Logline: In the second season of Truth Be Told, investigative reporter turned true-crime podcaster Poppy Parnell is enlisted by her childhood friend and famous writer Micah Keith (Kate Hudson) to probe the murder of her husband, who is found in a blood pool in the arms of another man.

Comment: It’s a Murder on the Orient Express-like situation where everyone’s the suspect but Poppy (Octavia Spencer) wants to cast the net wide but the pool is shallow.

Logline is usually a one-line description of a film to hook the viewer but success depends on how closely the final plot matches the logline, which is the case in the second season of Truth Be Told (streaming on Apple TV+).

Poppy comes across in the new season as a popular name in her city, given the fact that she wrote a series of articles, leading to the arrest of a high-profile murder suspect named Warren Cave (Aaron Paul) but she also mirrors the changing-face of journalism. Once she turned podcaster, she’s constantly in a state of dilemma about where to draw the line when it comes to putting out information to listeners, especially because she’s her own boss and is no longer confined by the hierarchy factor at play in offices.

A whodunnit can have a witty script and a taut sense of atmosphere or one that trades vim and vigour for amateur theatrics. The second season appears to walk a middle line and ends up making a few trade-offs.

Some of the ingredients of a whodunnit are here, like inbuilt conflict. In the first few episodes Poppy appears divided as to whether she should protect her friend Micah or be an unbiased investigator who wields the power and listenership of her podcast. Kate Hudson’s Micah is full of chutzpah, trying to get on in life even after her husband is found dead under unceremonious circumstances. No matter how difficult the going gets, Micah fulfils all the obligations at her company, Shelter, and does her TEDx-style talks well.

If it is about ratcheting up tension, the second season does that well. Poppy begins on a pro-Micah mode but as soon as her long-time friend and former detective Markus Killebrew (played by Mekhi Phifer) turns up, the ship gets steady. The real winner is David Lyons’s character Inspector Aames, who investigates the death. At first, he makes the murder an open-and-shut case but when he is forced to re-examine the evidence, Lyons does a brilliant job as a cold-hearted, evidence-seeking inspector.

Where things get complicated is how the middle of the story is tackled. The “other” characters are not drawn well enough. Delving into the past of Poppy as well as Micah is integral element of the new season but that’s kept as shallow as soup on a saucer. For example, the role of Ron Cephas Jones as Poppy’s father and Haneefah Wood as the podcaster’s sister are bit of a drag. And Michael Beach as Poppy’s husband appears staid (at least in the first few episodes).

The winning feature of the second season lies in how journalism — in general — is in a clicks-over-clarity phase, trying to push out facts, even if these are unverified; of how podcasts can have a far-reaching effect; of how the show highlights an issue like CTE or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which Poppy’s dad suffers from; and, of how it highlights the existence of radical groups. Adding to the list of positives is a memorable soundtrack by John Paesano and a selection of tracks covering quite a range (explore it on Apple Music; it’s certainly worth the effort).

If Poppy appears to be a troubled true-crime podcaster who is being sucked into half-truths and untruths, Micah rocks a suspicious vibe that a whodunnit requires. If season one moved at glacial speed, the latest one is more like a controlled wildfire. The creator of the series — Nichelle Tramble Spellman — wants Octavia Spencer and Kate Hudson to be the shining elements of season , which they are but that robs others of enough breathing space. And that’s where the stumbling block lies. Like in a good whodunnit, there are enough unpredictable twists in season two of Truth Be Told but the trusty investigator gets too emotional.

Season two of Truth Be Told is streaming on Apple TV+