Title: The Trial Season 2
Director: Umesh Bist
Cast: Kajol Devgan, Jissu Sengupta, Aly Khan, Sheeba Chaddha, Kubbra Sait,
Where: JioHotstar
Rating: ***1/2
There are courtroom dramas, and then there are courtroom soap operas dressed in designer sarees and mahogany furniture. The Trial Season 2 happily straddles both. Adapted from the American cult hit The Good Wife, its Indian cousin is less about gavel-banging legal acrobatics. Instead, it focuses on the messy business of marriage, morality, and midlife crises. And yet, it works, largely because it understands that life, like litigation, is never just about winning or losing.
Noyonika Sengupta (Kajol Devgan), the wronged-but-resilient lawyer-housewife, steps into the courtroom once again. But the real trial is her own: juggling children, clients, and a husband with a moral compass shakier than the Wi-Fi in a power cut. Over six episodes, we are whisked through a buffet of cases: sexual assault, influencer rivalry, murder, and environmental activism. Each case is tied up neatly with just enough frayed edges to keep us invested. The narrative doesn’t sprint; it paces itself like a marathon, but occasionally pauses too long to smell the roses.
Actors’ performance
Kajol brings her signature blend of warmth and steel to Noyonika, though one wishes she’d occasionally let the cracks show a bit more. Jissu Sengupta as Rajeev, the scandal-tainted husband-turned-politician, plays slippery with aplomb, while Aly Khan as Vishal Chaubey, the college-friend-turned-boss, manages to smoulder without overcooking the dish.
But the real scene-stealer is veteran Asrani. He bursts into the courtroom as opposition lawyer Manu Sharma, bringing a theatrical flourish that makes you nostalgic for old-school Bollywood courtroom battles. His over-the-top performance could have derailed the tone, but instead, it injects much-needed zest into the otherwise measured proceedings.
The supporting cast, too, pulls its weight, fleshing out a legal firm that feels lived-in rather than populated by plot devices. This ensemble effect ensures that the story never collapses under the weight of its central triangle.
Music
On paper, classical music in the middle of a courtroom saga sounds like a detour best avoided. Yet Episode 5’s live performance is both haunting and narratively clever. It underscores the inner dissonance of the characters while reminding us that law, like art, is as much performance as it is precision.
Production values are slick, with enough polish to rival imported dramas, though occasionally one spots a little too much gloss. The sets are pristine, the offices modern, the homes aspirational, almost too aspirational for a family supposedly rocked by scandal. However, this is streaming entertainment, not social realism, and an aspirational gloss is part of the contract.
Final verdict
Overall, this series is intelligent, grown-up television that resists the temptation of painting halos and horns. Instead, it delves headlong into the gray areas where marriages collapse, friendships turn into power plays, and justice is often about who argues more effectively rather than who is right.
With layered characters and narrative finesse, the series unveils a world of moral ambiguities, where everyone clings to control yet secretly improvises survival.
