Fully loaded and back on the case
Lethal Weapon
STV, 9pm
WHEN ITV launched the action drama series Lethal Weapon last year, a lot of viewers were initially sceptical about its chances of success. For a start, it’s rare for US series to be shown on the channel in primetime. And then there’s the fact that Lethal Weapon was based on a hugely successful movie franchise. Would viewers be able to accept a Riggs and Murtaugh who were played by anyone other than Mel Gibson and
Danny Glover?
It seems even actor Clayne Crawford, who plays the Gibson role of loose cannon Riggs, didn’t expect audiences to share his enthusiasm for the show.
He said: “I read the script on a plane and I had that moment of being a 12-year-old boy, who just wants to play cowboys and superheroes. I was like, ‘This is a cowboy superhero!’ I called my wife and said, ‘Look, I think I’m gonna say yes, but there’s no way it will make it past three episodes.’”
Luckily, he was proved wrong. Not only did US audiences take the revamped Lethal Weapon to their hearts, but so did UK viewers, meaning not only is there a second season, but it’s now back on ITV.
For anyone who missed the first series (or the films that inspired it), it focuses on the cop duo of Riggs, a reckless former Navy Seal who moved to LA following the deaths of his wife Miranda and their unborn child, and Murtaugh (Damon Wayans), a steady family man who returned to the force following a heart attack.
The previous run ended with Murtaugh discovering just how far Riggs was prepared to go in pursuit of his wife’s killers.
In this opening episode, Riggs is in Mexico, where he plans to avenge Miranda’s death and finish off Tito Flores (Danny Mora) once and for all, but the cop’s loyal partner is on his trail.
Once the duo are back in the US, they face some tough questions due to the ongoing investigation into Flores’s activities and Murtaugh’s family also have a few points they’d like to get cleared up.
Meanwhile, Captain Avery (Kevin Rahm) is questioned by Internal Affairs about the integrity of his department.
But if the Miranda storyline does get wrapped up, can we expect a calmer, more responsible Riggs in the rest of season 2?
It seems not, as Crawford says the forthcoming episodes will reveal that some of his character’s problems predate the tragic loss of his family. He said: “The beauty of TV is that you have 22 hours to tell a story, so we’re gonna really find out who Riggs is and who he was before, and go into his childhood to see that it started out bad.
“I don’t think we ever want Riggs healthy. The more Riggs is a mess, the more fun it is.”