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Castlevania (Season 2) Review
Loading...Author’s Note: This is a spoiler-free review based on screeners for all eight episodes of Castlevania Season 2 that were provided by Netflix.
The first season of Castlevania was an eye-opening experience. Based on Konami’s celebrated, long-running video game franchise of the same name, it was a new animated series that was dark, grim, violent and took its subject matter very seriously. It’s not something fans are used to when seeing motion picture adaptations of their favorite interactive gaming properties.
While the first season of Castlevania was incredibly short, the series had a very refreshing approach in embracing the gothic and horror elements of the franchise. Not to mention, it was uncompromising in presenting its very dark subject matter. Thanks to the Netflix series, format the writers and producers could provide a dark story that satisfied both fans and TV viewers alike.
Season 2 picks up shortly after the end the first season. After defending the city of Gresit from Dracula’s horde, wayward monster hunter Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) and Speaker mage Sypha Belnades (Alejandra Reynoso) have formed an alliance with half-human, half-vampire Alucard (James Callis), who is also the son of Dracula (Graham McTavish). Now, they have to figure out their next move to put a stop to Dracula in his quest to take revenge on humanity for the murder of his wife by the Archbishop (Matt Fewer).
Meanwhile, Dracula has assembled his forces at his mobile castle, led by his Forgemasters Hector (Theo James) and Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), who also happen to be human. However, not all of the vampire generals in Dracula’s army are completely in line with his plan for war with the human race, since humans are of course their main source of sustenance.
So far, the pacing for the first half of the season is unfortunately very clunky. The heroes spend most of the first half of the season not really doing anything. They are basically futzing around a library, while Trevor and Alucard make snarky comments toward each other. Seeing the heroes of the story taking such a passive role and just sitting around a library is rather disappointing.
In a longer season with 10-13 episodes, this might’ve been more acceptable. But with only eight episodes, there’s a feeling of wanting someone to kick the trio in the rear and get them to storm a castle and kill some monsters.
In the first season, at only four episodes, it seemed that quite a bit was packed into just four episodes, but then it was over and done with rather quickly. Here, it seems like the pacing, at least until about midway grinds to a halt.
Most of the time spent in Dracula’s castle focuses on his minions scheming against Dracula or each other. Sure, learning more about his generals and war party and their backstories is interesting. Dracula has a very interesting relationship with Isaac, who he considers his one true friend. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of pacing.
Additionally, a lot of screen time is given to a new character in Dracula’s war party, a viking vampire general named Godbrand (Peter Stormare). Godbrand is an entertaining character, but he actually serves little purpose to the overall narrative. So, all the screen time focused on building and developing this character is wasted.
Isaac and Hector, while they are interesting characters, don’t get a lot to do in the grand scheme of things. Writer Warren Ellis could be setting up a future season, but as a result, this makes Season 2 feel more like table setting and seeding in elements that will be more important later on down the line
Fortunately, those are the biggest problems of Season 2. Dracula is treated as a profound, dramatic and tragic antihero here rather than a malevolent one-note villain. Dracula is far from an amoral character in this series. He’s arguably the most moral character in this universe, but he’s still an extremist who holds all of humanity responsible for his wife’s death and seeks its eradication as result. He’s a tortured soul in mourning who lashes out as a result of his suffering.
In many ways, Dracula is very much the true main character of this series. There is one really profound and dramatic moment in the second half involving Dracula that was truly heartbreaking. Dramatic films with live actors don’t always handle such moments so well.
After a clunky first half, the action does pick up about midway when the fighting finally starts. Trevor Belmont acquires a cool new weapon with the Morning Star whip. Also, there are forces within Dracula’s camp that don’t necessarily want him to succeed. Despite the abundance of snark when it comes to the dynamic between Trevor, Sypha and Alucard, the payoff with Trevor showing the true skills of the Belmont line provide some wicked fight scenes.
Castlevania using traditional, hand-drawn animation is commendable. The show has some beautiful backgrounds and exteriors that look hand-painted at times. The animation team also puts together some incredible action sequences that showcase some impressive dynamic movement you generally don’t see adapted to animated form. The action in the show’s later half definitely makes the slower parts earlier worth watching. Between the creatures in Dracula’s Night Horde, Dracula’s castle and the action, there is some nice animated visual eye candy this season.
With the success of Castlevania, one hopes this could show the relevance in providing more stories through this visual medium, specifically telling darker, serious and more mature stories through an animated episodic format. It’s been done before, but Castlevania shows it can still be done well and is possibly even preferable to a live-action cinematic format.
