Flack season 2: Anna Paquin shines in one of Amazon’s most underrated series

It’s possible – maybe even likely – that you haven’t heard of Flack, the Amazon original series that follows a quartet of women in the fast-paced, often cruel world of crisis management PR. Which is a shame – this series is one of the streamer’s more underrated properties, a soapy, glittery showbiz-adjacent drama about messy, broken people that’s both wildly cynical and incredibly entertaining.

Flack season 2 is even darker and messier than the drama’s first outing, thrusting its characters into increasingly difficult scenarios and forcing them to make increasingly difficult choices about how far they’re willing to go, both personally and professionally speaking. Whether that means covering up affairs, hiding illegitimate children, or faking sex tapes for clients desperate for a fresh hit of fame, there’s almost no line they won’t cross.

The series centers on Anna Paquin’s Robyn, an expert fixer whose out-of-the-box thinking has solved many an impossible-seeming problem. Unfortunately – and somewhat predictably – Robyn’s uncanny skill at managing the crises in other people’s lives doesn’t extend to her own, and she’s spiraling even more wildly this season than last. (And last season she cheated on her boyfriend, lied about being ready for a child, took birth control pills to prevent conceiving, did a metric ton of drugs, slept with her best friend’s boyfriend, and lots more.)

In season 2, although Robyn initially seems to be trying to turn her life around, her estrangement from her sister and her constant need to be the best at her job soon has her addicted to drugs once more – Adderall, this time, which rapidly escalates into a fairly serious cocaine habit. Over the course of the season, Robyn’s spiral sees her commit increasingly desperate acts: To get drugs, to feel better, to keep her job, to feel a connection with someone else.

Paquin’s performance – in a largely thankless and unlikeable role – is the glue that holds the rest of the season together, and it’s surprisingly easy to simultaneously both loathe and feel for Robyn over the course of these six episodes. Her behavior is so abhorrent, and still so easy to understand, that it’s easy to revel in her repeated mistakes even as your heart breaks for the obvious pain she’s clearly in.

But Season 2 of Flack is even better than the series first, not just because of the messiness of Robyn’s struggles, but because her dangerous spiral opens the door for other characters. As Robyn becomes increasingly incapable within, or even absent from, the narrative, other characters are allowed to step forward into the gaps she leaves behind.

Lydia Wilson’s caustic Eve is probably the main beneficiary of Robyn’s extended absences – we meet some of her family in season 2, she gets a posh new boyfriend, she becomes something of a mentor to Rebecca Benson’s Melody, now re-hired as a full-fledged assistant. (The episode where Eve laces the champagne at her future sister-in-law’s hen party with ecstasy is particularly awful and entertaining.) As for Melody, she’s still trying to figure out who she is – and how nasty she’s willing to let her job make her become.

Though Season 2’s list of guest stars/clients is more impressive than ever – Amanda Abbington, Sam Neil, and more – the real drama of Flack’s sophomore outing is character-driven, tackling issues that range from abortion to domestic abuse, the impending loss of a parent, and more. At the center of it all is Robyn, whose increasingly desperate attempts to manage and then numb her pain leave her more and more alone.

Flack isn’t a prestige drama with a deep message, true. But it’s a remarkably entertaining and fully female-focused series that lets its leads be messy and problematic on their own terms. None of these characters are heroes or even truly likable, but that doesn’t mean their stories aren’t wildly entertaining to watch unfold all the same. (And you’ll probably find yourself rooting for these women in spite of yourself.)

Season 2 of Flack will premiere on Amazon on June 11. Let us know if you’re planning to give it a look.