Viewing Review: The Dragon Prince Season 2

Our heroes from Katolis and Xadia are back for another season.  There are minor spoilers ahead from season one, so if you you haven’t seen that yet, don’t go any further. You have been warned.

When last we left our heroes (Callum, Ezran and Rayla), the dragon egg hatched revealing the dragon prince himself, Azymondias aka Zym.  While that was happening, Soren and Claudia were hot on their trail using Rayla as the anchor to find them.  Back home, Viren plots a way to invade Xadia as he sees it as a shadowy danger that needs to be dealt with post haste.  Now that we’ve set the baseline from season one, let’s proceed to season two WITHOUT any spoiler-y details.

I’ll start with the animation which got a lot better than last season, if that could even possibly happen.  There are a lot more action-packed moments that deliver a visceral effect.  You’ll know them when you see them, and you’ll notice a better flow to the story compared to season one because of the animation.  They pick up the pace here, and I for one am thankful for the adjustment.

Next, there is a lot more world building provided this season.  This was something that I found lacking with season one.  The world of THE DRAGON PRINCE seemed small and lacked intrigue.  Now, they’ve created several more layers of lore which are most welcome.  There’s more revealed in the Katolis-human side than the Xadian side of the world, but it’s enough to spark interest in the lore of the land.  I hope this is the trend as the story progresses.

We see a lot of character development in this nine-episode season.  Whereas Rayla is clearly advanced in skills compared to Callum and Ezran, this season shows the two half-brothers catching up to her.  They pick up a few things here and there as they try to develop their abilities to be at par with Rayla’s.  Though, it’ll probably take some time for them to truly catch up to Rayla’s level of experience. That’s why you’ll see a lot more developmental moments for the half-brothers than that of Rayla.  Rayla is skilled enough as it is, so it’s time to let these budding adventurers their time to shine.  And shine they did.

In gaming terms, particularly D &D, let’s peg Rayla as around level six or seven when the story started while Callum and Ezran started at level one.  Big gap, right? But, the experience points needed to advance in level are far less for Callum and Ezran as compared to that of Rayla’s level.  If I were to peg it by the second season’s end, I’d think the half-brothers are somewhere around level four or five with Rayla being level seven or eight.  Not bad, but, unless something drastic happens, I don’t see the two catching to Rayla’s level anytime soon.  You’re going to have to put Rayla in stasis for that one. She’s just too good.

When it comes to Claudia and Soren, This season reveals Claudia to be more like her father, Viren, than Soren.  Callum trusts Claudia, which is a red flag, who appears to have a lot of Viren’s manipulative ways.  Soren on the other hand is a blunt instrument through and through (or a sharp instrument), and is just there for the muscle and a bit of comedy relief.  Sorry, but, as far as characters go in THE DRAGON PRINCE, he’s one of the weaker characters in this narrative.  But, something traumatic happens to Soren, and we’ll see how he handles this event as he continues to adventure.

Speaking of characters, we get to see more of Queen Sarai and she is such a bad ass.  I mean, if you like General Amaya (like I do), you’ll LOVE Queen Sarai.  More’s the pity that she died then.  Compared to her, King Harrow is a wimp. I now can appreciate how Queen Sarai and General Amaya are sisters.  The Queen is not a damsel in distress. There’s a scene that shows what it was like with them working together. I was clapping and cheering when it happened.

Even Zym gets some stage time here as we see him develop.  Bait’s in fine company.  These two creatures will provide many interesting interactions without saying a word.  For the most part, these are funny scenes you’ll enjoy.

There are a lot of new characters introduced this season.  To me, five of them have major roles in the narrative.  One of them is a mysterious voice in the shadows that could pose a challenge and potential evil threat to everyone in the story including Viren.  One of them is truly funny and ironic while three of these new characters show you just how inclusive the world of THE DRAGON PRINCE is like.  It is a diverse world with different cultures and customs.The beauty of this is that it isn’t forced, and the characters mesh well with the overall narrative of the story.   No names from me for that will ruin the surprise.  But, keep a keen eye and you will figure out who these characters are.

With the hooks left in season one, there’s a lot of payoff given this season.  Even with that, the series ends providing more mysteries that will entice you into the third season. This made season two even better than its predecessor and more twists are yet to come.

As it stands, the world of THE DRAGON PRINCE is getting bigger and vastly more complex than when it started.  This bodes well for a series that is moving into more epic levels of adventure.  THE DRAGON PRINCE is now streaming on Netflix.