Yeah, I had lowered expectations for Season 2 to begin with, because I didn't think it would be able to top Season 1.
Personally, I like both seasons very much, but they have a different feel to them. Season 1 feels more serious, it tries to sell us the characters and story step by step. Season 2, it seems, really divides the audience. It may be messy in some points and it may be difficult for some people to get into, due to the turns it takes, and I can see why some people fall off entirely.
What I love about season 2 is the duality of it, where we have legal/ethical/philosophical issues on one hand and the dark humor, absurdity and twisted irony of fate on the other hand. Essentially, it brought the question of hubot rights and their place in society several steps further, touching upon the very things Niska and Beatrice discussed in the first season. I like how polarized the humans are becoming in series 2, just as predicted, from politically oriented camps against hubots to integration of hubots into places of higher human values.
Another thing I love is the sense of comradery between certain hubots but also hubot/human-alliances.
On Beatrice:
I love the interactions and alliances between Beatrice and David, the "undead" husband and wife. The whole personality of David, and the manipulative and cunning methods of Beatrice. He is a character I find easy to sympathize with and easy to like, whereas Beatrice's motivations are difficult for me to grasp or identify with. He seems a warmer character than she does, he's such an advocate of the free will of hubots and strong AI, with a neutral attitude towards coexistance between humans and hubots.
Beatrice on the other hand seems to have adopted an attitude I'd expect more from the artificial Niska: calculated, callous, self-preserving, even at the cost of human lives and a coexistence. I often find it difficult to sympathize with her or understand the depth of her motivation.
On Hub Battle Land:
I find the scenes with Rick absolutely hilarious. I had a feeling of distaste when Jonas introduced the concept of Hub Battle Land, with pain and fear simulator modules, so I totally loved it when Rick ended up being the renegade messiah defending Hub Battle Land from "all the Rogers". I love how the hubots, under Rick's rogue reign, are taking back the Hub Battle Land, all the unintentionally bad consequences it has for Silas and Jonas' business, and how clueless the people are about the proverbial toys that wake up at night.
Having Vera run around is a really nice touch as well. How can you not love the combination and dynamics of Odi, Silas, Roger, Rick, Vera and the Battle Hubots? On a lower level you may see it as a comic relief or a silly plot device, but it does bring personality to Rick, Odi and Vera - they're not just "some hubots". They've become familiar, and they have their own personalities. Silly humans try to make entertainment, and the hubot variable screws it up when hubots decide to take territory back under the theatrical sovereign of Rick the Liberator. I love the humor in it.
On Flash and Gordon:
It saddened me, the direction they took with Gordon. He's zealous, in all the wrong ways, susceptible, going from religious and polite to overzealous and self-righteous. But I guess there's a metaphor in there somewhere towards religion, fundamentalism and the sort of people who don't stop up to do some critical thinking. Maybe I'm looking too much into it. Sweden is a pretty secular country though.
I like the whole thing going on with Florentine's custody battle and human rights, but it feels like a stark contrast to the crazy stuff going on in Jonas' worklab and everyone's hunt for the code. At the end of the day I just don't really care. Maybe that was the point, to show the legal and mundane consequences of a hubot-integrated society, contrasted against the wild chase and conspiracy going on with all these eccentric, intense personalities like Jonas and Beatrice in their hunt for the code.
Huh, signature? What's going on with that signature? This thing broken...?
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