Locked Up/ Vis A Vis Season 2 Review: This Is SERIOUSLY One Crazy Ass Show

Zulema, Saray, Macarena and Zuleman's indentured servant Casper are on the lamb after their daring prison escape at the end of season 1. See my reviews Here Of course, Macarena was headed to court to hopefully be freed so she was not a willing participant in the breakout. She kills another prisoner while trying to get away from group. Murder will now be added to her list of offenses. At this rate, the poor girl may never get out of jail.

The group makes their way to Morocco. Macarena uses a stolen phone to call prison guard Fabio. She wants to turn herself in. Fabio says to call the police but dont let Zelema know. Zelema sees the police coming and brutally kills Casper for ratting them out (which she is innocent of). Back to prison they all go. Apparently in Spain (as in Australia) there is only one women's prison which they all must return to time and time again.

Macarena continues to think up ways to gain release and get the money that started this mess. Remember back in premiere episode, a woman had stolen 9 million Euros. She was then murdered in prison. A SIM card containing pictures of where the money is buried gets passed around amongst numerous people.

Her family (father Leopoldo, mother Encarna and brother Roman) first try to find the money in order to secure Macarena's bond. This leads to a battle with Zelena's boyfriend Hanbal (AKA the Egyptian). They capture and torture him but eventually let Hanbal go. He retaliates by killing the daughter of Roman's finance (who is a judge). Roman plots to kill him. Leopoldo plans to take the Egyptian to the police-- but ends up killing Hanbal himself. They try to dispose of the body. It's buried in a grave, then it's in a car trunk, then it's in a freezer. Fabio in drawn into the drama. All the while Castillo (who is an old work friend of Leopoldo's) is hot on their trail.

Zelena ratted out Hanbal to the family for some of the money. Uncle Karim (called the Syrian) is out to avenge his nephew's death. He promises his sister that he will return her son's body.

In another story that will continue throughout the season, a young girl (we later learn her name is Amaia) is kidnapped by a couple. They are eventually captured but neither will say where the girl is. We see she is chained in a stable and a horse is nearby. Will they locate her before she dies of thirst? An undercover cop named Helena is sent in as an undercover prisoner to get info from the wife (who is mentally challenged).

In other prison news, Sole recovers from open heart surgery. The husband of the woman whose heart she received begins visiting Sole in prison. His wife was apparently a holy terror. He and Sole become an item. Can a woman convicted of murdering her abusive husband find love behind bars?

Curly suffers a horrific rape at the hands of guard Valbuena. That was hard to watch. She then emotionally shuts down. Meanwhile Macarena is not as supportive as she could be. She is entertaining feelings for Fabio. Saray brutally attacks Valbuena leaving him with one testicle. He of course returns to work at the prison. He acts nicer to Curly going forward (because he's afraid she will turn him in).

Saray is forced into marriage by her Romani family. She fights against it since she loves Curly but to no avail. She finds out she is pregnant and tells prison physician Dr Sandoval. It is too early to be her husband's. We know what she doesnt-- sleezy Sandoval had sex with Saray while she was passed out. And he doesnt stop there. He gradually wins the trust of the prison governor Miranda. She learns of his proclivities when they have sex. He is heavy into torture and punishment. He has assaulted who knows how many prisoners. He's a real slime ball.

Anabel continues to be a horrible person. She prostitutes a new prison nicknamed Bambi. She sells drugs to the other prisoners. She has her gang beat up Curley and break both of her ankles. Ouch, that was rough! The inmates finally have had enough of Anabel and get her sent to solitary confinement for a while (but she returns after a while). In the final episode we hear her calling someone named "The Colombian". I fear for what she may have done.

Macarena eventually tells Curly she doesnt want to be a couple anymore. This of course doesnt go well. Fabio tells Macarena he will spring her from jail and they'll run off together. She of course believes him. I'm not so sure though. He obviously has feelings for her. Fabio worked with her family to dispose of the Egyptian's body, and got Roman to give him Zulena's money from during their escape but we still dont know exactly what he's up to.

With the police watching, Encarna meets the Egyptian's mother. She returns her son's body but it is cremated. The police enter the mosque and see a woman reaching for something in her clothes. Castillo shoots but it turns out to be Encarna. The women had changed scarfs with her at the last time.

Macarena is released for her mother's funeral. Then Karim comes after the family. Her father is shot dead. Macarena arrives and fills the Syrian full of holes right in front of the police It's more jail time for her.

Zulena continues to plot throughout the season. IMO, she is one of the most interesting characters on this show. She is always 10 steps ahead of the police. She will do ANYTHING to get out. She badly burns herself in order to try to escape during the ambulance ride to the hospital. She digs a hole in order to escape prison. She puts her toothbrush in the toilet in order to get a nasty mouth infection. She ends her clothes in order to be taken to the hospital. That woman is cray cray. Zulena and Macarena trick the wife from the missing girl case. Sorry I dont remember her name. When she goes to see her husband she kills him. Zulena then encourages the woman to hang herself (but not before she tells Zulena the location of the girl. Zulena tries to use this to gain release and to blackmail the girl's parents for half a million Euros.

In the final episode, Macarena FINALLY gets the whereabouts of Amaia from Zulena (by threatening to kill her with a syringe full of air). We think Zulena is dead at one point but Dr Sandoval (despite being VERY HIGH on drugs) manages to jump start her with a defib machine. She is currently in a coma. Knowing Zulena she'll be back to her horrible self soon enough.

Macarena travels via helicopter with Castillo to try to locate the girl. They find her barely alive. Castillo agrees to let Macarena escape and has her hit him in the head with a gun. She runs through the woods but decides there is no escape if she has to look behind her back for the rest of her life. She returns and is sent back to prison.

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5). Another excellent season! "Locked Up/Vis A Vis" ratchets up the craziness even more the second time around. Sure some of the story lines are super soapy. I dont care. I still love the show. All of the characters are three dimensional and fleshed out. It's great fun watching the prisoners plotting against each other as they try to get the upper hand. This show is like "Game Of Thrones" in that anyone can bite the bullet any time. This season especially proves that no one is safe. There are more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at. I cant keep track how many times someone has almost been killed (or tried to kill someone else).

Over the course of two seasons, Macarena changes from a scared new inmate to a force to reconned with. She is physically much more powerful (thanks to all her time spent boxing). While some of Macaren's decisions are not the smartest, you have to admire her ability to toughen up and continue on--despite the terrible things that have happened to her.