask Lovejoy to help get their money back and hopefully teach the dirty dealer a lesson. The plan Lovejoy puts together involves forging an ancient Russian artifact and convincing the crook that the fake is worth the three million dollars that Lovejoy is hoping to steal back.
While I enjoyed the previous season of this show, Lovejoy: Series 2 seems to have smoothed out the few rough edges that were previously seen. Some characters from the last set are gone, and the core group of actors portray their various characters better. I was especially pleased to see Eric to grow a bit this season as he shows Lovejoy and Tinker that he is learning more and more about the trade. While he is still stuck doing menial tasks for the company, he has a few occasions where he really shines. The long and short of it is, if you liked the previous season, then you won't want to miss Lovejoy: Series 2.
