TAYE Diggs left an indelible impression as Dr Sam Bennett in the medical drama, Private Practice. When the Shonda Rhimes show was canned; fans were devastated.
When news broke that he was returning to TV – as a cop – jaws dropped.
It wasn’t because viewers didn’t have faith in him pulling off the role. It was such a left-field career move.
But in the first season of Murder in the First, he has played his role with conviction.
Much was asked of Terry English, his homicide detective character. On the one hand, he was a doting husband, grieving the loss of his wife.
Terry drowned his sorrows in his work – more specifically, bringing Erich Blunt, an arrogant Silicon Valley prodigy and sociopath, to book for his crimes.
His partnership with Hildy Mulligan (Kathleen Robertson) is another drawcard for a series that made a quiet arrival on our screens.
Aside from being gorgeous, she was tenacious in all she did and the characters complemented each other beautifully.
In season two, the focus shifts. This time, Terry and Hildy look into the death of a fellow officer and, in so doing, rattle a few cages within the police force.
This leaves the city on shaky ground.
Viewers will also get to see a different facet of Terry, who isn’t as consumed with grief as he was in the first season.
In an interview with BuddyTV, Raphael Sbarge (Inspector David Molk), hints at some of the developments in the new instalment – which kicks off with a school bus shooting.
He says, “I’m a parent. It is, literally, every parents nightmare. The whole image of someone carrying a gun on a school bus makes people freak out. It’s wild for us to really explore its depth.”
While last season orbited around an influential social network founder’s attempts to get away with murder, this season meanders its way into darker territory.
What’s interesting, though, is Sbarge’s renown for his work in the fantasy drama, Once Upon a Time, where he plays dual roles therapist Archie Hopper/ Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio.
But inhabiting different characters is nothing new to him.
He notes, “I’ve played more serial killers, rapists, cannibals, stuff like that on other shows that are out there. It’s fun. The bad guys are usually more fun; but they are short-lived.”
Another interesting facet about this season is the casting of AJ Buckley as Inspector Marty “Junior” Mulligan. He is Hildy’s brother, who transferred from Vice. Viewers will remember him as Adam Ross, the lab technician from CSI: NY.
Like with True Detective – although not quite in the same league – Murder in the First focuses on one major crime story and how the pieces of the puzzle fit. Along the way, the whodunnit aspect is interspersed with the characters’ personal dramas. And who would object to a bit of Taye Diggs as a distraction?
l Murder in the First season 2 airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Tuesday at 9.30pm.