With a successful first season, FX decided to air another round of madness on their network. But little did they know, they would make produce, in my opinion, the most stunning season of tv, ever. This review contains spoilers for season 2, so if you haven’t seen this show yet, you are making a terrible mistake, go watch it.
Summary
Season 2 picks up a year after the events of last season. David was abducted by an orb and was carried away, he now has no memory of the past year, in that time Melanie and her group has joined forces with division 3 against the shadow king. Later David remembers being inside the orb, and a message from a future version of Sydney, telling him to help the shadow king because he is the only one who can stop the world from ending. But later Farouk kills his sister, and David goes back to trying to stop him.
Farouk goes to meet future Sydney and learns that David is the one that destroys the world. Farouk gets his body back and Sydney learns the truth about David ending the world. The Season ends with everyone turning on David, and he takes Lenny busker with him, who is now living in his sister’s body.
Characters
Dan Stevens returns as David Haller, and he doesn’t disappoint. The character of David isn’t that different from last season, except he’s much more in control. He’s flexing his powers every episode, and it gets crazy at times.
Sydney Barret is much different this season, as she hasn’t been with David for a full year. She’s in charge of the relationship, not him, we get more of her backstory, and her character is much more fleshed out.
The Best Villain Ever
Navid Negahban joins the cast as Amal Farouk, the shadow king. We never got to see the true shadow king last season, just a bunch of faces he put on, but this season we finally meet his true form. I say he’s the best villain because he really is. His introductory scene in episode 2 is my favorite moment in all of tv and movies. From the moment he comes on screen, he has a presence that doesn’t go away, he feels ancient. Every episode, David tries to show him that he can take him on, but Farouk just shuts him down every time. He always commands your attention, and respect, as he is always the smartest, and most powerful in the room.
Writing
A lot of people don’t like this season as much as the last. But I think that comes down to how hard it is to understand, the last season had a lot of subtext, and this one goes even deeper. The last season was an insane man in a sane world, but this season completely flips that, its a sane man in an insane world. There are little details hidden in each episode, for example, Farouk speaks 4 different languages, English, Farsi, French, and German. Each language has a different purpose, English is him talking in the present moment, Farsi is him being philosophic, French is him being mischievous, and German is the warrior inside of him.
This season is much harder to understand if you don’t look for the nuances, keep a close eye open for every little detail. This is definitely a season you need to watch twice, the first to see what happens, the second to understand what’s going on. There is a lot of creativity in the scenes, instead of a fight scene, or just dialog, they’ll do a dance instead, because dance can be a form of communication or competition.
Presentation
This season is even more beautiful than the last, with vibrant colors, and inventive sets that challenge what is real. This is the first time in tv or movies that I’ve seen a psychic battle done well, instead of it just being a normal fight, their constantly shape-shifting, one moment their wrestlers, the next their samurai, the next one is a tank shooting at the other, in the form of a tornado.
There are also hidden details visually, in the second episode they talk about how if someone was raised differently, they would think red is green, and green is red, so for them, red is go, and green stops. In every scene after that episode, David is always wearing green, in reference to him being the one who destroys the world. Every frame is good enough to be its own desktop wallpaper, and the music is even better than last season, Jeff Russo seriously upped his game this season.
Conclusion
This is my favorite season of tv ever, I don’t think anything can top it. I highly recommend everyone goes out and watches this show, it is the best thing on tv right now. Nothing in the superhero genre even comes close to replicating its style.
