The Tokyo Vice Season 2 Trailer Promises A New Crime Saga To Obsess Over
"Tokyo Vice" wasn't the buzziest show of 2022, but those who took the plunge into the Japanese underworld alongside Ansel Elgort's dangerously curious American journalist were treated to a thrilling, narratively complex crime drama that left us gasping with a killer cliffhanger.
Thankfully, the decision-makers at what we now call Max opted to give the executive producer Michael Mann's series a second season, and, judging from the just-released trailer, the stakes are getting raised sky-high for Elgort's Jake Adelstein, Ken Watanabe's organized crime detective Hiroto Katagiri, and, oh hell yeah, Show Kasamatsu's yakuza muscle Sato.
That's right. Sato survived that seemingly fatal stabbing from Gen (Nobushige Suematsu). An internal mob war seems all but likely, and that's not taking into account the yakuza's ongoing conflict with Tokyo law enforcement. Everyone's life is in jeopardy, including Jake's. Let's take a look at what series creator and showrunner J.T. Rogers has in store.
We are not criminals. We are the future.
It appears Jake is going to tackle a bombshell story that, per the advice of his superior Emi (the always great Rinko Kikuchi), he needs to keep strictly confidential. "Tell no one." As we learned in the first season, all of these institutions are riddled with corruption, so I expect Jake to be dodging some lethal elements from the jump (it looks like he at least takes a serious beating at some point this season).
My only complaint with "Tokyo Vice" season 1 was that my interest occasionally dimmed when Rogers and his writers brought the focus back to Jake (many other critics felt this way as well). The yakuza drama is, thus far, where it's at, so I won't be disappointed if they diminish our American surrogate's role in the narrative — or, hey, maybe they figured out a way to make the character a little less dull.
As far as I'm concerned, the hook for this season is Sato's recovery, and whether he's able to seize some kind of power within the organization from his hospital bed. He represents a new breed of gangster, one who seemed poised to thrive before his unexpected near-murder. It certainly promises to be one doozy of a struggle.
Season 2 is set to hit Max on February 8, 2024, with the premiere of two new episodes. The season will run for eight weeks after that. As we know, televised/streaming crime sagas can run a very long time if they draw enough eyeballs, so tell your friends and family to catch up with the first season ASAP so they're ready for this run. If Rogers delivers the goods, this could be a must-watch show for years to come.