So...I finally got around to watching season 2 and I went in with some low expectations, but I found myself enjoying it a lot more than season 1 at least after I got passed part of the beginning that was a little rough. This is not me saying that I think the show is good now, but this season was a lot better so I just wanted to say what I liked and didn't really like about it here. I'll do the stuff that I like first and then go to some of the stuff I didn't really care about afterward.
First off, I would like to talk about the music. I like, I think, pretty much the same amount of songs from season 2 as season 1, but there are fewer songs I don't like as a whole and more that I think are just alright. I also do like the feeling of some songs having equivalents and even prefer some from season 2 but I might get to that in the part of stuff I don't like. Regardless, many good songs and that is a good thing.
Another thing I loved was how much more cohesive the plot felt this season compared to season 1. Season 1 felt more like a few episodes that were loosely connected until the last few where it remembered that the plot was introduced in the first episode to refocus on. Vox being a major antagonist, after being introduced in season 1 and nothing really happening with him, antagonizing Charlie and trying everything to make the hotel look bad and spur Hell to war against Heaven while slowly losing himself to the scope of his own hubris was nice to watch. There are some episodes that need previous ones to make sense since they build off the previous versus season 1 where most of the middle episodes feel like they could be rearranged in any order and not much would really be lost. Season 2 had a better plot as well as it's more inter-Hell issues than jumping back into Heaven v Hell.
Vox was a much better villain than Adam. While I don't mind villains who are villains just because the story needs it, I still feel like Adam fell flat in comparison to Vox. Adam was just a frat boy douche who was doing a job that he took a lot of enjoyment out of, maybe too much, but he wasn't really that compelling as I still think it might've been better if it was more as his atonement for the original sin. Vox, on the other hand, is a more compelling villain to me. I didn't really care about the sympathetic scene where it shows why he hates Alastor for being a dick to him (who is he not a dick to) but then being shown that Vox was basically a cult leader in life before he died builds on that petty hatred because he was used to being adored and worshipped. Also, Vox proved Sera right as he whipped a not insignificant portion of power sinners and demons in Hell to rise against Heaven in an uprising which is the reason we were given for the exterminations.
I also liked how they tied Vox in a little back to Stayed Gone (great song) when Alastor questions if Vox is counting his allies and minions in his power. Seeing his backstory shows that he has ambition and is talented and can go after what he wants, but that he almost requires the validation and praise of others. Alastor spends the entire season reminding him of all the help he gets for his master plan, using others to get ahead like Carmilla to build his super weapon, Val to get at Angel Dust, Angel Dust to spy on the Hotel and even Charlie to tarnish her own reputation. Also, Vox not caring when he's told that the weapon is overcharged and would just explode and wipe out Pentagram City just so that he can kill Alastor once and for all, even though he would also die, was a good showing of the insanity Vox fell into during his power trip of leading a rebellion against Heave, which he also antagonized Charlie with by saying it's what her mother wanted. Vox was a great villain and would've been better introduced this season than in the first where nothing was shown except for his hypnotic power. Though, I will say...Adam had the better villain song than Vox does, but that's just my opinion.
The last thing I want to talk about is kind of a middle ground where I talk about the finale. I'm a sucker for spectacle and animation is the perfect medium for spectacle since you have a lot less rules to apply versus in real life. The final fights of season 2 I think are better and the scenes leading up to the finale, I think, were more enjoyable than season 1. I prefer 'Finale' over 'Hear My Hope', but that's not really too major since the sequence is pretty great. I do feel like, rather than smiling when Val and Velvette joined in to keep the reactor contained before it exploded, Charlie should've given them an appreciative and understanding nod that this was nothing more than they didn't want to die. I wish we could've learned what Rosie made Alastor do for their deal, but I doubt it'll be brought up in later seasons unless we get more Alastor backstory. I'm also like the narrative idea that Angel Dust, once coming down from his hypnotism by Vox, feels awful about the fact that a lot of what Vox achieved was made possible by him learning things he shouldn't have and feeling like he has to leave to protect them. They could've had a scene of letting him go back with Charlie as more her respecting Angel's boundaries rather than it seeming like she doesn't really care or want to chase after him.
Speaking of Charlie, she is one of the worst parts of this season. Charlie is billed as a naive but well-meaning and sheltered princess, but this season just made her incredibly stupid. Everyone, literally EVERYONE, was telling her to let Vox just talk and not give him more ammunition, and she just ignored them all and just did whatever she wanted because she just can't be wrong in this series. Her reaction to Vaggie and Lucifer trying to help to scare Vox back into line a little was unwarranted even if she had the right to be upset, she pushed away her girlfriend and her own father who is trying his damnedest to be there for her. She also ignored Angel's boundaries after inviting the friends of his abuser to the hotel without telling him, and her treatment of Vaggie is awful. Vaggie is doing her best to run the hotel, pretty much on her own, and Charlie blatantly disrespects the work of her girlfriend and makes people agree that Vaggie deserves better. And yes, I know that she is the daughter of the embodiment of Pride, but it feels more like she's just flat stupid rather than prideful that she can do this.
