Season Review: WondLa Season Two

Recent years have gotten a lot of positive attention going Apple TV’s way, with some of their live action content being touted as some of the best in the streaming era, such as comedies like Ted Lasso and Shrinking and dramas like Severance, but their animation department continues to not have any breakout hits. Well, fear no more, because that trend…will continue with the second season of WondLa, based on the sci-fantasy novels of the same name, following a human teenager named Eva ventured out from her shelter to find the Earth had been drastically changed by some event that dwindled the human population but brought forth a vast array of new life both from the earth itself and from other planets. Picking up where last season left off, Eva, with her Muthr unit and Omnipod, as well as new friends Otto and Rovender, were able to escape being hunted by the ravenous Besteel and be picked up by a somehow living human society New Attica, run by visionary Cadmus Pryde…or rather a clone of him. Speaking of, Eva finds out she is also a clone, the ninth to be specific, as she meets Eva 8, an older and more hardened version of her without the experience of meeting new creatures.

I can easily say that this second season is a considerable improvement on the first, with more detailed models and animation and more complex themes and topics that are a natural extension of what the last season set up. After roaming through seemingly endless forests full of strange creatures, even if some are friendly, Eva is naturally relieved to find more of her own species still alive and quickly makes a lot of human friends. But it soon becomes clear that New Attica’s shiny exterior hides darker secrets and plans, especially Eva notices a rather prominent anti-alien sentiment among the citizens. Similarly, while Eva 8 is part of a separate faction not in New Attica, they too are scared and distrustful of the other species. And while it may not be a surprise if you’ve watched more than a few movies, Cadmus Pryde also has his own unsavory goals in mind that prioritize human life over others. Essentially, there is a strong theme of not falling into tribalism or prejudice, as that only leads to a path of destruction and fear. That’s probably a good message to tell kids regardless of the time period, but right now it feels especially prescient.

That said, the issues that were there with the previous season are also present in this one. Character designs are slightly better and more complex, but not by much. The story is still pretty basic, even for a kids show, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance of that improving. And while it was neat to spend some time expanding on Rovender’s backstory and culture to juxtapose with humans, it’s not helped by the rushed pacing due to the odd choice to one again only have seven episodes for the season. It makes me wonder if this was originally made as one season that they’re simply chopping up into three or four to pad out the rollout, like I’ve seen with other streaming shows. That said, I also haven’t read the books these are based on, so maybe this is where the second of the three ends, and it does feel like a season finale, it’s just hampered by how fast everything has gone. It’s still up in the air if we’re getting another season, but if we do, you’ll see us cover it. Or maybe your clone will watch it in the future.