Overall I think this season is a step up from season 1. One of my major issues from season 1 was that the show didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a melodramatic soap opera or a more serious Western crime drama. In season 2, however, the show embodied and committed to the melodramatic tone. I think this season is better off because of this and that it feels much more cohesive than season 1. This season also made it clear that this is very much a show that is much more centered around its characters than the overall story. The focus of this season was the character arcs and dynamics, and relationships between characters. The overall story/conflict took a bit of a backseat to make more room for more in depth character exploration, and I think that suits the melodramatic soap opera-ish feel of the show. You don't have to care as much about a realistic and well-developed overarching story because the season uses its melodramatic tone to provide enough entertainment value and instead you can focus on the characters. With all of this being said, I still don't think it's the most impressive season of TV ever, and there are some issues I had. Despite a lot of interesting character dynamics, I don't think this season balanced its characters very well and some characters were left without much time to develop in interesting ways. The main antagonists of the Beck brothers in particular were very underdeveloped which made for a pretty underwhelming finale when they were killed. I just wasn't invested in them enough as antagonists to really care. Another big issue for me this season was Beth and Jamie's relationship. Beth is incredibly emotionally and verbally abusive towards Jamie and for what? The show has not provided us with a reason as to why Beth would have some much hatred for Jamie. I am sure that later on in the series will be an explanation for why she treats him the way she does, and it feels like the show is trying to make the audience curious and intrigued about what this could be. But until we get that explanation, Beth just feels annoying and immature. I think they went too overboard too early with her character without giving us the explanation as to why she hates Jamie so much, so that by the time they finally do tell us I'm not sure I'll really care since I'll have had all of this time to build up my dislike for Beth and my sympathy for Jamie. Despite these issues I had with the season, the commitment to the melodramatic tone makes it so I don't really care as much about this season's flaws and instead can embrace them more easily because I know I don't have to take the show too seriously and can just be entertained by it. Overall, it's not a perfect season of TV but it's very entertaining and significantly better than the first season.
Review by Justin NumerickBlockedParent2022-06-29T01:05:22Z
Overall I think this season is a step up from season 1. One of my major issues from season 1 was that the show didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be a melodramatic soap opera or a more serious Western crime drama. In season 2, however, the show embodied and committed to the melodramatic tone. I think this season is better off because of this and that it feels much more cohesive than season 1. This season also made it clear that this is very much a show that is much more centered around its characters than the overall story. The focus of this season was the character arcs and dynamics, and relationships between characters. The overall story/conflict took a bit of a backseat to make more room for more in depth character exploration, and I think that suits the melodramatic soap opera-ish feel of the show. You don't have to care as much about a realistic and well-developed overarching story because the season uses its melodramatic tone to provide enough entertainment value and instead you can focus on the characters. With all of this being said, I still don't think it's the most impressive season of TV ever, and there are some issues I had. Despite a lot of interesting character dynamics, I don't think this season balanced its characters very well and some characters were left without much time to develop in interesting ways. The main antagonists of the Beck brothers in particular were very underdeveloped which made for a pretty underwhelming finale when they were killed. I just wasn't invested in them enough as antagonists to really care. Another big issue for me this season was Beth and Jamie's relationship. Beth is incredibly emotionally and verbally abusive towards Jamie and for what? The show has not provided us with a reason as to why Beth would have some much hatred for Jamie. I am sure that later on in the series will be an explanation for why she treats him the way she does, and it feels like the show is trying to make the audience curious and intrigued about what this could be. But until we get that explanation, Beth just feels annoying and immature. I think they went too overboard too early with her character without giving us the explanation as to why she hates Jamie so much, so that by the time they finally do tell us I'm not sure I'll really care since I'll have had all of this time to build up my dislike for Beth and my sympathy for Jamie. Despite these issues I had with the season, the commitment to the melodramatic tone makes it so I don't really care as much about this season's flaws and instead can embrace them more easily because I know I don't have to take the show too seriously and can just be entertained by it. Overall, it's not a perfect season of TV but it's very entertaining and significantly better than the first season.