Trollhunters Season 2 Netflix Series Review

Trollhunters (2016-)
Season 2 - 13 episodes (2017)

Watch Trollhunters Season 2 on Netflix
Created by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Kelsey Grammer, Ron Perlman, Steven Yeun
Rated: TV-Y7
Watch the trailer


Plot
This animated series based on Guillermo del Toro's book is about teenage Jim, who finds a magical amulet. He becomes the Trollhunter, and with his friends Claire and Toby, must protect humans and the trolls that live underground.

Verdict
The first four episodes are electric, the plot is moving swiftly and the story is engrossing. The middle episodes slow down to develop the characters. That's not bad, but the main plot is neglected until we get to the last few episodes.
It's easy to see this as a kid's animated show, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The season is filled with heartfelt moments that rival cinema. It's a well  crafted series and story, better than many live action rivals. Even when you know how a scene will unfold, it's still an incredibly fun ride.
Watch it.

Review

Trollhunters will expand into a trilogy featuring trolls in Trollhunters, wizards in Wizards, and aliens in 3Below. All three shows will take place in the same town of Arcadia. Eli reveals strange happenings in Arcadia while he and Steve are teamed up.

The first episode was great, bridging the gap from season one and still providing plenty of surprises. What's amazing is that despite being able to predict so many outcomes, the scenes still make an impact. Jim is in the dark lands to rescue baby Enrique. The moment of rescue is tense, and then it becomes a race to escape the dark lands before the troll council smashes the gate to protect themselves from Gunmar. As Jim is running to the gate while a troll smashes it, you know he won't make it, but it's still a great scene.

Jim may be in the dark lands but he has cool armor.

While Jim is the trollhunter, the show isn't just about him. His friends Claire and Toby have a lot of agency. Claire has a great scene in episode two, stealing the pieces of bridge to save Jim no matter the cost to herself. The underlying theme of this season is friendship, which is a continuation of season one. Jim entered the dark lands alone to protect the others, and this season shows him how wrong he was to exclude his friends. This season expands on the friendship theme, even delving into the bully Steve. He's always been a shallow character, Jim's human foe, but this season even he provides assistance.

The only disappointing thing about this season, is the resurrection of a character from season one. It robs that moment from season one of any emotion it had. It set the tone that anything could happen, even well known characters could be in danger. This season erases all that.

Poor Arg, turned to stone in season 1.

Gunmar is the big threat this season. He wants to escape the dark lands and he has a group of changelings, the Janus group, helping him on Earth. Gunmar wants to enslave everyone.

Gunmar wants to escape the dark lands.

Episode five feels like a mid season finale. Jim befriends Nomura during his dark lands imprisonment, an enemy from season one.  He pledges to save her as that's what friends do. As Jim ponders whether he endangered Toby and Claire, they end up rescuing him.

Stronger together!

We get a run of episodes that develop the characters while all but ignoring the main plot. There's multiplicity Jim while pushing him and Claire into a relationship. There are flour babies and even a Breakfast Club send up. Episode nine repeats episode eight, offering a different point of view of the previous episode's events while giving us more time with flour babies.

Episode 6 has a lot of Jim.

Episode 10 is inspired by The Breakfast Club.

Episode 9 teams bully Steve with Eli.

Episode 8 features a blob that eats dead trolls.

The troll queen who has been a default villain throughout the season arrests Jim for unleashing Gunmar, which he did. I get her position, but was disappointed the show didn't do more with her. Despite that, the show does do something fun with that character.

The troll queen arrests Jim and she has a point.

It's engrossing to watch as a hero develops. He makes mistakes and questions his own actions, but we see time and again he is a hero. Episode eleven delves into that. Stronger together is continually reinforced. There are very few victories where Jim doesn't have help. That culminates in episode thirteen. This season is full of many great moments. I can't wait for season 3.

The series is planned as six chapters with thirteen episodes in each chapter. That means we are now at the half way mark through the overall story.