After the outstanding original adaption of 'Tales...', we get Armistead Maupin's second installment of the cleverly interwoven stories of several colourful San Francisco residents in the 70's. The main hunk of the story focusses on a bunch of tenents living in several flats in a place called, 28 Barbary Lane. Everyone who crosses the paths of these tenents are somehow mysteriously linked to one another, leaving little threads or clues to the mysteries surrounding them. It's these threads that once woven together create this rich tapestry that is 'More Tales...'
Once again, we witness the wonderful Olympia Dukakis play the equally wonderful and intriguing landlady, Mrs Anna Madrigal.
Lauraa Linney also resumes her role as the warm and innocent, Mary Ann Singleton, continuing her search for love.
This series also sees the arrival of several of the main characters being recast. Such favourites as, Mona Ramsey had been recast from Cloe Webb to the slightly more youthful, Nina Siemaszko. At first this is somewhat disappointing and baffling, to say the least, but as the series progresses it becomes less of an issue.
The character of Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver on the other hand is a different story. Paul Hopkins replaces Marcus D'Amico in this role, and subsequently overplays it, which can at times be irritating.
This series also saw the arrival of the hilariously foul-mouthed Mother Mucca, an elderly lady who runs a brothel in the desert. She will have you in fits of laughter, especially in eppisode one, with her moral ramblings about Mona's flirtation with Angel Dust (PCP).
In conclusion-if you loved the first installment, it may be a little hard to swallow at first (with the various recastings etc), but the warmth of the characters still shines through.
It's a story of love, understanding, forgiveness, betrayal, and above all, hope. And as the story unfolds, you'll wish that you too knew people like these. You'll wish that you lived at, 28 Barbary Lane, and had a beautiful landlady such as, Mrs Madrigal who'll leave you little 'presents' taped to your front door.
