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Alice Turner (Brittany Martz) is back in the second season of Malice. With her are her sister, Abbey (now played by Nora Palka), mother Jesse (Leanna Chamish), step-dad Jed (Matt Gulbranson), and her deceased father who won’t go away, Nate (Mark Hyde).
Malice seems to be a bit of a breakout hit—though not a large one. Still, it got a second season of twelve episodes, while most web series die after the first half of the first season.
Alice Turner is your atypical high school student, though she’s no longer the new kid in class. She’s on medication for some psychological problem—which has to do with the death of her father (which we saw in the first season) or the fact that he won’t go away or the illusions that she sees, which are trying to tell her something. Maybe it’s just that she gets into a fight after admitting that she’s not even a hundred pounds and beats a guy twice her size in roughly two seconds. But, this time, even she is out of her depth, and she needs help from her boyfriend and sister.
The new season has more assurance than the original. The relationship between Alice and her older sister, Abbey, is much more comfortable. When Abbey gets back from college, they insult each other until, ritual done, they hug. For a side character, Abbey is engaging and is no longer a cliché of the sibling who’s struggling to be accepted. She has her place, and that strength shows through.
The season travels between worlds—or points of view—and it does so cleverly, adding one layer to another. Alice has to solve a mystery, and as she discovers clues, she has to travel those worlds despite the danger to herself.
In the process, she bounces between home, school, and her therapist. But as the season progresses, we watch as she tells us about dreams (or visions), has dreams (same note), or has a common dream with her sister. But it’s when dreams become mutual and they meet reality that disaster happens. There’s a guy with armor in there, and for some reason he has it in for Alice.
There are a couple of niggles here. The main bad guy seems two-dimensional. There’s some inconsistency among some side characters, which are necessary for the plot but still a little jarring. And some of the special effects seem a bit weak. But the acting is good, the film is shot well, and the whole thing is well worth the time to see.
