'Castlevania' Season 2 Is a Masterpiece

Usually, I don’t write reviews for individual seasons of a TV series.  I only review a TV series twice at the very most – one once the debut season is over, and another after the show wraps up with its final season.  However, I just have to make an exception for Castlevania season two, since it’s probably the best thing I’ve seen on TV in 2018.  In my opinion, it’s a freakin’ masterpiece.

The only thing worth complaining about Castlevania season one was the fact that it only had four episodes.  Season two, on the other hand, has double the amount of episodes.  However, that doesn’t mean it has twice the same kind of stuff from season one.  For those expecting it to be so, season two might come off as a disappointment.

Season two has the same kind of gritty battles and gory violence that made Castlevania turn heads last year.  But they are sprinkled rather than packed into the season.  This time around, the approach is to slow things down.  In other words, season two sacrifices fast pacing and more opportunities for bloody decapitations in exchange for a measured, character-driven narrative.  It takes its time so that it can establish depth by fleshing out the characters of both sides of the conflict.

The trio of heroes – the monster hunter Trevor Belmont, the magician Sypha Belnades, and the dhampir Alucard – are slowly built up into a true party-with-personality that is worth caring for.  As they work out a plan to beat Dracula, Trevor and Alucard constantly trade acid jabs while Sypha does her best to serve as the glue that holds the group together – and their interactions are a delight to watch.

Meanwhile, the more substantial part of the story actually centers on the villains, who are undergoing some Game of Thrones-style court dynamics.  A tired Dracula becomes passive in conducting war plans, and assigns his squabbling generals to take care of the details – generating a climate for a conspiracy to brew.  Dracula’s war council is appealingly made up of various vampires from across the globe, but the only ones that matter in the political machinations that occur in the story – as well as the only ones that actually have speaking roles – are the conniving Carmilla, the Viking Godbrand, and the human Forgemasters Hector and Isaac.

As a “side effect” of sorts from the season’s chosen storytelling procedure, the episodes can feel padded, as a case can be made that a couple of dialogue-heavy scenes could have been cut down.  But for me, I won’t have it any other way.  For I think that the tedious build up does pay off gloriously.

Episode 7 is where the season explodes into its kinetic, visceral climax.  And it’s so exhilarating, truly, because it’s hyped by the slow-burn progress toward it.  It’s such a fist-pumping, badass moment when the heroes – whose chemistry, at this point, is already well-developed to its peak – finally go on the offensive, and really start kicking butt.  And when, in turn, their butts start getting handed to them by Dracula, it’s also equally gratifying.  Indeed, the action sequences in this episode are mindblowingly epic.

Everything then leads to the affecting culmination of the shared tragic arc of Dracula and Alucard, giving both characters their highest moments in the show – or, for that matter, giving the show itself its highest moment.  This puts the finishing touches on (SPOILERS) Dracula as the sympathy-worthy villain that this show has painted him to be from the very start, as well as magnificently clarifying that Alucard is not necessarily adhering to the “I hate my evil father” cliché, and that, in a sense, he’s actually motivated by familial love and just wants to put his mad father out of his misery.  Really powerful stuff.

Episode 8 is more or less an epilogue – and a great one at that.  It gives hints on where the series can potentially go in the future, as well as provides the main story arc so far an appropriate, poignant end.  The final scene is utterly beautiful but heart-wrenching.

Lastly, on a side note, but worth mentioning nonetheless, is the fact that this season is loaded with humor.  This doesn’t necessarily compromise the melancholic and gothic tone.  But it’s still surprising how hilarious the show gets at times – especially since, not only are the jokes coming from the good guys, but from the bad guys as well.

In the end, the sophomore season of Castlevania is – again, for me – a masterpiece.  Season one has already made this animated series truly special, being probably the only screen adaptation of a video game property that is successfully great and worthwhile.  But season two simply brings it into a whole new level, sending it to heights that I never imagined it could reach.