‘Snabba Cash’ Season 2: Review – Lacklustre Fare That Doesn’t Hit The Mark

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A “thriller,” by definition, should compulsorily have its finger on the audience’s pulse. The moment it fails to do so, it ceases to be a thriller and is just another story in the already existing sea of many. The first season of “Snabba Cash” was about Leya, Tim, and Salim trying to make some quick money and then dealing with its consequences. “Snabba Cash” Season 2 doesn’t change much in that regard. It is still about trying to make a quick buck and landing up in situations that are impossible to get out of. This is especially true regarding Leya’s character. In the first season, she constantly found herself between a rock and a hard place. Any attempt to deal with that just means digging a deeper hole for herself. But she still had us rooting for her.

There is something extremely inspiring about a single mother who is unstoppable in her ambition. She was also shown as unscrupulous, as someone who knew how to make the best out of the options available to her. However, the problem arises when there is absolutely no change in her circumstances throughout the seasons. At the beginning of “Snabba Cash” Season 2, her hair is lighter, her clothes more branded, and her gym is not just her working out from home. But her financial mistakes don’t get better. After everything she went through, we find it hard to believe that she was not more careful regarding TargetCoach—her entire life’s work. And how has she never heard of a bank? Knowing the consequences of dabbling in that world and having come dangerously close to facing them, what stops her from looking for better alternatives for money? Maybe there is something we are missing here, but we would blame that on the show for complicating its narrative. This brings us to how it does exactly that. For most shows and movies based on the mafia or drug syndicates, their scope of being gritty and hard-hitting is related to how well the details have been conveyed to the audience. Take “The Godfather,” for example. The viewer knew at every point the depth of the politics of the situation and the accompanying danger. That’s why the audience is so invested. It is imperative that the audience understand the exact dynamics between the characters. Otherwise, it becomes impossible to care about what’s happening in the story. Leya was someone we were all rooting for in the first season, but by the second, we were just exhausted. And we don’t understand why Ravy has no money. Yes, he has suffered some losses, but does he really have nothing saved away after spending so many years in the business?

The greatest drawback of the show is how it doesn’t let the audience like the characters at all. Seriously, what do we know about them except the reasons they need the money? There is no humor, no relatability, and, most of all, no grit. And the whole subplot of kids taking part in the drug business has no context. At least we understood Tim’s arc in the first season, though we felt that there could have been a deeper discussion about it. But the number of kids who were interested in the drug business in the second season was just astounding to us. We genuinely want to know why the kids wanted to be a part of it. Is there a socio-economic angle here that would explain it? That would have made that plotline infinitely better. Currently, it just feels like the children have been used for props.

The thing with any storyline is that there must be progress. But what has happened with “Snabba Cash” is that the characters are just finding themselves in similar situations throughout the seasons. Where is the character development? Take ‘Nala,’ for example. It would be an understatement to say that her character is just plain annoying. But we can tell that it is the writer’s limited imagination at play here. She is the only woman in a gang full of men, and understandably, she has to act a little tough to be taken seriously. But that seems to be the only thing she is doing. Where does she want to prove herself? And when does she actually feel secure with herself? Could her character really not have been better written?

Another thing that hasn’t made much sense in the story is the angle of Leya being a single mother. Other than to establish a relationship with Ravy, what was the point of her having a child? We don’t see this adding much to the story other than making us root for her initially, but even that emotion loses steam pretty fast. But the most annoying parts of the series are not the rather boring characters or the slow-moving narrative. In fact, it is an inconsistent screenplay. Sometimes it is orthodox, and sometimes it moves as if the character is holding the camera in their hand while walking. The problem is the shaky camera work has no relevance to those particular scenes in which it is used, which ends up making it annoying.

To sum it up, it is hard to like this series, and that makes us sad because we really expected better. “Snabba Cash” had a lot of promise. It is capable of being far better than what it currently is. But it just failed to, as we said before, get its finger on the pulse of the audience and ended up as just another lackluster piece of the plethora of mediocre content present online. But hey, maybe the next venture in the genre will hit the mark. We will keep our hopeful eyes open for that.


See More: ‘Snabba Cash’ Season 2: Ending, Explained – Does Leya Kill Zaki?


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Divya Malladi
Divya Malladi
Divya spends way more time on Netflix and regrets most of what she watches. Hence she has too many opinions that she tries to put to productive spin through her writings. Her New Year resolution is to know that her opinions are validated.

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