HOLLYWOOD—It was the summer series of 2017 that surprised me in more ways than I expected. I wasn’t certain how the second season of the TNT hit “Claws” would shape up, but this series has been a ton of fun, dare I even say season two is better than the first. The show follows a group of four headstrong, unique and layered women who are hoping to reach the big leagues in the nail salon industry.

The show revolves around Desna Simms (Niecy Nash), who has a successful nail salon in the Florida. All seems quaint, but the audience soon learns that Desna is in deep with the mafia and the drug organization as a money launderer. Yes, a bit of curveball that you don’t expect, but it’s what makes this series worth watching. While Desna might be the boss in charge, she has close allies in Polly (Carrie Preston), Quiet Ann (Judy Reyes), Virginia (Karrueche Tran) and Jennifer (Jenn Lyon).

Each of these women have encountered personal obstacles in the first season, and their characters have only evolved in season two. Desna saw a tiff with Jenn over her inability to realize just because you get out of one bad situation, doesn’t mean you jump right back into another. Polly is playing peacemaker between pals, while Quiet Ann has found her voice and is more vocal about making moves to do WHAT she wants, but while staying loyal to her friends.

I mean watching that episode where the audience got a slice of Ann’s previous life was a ton of fun. I mean we know Ann is a lesbian, but to learn both her father and brother are gay, as well as her mother left me in tears and in a good way America. At the end of the first season it appeared that Desna and the ladies managed to escape the clutches of Uncle Daddy (Dean Norris), Roller (Jack Kesy) and Bruce (Kevin Rankin), but later found themselves entrenched with the Russian mob.

It has been a thrill a minute to watch Franka Potente as Zlata Ostrovosky. This woman is vicious, fierce and does not suffer fools lightly. I mean she killed her sister in cold blood, took over her organization and has been running circles around Desna and the girls. I mean that club sequence where she unleashed gunfire on Uncle Daddy and the others seemed like a dream sequence, but it was very real. How so? Bruce was shot in the chest, and I was certain he was a goner, but he survived, but barely.

That definitely has caused some major bad blood between Jenn and her new ‘boss.’ However, it was seeing Desna come to the realization that Zlata has been sleeping with her fiancé Gregory (Jimmy Jean-Louis) to cause her to see red. She learned that Zlata and Gregory planned to steal her empire from underneath her nose. So how do you get back at those who betrayed you? You go along with the plan, without them even realizing that you are secretly planning their downfall.

As a viewer, I am so eager to see how this second season wraps. Will Desna and the girls get their revenge on Zlata, what about Polly. Will she discover that her secret lover was the one who wore a wire that led to Desna being arrested? What about Jenn, it looks like that affair she had has turned into a ‘fatal attraction’ like situation. Yeah, Jenn cheated on Bruce who has been livid with his wife ever since. The near death experience has drawn them closer together, but this hiccup could cause more aftershocks in the relationship than happily ever-after.

We all know the season is expected to culminate with Gregory and Desna’s wedding, and something tells me it’s going to a wedding that should not be missed because secrets and surprises are certain to come to light. “Claws” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on TNT.