Despite a pedestrian start last season, "Coroner" ended up growing on me.
Serinda Swan (of "Inhumans", "Graceland", "Breakout Kings" and "Ballers" fame) proved to be compelling in her role as Jenny Cooper, a former ER doctor who, after the untimely death of her husband, switched careers to become a medical examiner.
While starting over with her troubled teenage son, she was haunted by her past, where she lost her sister. By the end of season one, Jenny
ended up confronting her personal fears and found love, too.
On what drew her to this character, the 35-year-old actress said: “In her industry, there are a lot of cops who happen to be people, and lawyers who happen to be people, not people who happen to be cops and lawyers.
“And when I read this I was like, ‘Oh this is an actual living breathing feeling human being who happens to be a coroner, which is wonderful
seeing as the show is called 'Coroner'. Sometimes you can get a little too deep into the job description rather than the human behind it.
“And so for me, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to show my character work, and you know, that’s been a blessing and a curse in some ways.
“It took a lot for me to move forward in my career because I’ve played a lot of the same characters, but this was one of the first opportunities that I really get to stretch and show what I could do on the character side, and that was really exciting for me.
“And looking at the character and being like, ‘Oh she is so flawed, and that looks so much fun’ – that’s the best as an actor, like oh this is a
flawed human being, let me get in there and see what I can do.”
Haunted by a childhood past, then confronted with the loss of a husband, her life hasn’t been easy. But she got some closure last season.
She said: “Season two is about three or four months after the end of season one. She’s trying again with Liam (Bouchard, played by Eric Bruneau), she wants to see what she can do with that relationship there. Her father, with his dementia, seems to be getting a little bit worse. Ross is studying and getting ready to go off to university.
“And then we meet her at the beginning of season two and, of course, nothing goes as planned, just like real life, and she has to deal with it. Ross did not finish his high school year and he’s been lying to her about it; Liam is now going to be moving into the house, and that’s wonderful but also slightly worrisome since that, you know, her husband died maybe a year ago. She’s moving quickly and I don’t blame her, she’s got a lot of trauma and he (Liam) does too, and they kind of ‘trauma bond’ together which makes sense. So there’s a lot happening for Jenny this season!”
Are there any new faces we should look out for?
“Well, there’s one old new face. The character Lucy, who I think was only in a couple of episodes last year as an IT specialist, is coming back,
which I love. Her name’s Brenna, and she’s an amazing actress. This is actually her first speaking role on television.
“She’s back for multiple episodes this season and she’s also potentially being a love interest for one of our characters, which is lovely. We
also have a new pathologist in the autopsy suite – she’ll be coming in around halfway through the season. And we have one large guest star
that’s coming in that I can’t really say much about, but she’s awesome – you get to meet her in the first episode.”
"Coroner 2" airs on Universal TV (DStv channel 117) at 8pm, tonight.