Not quite the thrills or chills
Jefferson World High School witnessed some turbulent incidents during season 1 of REJCTX and it ended with Aarav (Masi Wali) shooting his father, Prithviraj Sharma (Kahlid Siddique) in front of Anushka (Kubbra Sait) and Hussain (Sumeet Vyas).
The new season kicks off with a fresh murder mystery where everyone is a suspect and a vicious police officer is breathing down the students’ neck. Nothing is as it seems and dark secrets are waiting to be revealed.
Story
Police officer Rene (Esha Gupta) enters Jefferson School to investigate the death of Anushka Rao and stumbles upon many startling facts during the course of her investigation.
Aarav and Kiara (Anisha Victor) are head over heels for each other and Maddy (Ayush Khurana) gets hooked onto Sehmat (Saadhika Sayal). Meanwhile, two new important characters enter the story in the form of Jackie, the janitor, and Yesha (Tanvi Shinde).
The REJCTX members start receiving threats from a stranger who anonymously calls himself ‘X’ and takes advantage of their vulnerable situations. Aarav, Kiara, Misha, Harry, Maddy, and Sehmat all become his victims as he starts dictating their every move.
Rene is hell-bent on punishing Anushka’s killers and every one is her suspect. The REJCTX try their best to fend off the mysterious X and the revelations that follow have the potential to be everyone’s downfall.
Performances
Masi Wali as Aarav in another surprising and not to be taken lightly role has done a tremendous job in this season too as he gets more screen time than his peers.
On the contrary, Gupta’s role should have been a shade better instead of relegating her to play second fiddle.
Ridhi Khakhar as Parnomitra, Pooja Shetty as Misha and Saadhika Syal as Sehmat too have very less to do in this season. They do not contribute to the story in any way except to render an extension to what they did in first season.
Sumeet Vyas is presented in a totally different shade. Even though he gets a less meaty role, he has done well to play a character that becomes crucial in unraveling the secrets behind X.
Anisha Victor is more glamorous this time around and Yesha, the new entrant played by Tanvi Shinde, is passable.
Positives
A fair screenplay by Aarsh Vora, Nandini Gupta, and a decent narrative by Goldie Behl are the main takeaways from this season of REJCTX.
The production design with eye-catching structures of Jefferson School makes a great impact on the visuals. The series boasts of a few decent cinematic shots and visual effects.
The music is quite engaging and the background score converts RECTX 2 into a racy entertainer. The climax song ‘Dynamite’ is top-notch. Kudos to Ashutosh Phatak and Ankur Tewari for their magnificent effort.
REJCTX 2 is not just another series with rich kids indulging in romantic tangles and inviting all the trouble that usually follows. There are issues like bullying, drug abuse, and unethical use of social media underlining the irreparable harm that is done to innocent lives.
Negatives
The biggest problem with REJCTX 2 is that it is sometimes predictable, has moments where it falls flat and is just plain unentertaining.
The series, unfortunately, has a lot of unnecessary skin show which is nothing but distracting. It also majorly objectifies many of its female characters which in no way helps.
The pupils studying in this well-reputed school never show any inclination to go to class and actually study. Other than indulging in many extracurricular and out of syllabus activities, they have no concern about the real reason they’re there.
Some cinematic scenes are a bit of exaggeration. The boxing sequence and the murder of a chief character could have been presented in a different way to avoid that cinematic glare.
Worth it?
REJCTX 2 can be watched if thrillers are your thing. It can definitely turn into an engaging experience if some negative aspects are brushed under the carpet.
