Netflix’s Altered Carbon Season 2 Early Review

For our review of the first season of Altered Carbon, click here.

Personally, the enjoyable first season of Altered Carbon came along at a time where something was needed to fill the Westworld-sized hole in my heart with a sci-fi story that served as an escape to a new world filled with odd characters within an even stranger society. This was exactly why this reviewer wanted to love the newest season but in the end could only muster a mild appreciation for it.

To the uninitiated, Altered Carbon focuses on Takeshi Kovacs, a futuristic warrior that was a member of a crushed rebellion aimed at the lifestyles of a rich society. Thanks to the many advances in technology, people have discovered how to transfer their consciousness into other bodies, or sleeves, a practice that the rich have been able to manipulate into keeping them alive indefinitely. While the first season introduced us to this concept through Kovacs’ eyes as he was hired by one of these immortals to find their murderer, we also are exposed to a unique cyberpunk future filled with technically advanced body modifications amid a strong group of unique characters.

This season attempts to tell the next chapter of Kovacs’ story as his mind is placed inside a new sleeve (Anthony Mackie) and given another mission. Except, in this case, any newness or wonder has been removed as the audience is assumed to understand all of the world’s dynamics. This both helps and hinders the story from venturing anywhere truly interesting as the lack of surprise permeates throughout the storylines while simultaneously allowing for Kovacs’ past to be further explored through his lost love, Quellcrest Falconer, who is brought back from the dead for a mysterious purpose. This story was one that was perfectly fine to leave in the past, always serving as that unattainable answer just beyond Takeshi’s reach. However, the writers chose to completely lean into their love story that steered the narrative away from any of the cooler futuristic parts of the world around them. Additionally, the “B” and “C” plots of the season dip in quality as the secondary plot centers around Poe, the affable A.I. who aids Kovacs on his adventures. Poe was damaged badly at the end of last season – a trait that serves as the main obstacle for his entire journey across these 8 episodes. So much wasted time is spent on his refusal to reboot his system for fear of losing his memories, instead placing everyone around him in jeopardy due to his short-term memory loss. It’s a trope that is tolerable for several episodes but not the entire season.

Despite the setbacks of the season’s plots, both Mackie and Conner as Poe provide strong performances but it is Mackie that never appears to be stretched or challenged as an actor in his role. This is mostly due to a weak script that in forcing the character to display a broader emotional range, it never fully realizes its potential when living in the more emotional moments of this season. This dramatically changes in the season finale but by then it felt more of an opportunity missed in the previous episodes rather than an earned payoff. It was hard not to compare it to the Kovac and the supporting characters of the first season featuring Joel Kinnaman, James Purefoy and several others that helped make the world feel much larger. With this season, the supporting characters accomplished the opposite by keeping the world small and confined.

As someone who wanted to love season two of Altered Carbon. jumping back into a futuristic world of diverse cyber-enhanced humans where rich people that have solved the issue of immortality and class warfare but the end result was a love story from the past that was forcibly dragged and made to fit into this world. However, this season was not a total loss and those who’ve enjoyed the first season will surely enjoy the continuation of Takeshi Kovac’s story though beware.

At the end of the day, the second season of Altered Carbon offered some entertainment value and left the possibility for a third season to arrive but the journey to get there was not the same as the first which made all the difference.

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