The Trial S02

Remaking The Good Wife was never a good idea. Having a poorly-made second season follow up what was at best an average Season 1 has been disastrous. The Trial, that marked Kajol’s web series debut, recently dropped its sophomore season — making for six episodes of unnecessary melodrama, surface-level courtroom action and a soap opera feel to what should have been a gripping, intense legal thriller. Streaming on JioHotstar, Season 2 takes place three months after the first season ended (which was in 2023). The Sengupta couple — Noyonika (Kajol) and Rajiv (Jisshu Sengupta) are caught in an increasingly fractured relationship. Noyonika is now a much sought-after lawyer while Rajiv is trying to clean his scandal-ridden image by joining politics (but, of course!). Noyonika’s colleague Vishal (Alyy Khan) still holds a candle for her, even as their law firm acquires a new partner (Param Munjal, played by Karanvir Sharma) who has his own rules of how to keep the system going, thus disrupting the balance of power. Malini (Sheeba Chaddha), the Khanna in Khanna & Chaubey, feels increasingly threatened enough to want to start her own firm, seeking Noyonika’s allyship.

Season 2 of The Trial: Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha is infinitely better than Season 1 of The Trial: Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha. (Last time I read it as ‘Dhokla’ because I had skipped dinner to review the show). The Hindi adaptation of The Good Wife — where a spirited homemaker (Kajol) starts working at a prestigious law firm after her husband (it’s always Jisshu Sengupta) is arrested for a sex scandal — is not screaming at us anymore. The background score is calmer, the film-making does not shove an exclamation mark in your face (it’s no longer Pyaar! Kanoon! Dhokla!), and the writing only condescends on Gen-Z influencers (one of them purrs “obvi-yoo” and “effing” to a judge) who speak like old people imitating young people and seek validation from followers because they are unloved at home. The real-world nods are naughty: someone mentions a powerful predator named “MJ Shah” in reference to a sexual harassment case; a Bengali lawyer delivers a monologue defending migrants and queer rights in defiance of a right-wing Maharashtrian politician; a rival is raided by the ED; a creep paraphrases a Mohabattein line to expose the abusive history of a colleague; a husband goes viral for quoting Will Smith (“keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth” of course) to a nosy podcaster on camera.

It has been two years since the inaugural season of The Trial released. It is a remake of American legal drama The Good Wife. Like the first season, The Trial season 2 is also something of a thriller with multiple twists and turns. Let’s probe into The Trial season 2 web series story and ending, which are explained here, the fate of Noyonika, the character played by Kajol, and more. Much of season 2 of this legal thriller revolves around the fallout from the season 1. As you know (and if you don’t perhaps watch the first season before reading this), Noyonika’s husband Rajiv (Jisshu Sengupta) was involved in what we call a ‘sex scandal’, which is Indiaspeak for having an affair and then being discovered by the general public. Noyonika had been out of the work force for quite some time and had to take a job with a law firm thanks to her old law school friend Vishal (Alyy Khan), who is also a partner.

This time around, there’s no sex scandal rocking the Senguptas who’ve settled down in Mumbai. In fact, there is only the past that keeps popping up like a bad penny. But there is the addition of Narayani (Sonali Kulkarni), a true-blue Maharashtrian lady politician. Throwing the outsider card at opponent Rajiv Sengupta (Jisshu Sengupta), shaming him for his gay brother-in-law’s part at a Gay Pride gathering and enjoying a concert while her raid squads create a half-hearted upheaval at the Sengupta residence, Narayani is the clear vamp of electoral rivalry. It’s good old dirty politics (nothing new out there) that overtakes shame and scandal in the family.