Pilot Charlie only went against Vaggie's advice during her interview on the news once she saw that things weren't going well, so she defaulted on what she knew. Pilot Charlie also got into a fist fight on live television (one of my favorite scenes, honestly) and understood the terror of Alastor showing up at the door, interrupting his hello to open the door to make sure that's what she saw. She had moments of knowing that making a deal with Alastor was dangerous, but also politely using her authority to get him to help even when he actively said that he didn't believe in her cause and just wanted to watch people fail. Yes, she was naive, but she wasn't completely stupid like she feels in season 2. The one thing I did like was that Charlie still holds onto her belief that anyone should be given a chance when Vox asks if she thinks even he can be redeemed. That show of her actually believing in her cause, if a little misguided, is something to admire.
Continuing the train of different characterizations, this season continues to make me miss pilot Alastor. In the pilot, Alastor took control of the situation and was obnoxiously polite even whenever he was insulting people. Even though we only got to see it once when he asked Angel what he did, Alastor spends so much time in the show showing that he's visibly annoyed and upset with people when in the pilot we just got a brief sound of microphone feedback before he picked himself up. Also, as I saw someone say and went back for myself, Alastor no longer smiles with his entire face...it's almost like he just smiles because he did it in the pilot and not because he uses it to disarm and deflect from the fact that he is supposed to be a terrifying, murderous overlord of Hell. He lets his cool demeanor fail and doesn't bother to even try to hide what he's actually feeling behind that smile. It made him a little more believable as a supposed manipulator that he just wore a smile even while he was insulting someone to the point where it might not have felt like an insult.
Another thing that is wasted is that absolutely no one seems to care that the Radio Demon is back after disappearing. Alastor is supposed to be a terrifying, almost mythological figure in Hell for his horrific radio broadcasts of the screams of overlords and other demons he murdered for their power to take for himself. It would've been a nice touch in Stayed Gone (one of my favorite songs) to have the end show people cowering as Alastor's voice carried over the airwaves once again after seven years and for him to distort his voice more like the edit Timber did on Youtube. And on that note, when Alastor tries to be creepy, no one seems to actually be any amount of scared, and some even appear annoyed. Give that Vaggie threatened him in the pilot and then goes to immediate fear after Alastor explains that if he wanted to hurt anyone, it would've already been done so compared to when he explained how he affects video cameras and her looked more annoyed at him is quite telling that Alastor's not really that terrifying anymore. Even the final fight with Adam, we only get two 'demonic' forms of Alastor but they're more for emphasis as to what he's saying than how he plans to fight. And he spends most of season 2 feeling really out of character when he's talking to Vox. I did enjoy learning his backstory through the show, something I complained about earlier, but I feel like the bit with Rosie was a little rushed and I doubt we'll get to know what Rosie wanted him to do, but I like the idea of her showing him how to be powerful and him not actually doing much with it and blaming her.
Next up is the depiction of Heaven. While I do like the shenanigans of Pentious in Heaven and some of the events like Sera's crisis of faith, I feel like it's such a childish version of Heaven. The first thing Emily offers to Pentious is sugar and for several parts of Like You (another song I do like) it just seems like a child's view of Heaven. I don't know about the rest of you, but eternal Christmas at a mall sounds like absolute Hell to me given that the Christmas season comes earlier and earlier every year with it starting to September where I'm from last year. But, I must admit that I did enjoy Pentious trying to offer what he learned from Charlie to try and help begin diplomacy between Heaven and Hell. Only real difference between Heaven and Hell in the show is really just the fact that Hell is a city ruled by gangs and warlords whereas Heaven is just a nice city to live in.
Regardless, on the whole, I still think that season 2 is better than season one in a lot of places and a lot of what I didn't really like were really building up from stuff I didn't care much for from season 1. At least the writers seemed to give a bit more nuance to those in charge of Heaven and didn't seem to be saying that all sinners were innocent when Alastor, Vox, Valentino and so many others are obviously not. I am honestly now looking forward to season 3 a bit, but I am keeping my expectations tempered as to how they're going to treat Lilith given Vivzie's track record with female characters, and what they're going to try to do also with Vox and Valentino. Anyway, thanks for reading. If I have more to say, I'll just do another part two like last time
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