Disenchantment Season 2 (2019)
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Disenchantment Season 2 Review
The second season of Disenchantment is a bit of an improvement over the previous season, but the show still hasn’t found its footing, which is unfortunate.
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“How should I know? I’m green, not blue.
God! Do all people of colour look the same to you?“
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The Disenchantress continues from the very exciting cliffhanger at the end of the first season, and this is where Bean thankfully rather quickly realizes that Dagmar is not to be trusted. Stairway to Hell sees Bean and Lucy go to hell to bring back Elfo from the dead, and this is by far the best, most creative and most entertaining episode of the entire season. The Elfo-Bean troubled relationship is the heart of this season.
The Very Thing is a messy episode, but it does set things to where they were before. The MVPS here are Oona and Leavo, both very amusing to follow. The Lonely Heart is a Hunter is concerned with way too many subplots, most pretty good, but again this is the main flaw of the show – it is too messy and chaotic in pacing and structure.
Our Bodies, Our Elves is the most adventurous episode of this season, but one that ultimately needed more thematic edge and much more humor. The Dreamland Job is quite weak with the circus scenes being not all that interesting in my opinion. Love’s Slimy Embrace is overly concerned with Derek, a new character for the show, but one that was way too rushed in development. Most of his emotional scenes did not hit because of this.
In Her Own Write did deal with the writing process and feminism in a rather sophisticated manner, but again it’s too dramatic instead of comedic. The highlight is the last father-daughter scene that was quite heartwarming. The Electric Princess is this steampunk penultimate episode that is far from strong in storytelling merits, but visually speaking and in terms of world building, it’s an utter delight. The finale, Tiabeanie Falls, is slowly paced and dragging, but the witch trial was very memorable and the ending is another memorable cliffhanger with Dagmar saving Bean from being burnt at the stake.
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This season got progressively dark. It is interesting that Groening decided to make such a dark, even brutal show when most of his previous works were family-friendly to a fault. This definite dark edge is the most admirable quality of Disenchantment as the black humor moments are the funniest of the bunch. It sets itself apart from others brutally effectively. I also continue to respect its world building, but the comedic elements need more work.
Overall, the second season of Disenchantment is memorably dark, visually arresting and very well developed in its world and characters, but it still is chaotic in pacing and simply not funny enough. It never quite decides whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama.
Worst Episodes: The Very Thing and The Dreamland Job.
Best Episodes: Stairway to Hell and The Electric Princess.
