Season Review: Castlevania Season 2

The world is a vampire.

I consider a sign of any great adaptation to be if it can hook someone with no knowledge of the source material. So, when the first season of Castlevania came out in the summer of last year, I was eager to see how it would accommodate for someone like me who’s never played any of the games. What I found was a thrilling, if brief, ride that had me eager for more, and here we are on Halloween a year later with the next installment. Although it really feels more like the last two thirds of a proper Season 1, as we continue the journey of Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) and his traveling companions, Alucard (James Callis) and Sypha Belnades (Alejandra Reynoso) in their hunt to stop Dracula (Graham McTavish) and his armies of the night from slaughtering mankind.

Season 2 further expands on the bigger themes that the first season had to put aside to sell people on the excellent animation. What starts as a rather straightforward battle between a band of heroes and hordes of demonic bloodsuckers gives way to moments focusing on the idea of humanity and its place in the world, including whether or not it should be held accountable for the many atrocities it has done to its own people. Before now, the greatest injustice we knew of was the church’s burning of Dracula’s wife, Lisa, but more is seen through experiences of Dracula’s two human generals, Hector (Theo James) and Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), who have their own tragic backstories that give them every reason to abandon their species, as well as how the problems of humans seem so minor to those above us in the food chain, but still does not shirk from acknowledging the true value of friends and family.

Plot:

While the majority of the first season put a focus on Trevor as our lead, the second’s share of focus is a little more lopsided. Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard do have a plot to themselves, but it turns out pretty uneventful for most of the eight episodes. Their main goal leads them to learn more about Trevor’s family estate, which leads to many calm and quiet one on one scenes between them for bonding and character development, such as Trevor and Alucard’s “Red Oni, Blue Oni” banter, Alucard and Sypha’s calm and collected discussions, or Sypha and Trevor’s definitely-not-beligerent-sexual-tension that soon becomes actually-yes-sexual tension. They do get a little action to deal with along the way once they have to forcibly summon Dracula’s teleporting castle to them, but up until the last quarter, they’re practically side characters.

The REAL stars of the show turn out to be the growing unrest and in-fighting among Dracula’s army as factions begin to form and deals are made as to dealing with what their master wants versus their own desires. Besides the expected tension of some of the vampires having to work under humans like Hector and Isaac, there are the varying views on the purpose of their war, whether it is a culling of humans or an extermination. I’m always glad to see when a villain group isn’t a monolith of one-note evil, and there are plenty among the vampires who see practical flaws with the plan of wiping every last human. Some are worried they’ll run out of good food, like Godbrand (Peter Storemare, who played an animated Dracula himself awhile back in 2005’s “The Batman vs. Dracula”), or those who simply want control and power, like Carmilla (Jaime Murray). However, once the final battle occurs and Trevor’s group enters the fray, it still manages to be a brutal and emotionally devastating confrontation that dumps the rest of the budget onto the screen for a hell of a climax.

Characters:

Trevor & Sypha:
It might seem odd to pair up these two who are basically two of the main cast, but they really only have enough for character analysis between them. On top of that, their main arcs basically lead to the same point anyway: finding and building a life outside of their family baggage, mainly determining they do it together. Trevor gets more time to mull over him being the last of the Belmont line once they reach his family’s old estate, though it mainly culminates in him accepting his duty to slay vampires when he was already in the process of doing so. At least there wasn’t a ton of expectation placed on Sypha’s life as a Speaker Magician, but there is just enough focus on it that she isn’t simply “competent love interest trying to fix up slobby love interest”. Thankfully, they are a charming couple whose return I anticipate.

Alucard:
Despite only showing up at the end of the last season, Alucard still holds onto all the interesting complications and drama that come from being the son of Dracula. Much of that time is spent in the Belmont library with Trevor and Sypha, but his existence and lack of allegiance to his father impact the enemy vampire side considerably. He’s very much his human mother’s son as well, wanting to spare humanity instead of slaughter them and partly because he has such fond memories being raised by both his parents. Though when he faces Dracula in a fateful duel, he holds nothing back, and it’s only due to their fight crashing into his old bedroom that shocks his father back to his senses long enough for Alucard to stake him. By the end of the season, now that Dracula’s castle is placed permanently on top of the Belmont estate, Trevor bequeaths it to him so that he may better embrace a life of two worlds with all the knowledge he could possibly need.

Hector:
Hector supposedly grew up around abusive parents who didn’t take too kindly to him resurrecting dead pets with magic, but his childish mind only saw this as a way of protecting beloved creatures. As such, he distanced himself from humanity to continue his work as a Devil Forgemaster who befriended Dracula and joined his army once he had declared war. Unfortunately, Hector’s simple thinking makes him an easy plaything of the many opinionated vampires in the army, particularly Carmilla, who manipulates his wishes to have peace into a bloody coup. He ends the season as her slave as she begins rebuilding her forces to take Dracula’s place, has ironically become a pet himself.

Isaac:

Isaac, meanwhile, begins and ends the season in a far more stable condition, though is nonetheless worse for wear. Formerly a slave that was taught never to believe in love, he too learned to become a Forgemaster and later joined Dracula to end humanity’s existence. Unlike Hector, he is far more attentive and loyal to Dracula directly and never wavers in seeking out his master’s wishes first and foremost. In a way, he found love again while trying to snuff it out, which stirs something in Dracula during the final battle about the true worth humans have. To repay this, Dracula sends him to a desert to save HIM, though being confronted with the cruelty of mankind only reminds him their fight is not over. I see him rising up as a formidable opponent to Carmilla next season, and maybe he’ll rescue Hector and they can finally be friends.

Dracula:
And of course, Dracula himself is a tragic and complex character in his own right, though not in the way most might think. He’s less of a demonic lord of the night most of the season and more of a dying ember in the shape of a man whose weakness and loosening sanity are felt by all around him. His solitary goal for the war is a genocide of the human race because of his wife’s wrongful death, which a lot of his own forces object to for a number of understandable reasons, but their concerns fall on deaf pointy ears for Dracula. He’s both living and dead in different ways, being physically active while lacking a pulse while having ambition but only focusing on the past to guide him. What does save him, and humanity is being reminded of what he still has and can’t afford to lose, that being Alucard, who finally ends his miserable existence. Perhaps he’ll see Lisa again in heaven, but he was certainly a hell of a first end boss for this series.

Conclusion:

Despite some wonky structuring and less than well-developed leads, Netflix’s Castlevania continues to write the book on making a proper video game adaptation while making an engaging tale in its own right. There are fan rumblings about where the story will head next based on the games, which gives me the perfect opportunity to finally try them out. If they’re half as meaningful as this series, I can’t wait, but at least I know this series is off to a great next adventure.