In the case of Tyler Perry's Beauty in Black, subtlety is never really an option. It is loud and excessive, and it never tries to hide the fact that it is a series about characters who betray each other, marriages that fall apart, bodies that pile up, money changing hands, and everybody having a secret they desperately want to keep. Season 2, if anything, ups the ante and does all of it even louder.

The strange thing is that it works.

In Season 2 of Beauty in Black, Kimmie has stopped just struggling to stay alive among the Bellaries and has instead married Horace, becoming chief operating officer of the company and having more money and power than she had when the series started. Yet she has become the head of a family that has spent decades lying and killing to protect what it has. That gives Taylor Polidore Williams more possibilities, and she seizes all of them. Kimmie is still vulnerable, but now she is willing to fight back.

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Season 2 is the strongest when Kimmie is actively making her own decisions.

Also, the relationship between Kimmie and Mallory becomes more interesting and more nuanced. They start at odds with each other but gradually come together in an uneasy alliance, realising that they have the same enemy. Neither woman suddenly becomes good, which is the right choice, and their collaboration is more like a temporary agreement between two people who have found common ground rather than a true friendship.

Unfortunately, Perry is sometimes unable to realise when he should stop.

The problem with Season 2 is that it takes too long to get to the places it is obvious the audience will get to eventually. The second half of the season in particular drags Kimmie towards her showdown with the Bellaries in a way that makes some episodes feel unnecessary. According to one review of the second part of the season, the story goes round and round until Kimmie gets the proof she needs, while another critic says the back half is lacking in momentum.

Those criticisms are quite fair.

There are episodes of the show that feel like the series is just waiting for the next big thing to happen. Characters argue, threaten each other, make a deal, and find themselves arguing again. Some of the side stories are quite entertaining, but in general, they only make the season longer than it really needs to be.

Still, Beauty in Black has one thing many well-written dramas lack: it knows how to keep the viewer hooked.

It is not afraid to be over the top and not afraid to be completely unrealistic. Beauty in Black is all about vengeance, scheming, and getting what you need from others no matter what. It wants the Bellaries to be awful and Kimmie to win. Sometimes the writing becomes repetitive, but there is always another betrayal around the corner.

That is the reason the series is impossible to dismiss completely.

Crystle Stewart continues to prove to be one of the best performers in the cast as Mallory. She brings enough attitude and confidence to her character, especially when she is dealing with people who underestimate her. Taylor Polidore Williams has the more difficult task because the season asks her to play Kimmie as she becomes increasingly ruthless without becoming one of the Bellaries. While she is not always given enough material to work with, her performance gives Kimmie's rise some gravity.

The finale finally delivers the long-awaited confrontation with the Bellaries. Kimmie faces them at the shareholder meeting, where secrets are revealed and loyalties are broken. In the end, Kimmie, Mallory, and Horace make their final move and turn state's evidence, bringing the FBI down on the Bellaries.

It is a fitting ending for the season.

Yet the problem is that the climax also exposes the weakness of the whole plot. Beauty in Black spends so much time taking Kimmie to the point of triumph that the actual triumph comes much faster than it should have. After all the scheming and lies, Kimmie's victory comes almost as if Beauty in Black has remembered that it has a story to finish.

However, perhaps that is the reason why the series is fun. Beauty in Black is not a subtle television show; it is a soap opera with crime, money, sex, family feuds and betrayals to spare. Its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: Perry gives the viewers everything at once.

Season 2 of Beauty in Black is therefore a mixed experience. The main story is more developed than in the previous season, and the complicated relationship between Kimmie and Mallory gives the drama a reason to exist. However, the writing is often repetitive, the pacing is uneven, and some of the side plots are unnecessary.

Still, it is hard to say the season was boring.

Perhaps that is Beauty in Black's greatest feat. It can be frustrating, silly, and wildly over the top, often in the same episode, but it rarely stops giving you a reason to watch.