Since I’ve been in the process of revamping my rating system on the blog, I’ve not found the time to do very much reviewing. That being said, I had managed to get through this season of television albeit slowly. I’m talking about the second season of the Apple TV series, ’See’ starring Jason Momoa. The first season I felt was a visually stunning watch with some of the best fight choreography I’d seen in a show for a long time so I was excited to see what Apple had cooked up subsequently!
Season 2 of ‘See’ continues the story where we left off. Having been handed over to her uncle, Edo Voss, Haniwa finds herself imprisoned in the city of Trivantes, where her father was originally from. Edo is mad at his brother Baba Voss and in an act of revenge plans to have Haniwa bred to provide him with sighted children who can lead his army. Baba breaks into Trivantes and is initially captured by Edo and tortured. However, Haniwa connects with Edo’s lieutenant, Wren who is also sighted. Wren helps Haniwa and Baba escape but stays behind. Meanwhile, Princess Maghra Kane and Queen Sibeth Kane have fled to Pennsa, another city in their kingdom. Sibeth declares Pennsa the new capital of Payan and claims that the Trivantian army was responsible for destroying the previous capital. As an attempt to bring calm to Maghra, Sibeth sends out her witch-finders to bring back Maghra’s kids safely. Kofun who was separated from Baba is captured and bought back and Sibeth begins to formulate a plan on how to get herself pregnant with a sighted child. Eventually, Baba and Haniwa manage to make it to Pennsa and the family is finally reunited. However, over in Trivantes, Edo has been attempting to convince the ruling council there to wage war against the Payans and when they hear of the claims that Queen Kane is making, they decide to mobilise their troops. Maghra attempts to sit down at a peace treaty with the Trivantians but Sibeth is always a step ahead and she deliberately sabotages the talks. Now Edo and the rest of Trivantes have a reason for their war. Can Baba Voss and the measly Payan army stop Edo on his path to revenge? And just who will be calling the shots from both sides?
When I first watched this show I remember thinking that despite the saturation of these post-apocalyptic shows, ‘See’ provided us with something that we hadn’t seen before, excuse the pun. The story of these two sighted children who are raised by a tribe in the forest, who then have to flee in order to survive the Witch-finders sent by the Queen was pretty original. That being said, despite me being invested in most of the characters, I actually found this season a little boring. There was a lot of intrigues but largely the plot was slow and very rarely paid off to anything. This becomes an issue especially when you know that the series in itself is limited in seasons, so all of the small plot points now need to be tied up in the last season. That being said, I can’t ignore that the development of some of the characters was really good. Haniwa and Kofun especially had prominent storylines and it’ll be interesting to see the relationship between the two going forward. It was also interesting to see Baba and Edo’s relationship, however, I do have to say I was a little disappointed in the hype they gave their showdown and in the entire season, I’m not sure it was warranted given the outcome. I don’t know if that’s me being overcritical, but there we go!
Returning cast includes Nesta Cooper and Archie Madekwe as twins Haniwa and Kofun. Both had considerable growth in their characters and they put in decent performances. Again, returning were the Kane sisters, Maghra and Sibeth, played by Hera Hilmar and Sylvia Hoeks. It was interesting to see their dynamic develop, especially Maghra who steps up as a leader and diplomat, having spent the entire first season as only a mother and wife. I have to give it to Hoeks for her performance as Sibeth, who remains one of the more conniving and clever villains I’ve seen on TV. Think of her as a mix between Littlefinger and Cersei from Game of Thrones! The two main new characters were Lord Harlan played by Tom Mason and Edo Voss played by Dave Bautista. Mason’s performance as the charming Lord Harlan was good, but I felt like there’s still more to come. Dave Bautista has clearly proven himself to be capable of performances far more nuanced than many of his WWE counterparts, but I felt that his role as Edo, although layered, could have been explored more. The highlight acting performance was, of course, Baba Voss, played by the incomparable Jason Momoa. Momoa, like Bautista, has played many superficially tough guys but his role as Baba Voss I feel has the potential to be one of his best!
Although not as popular as some of the other streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, Apple clearly have a lot of money and they’re not frugal about spending it. The sets were bigger and better this time round especially the city of Trivantes. I think I’d certainly have preferred more of the season to be out in the wilderness as the first season was, but the story warranted the creation of cities so I won’t hold it against them. There was also a new theme tune which I thought was okay as well. Catchy but also similar to so many other fantasy/sci-fi shows that it didn’t particularly stand out for me. But then again, a theme tune is better than none.
Overall, for me, this Season felt like a step down from the first one, and it lost some of the magic that it had going for it. I don’t think it’s completely lost, but the last season certainly needs quite a story to redeem this show. But not bad from Apple. I will give them that!
Rating:
Story: ★★★
Acting: ★★★½
Filmography: ★★★★
Integral vs Filler Episodes: ★★★★
Enjoyability: ★★½