A review of the harsh but worthwhile second chapter of America Undercover's "Newark trilogy," and an art-crime round-up.

The crime
The offenses here don't differ much from those in the first installment of this America Undercover trilogy – which I reviewed as a bonus for paid subscribers over the summer.

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…hello again. So, I'll just quote myself from that previous review:

The crime/s in the title include drug possession, theft, and administrative law-breaking like bail-jumping, resisting arrest, and so on.

Viewers also see intimate-partner violence, and borderline endangerment of children and pets. For that and the preparation of intravenous drugs, I'll drop a content warning here.

And a spoiler warning just in case.

The story
Life Of Crime 2 is wearying – not from a construction standpoint, although the fact that the runtime comes in at twice the original's is part of it. The cumulative effect of two hours of footage of the film's three subjects (not the same personnel as last time; the short-fused Mike's spot is now occupied by Deliris, a once and future romantic partner of both Rob and Freddie from the first LOC) struggling with increasing haplessness against narcotics is exhausting…

…because substance-misuse disorder is exhausting. Trying to live right after incarceration when the carceral system's idea of support is "watching you pee" is exhausting. Believing that you deserve better when the world doesn't give you any indication that that's the truth is exhausting.