Ghosts, demons, and colourful assassins must make for a wild theme park journey. Unfortunately, Season 2 of Marvel’s Hit-Monkey is extra akin to that journey’s prolonged queue foyer, inviting us to line up in anticipation and obtain directions from speaking animatronics. Its 10 episodes are detailed, and in some methods imaginative, however they aren’t the principle occasion. By the time they’re achieved, we’ve been primed for a enjoyable twist on the collection’ premise – nevertheless it’s solely as a tease for what lies past the turnstile.
The season premiere provides some attention-grabbing wrinkles to Season 1’s almost three-year-old finale, and spirit hit-man Bryce’s (a fast-talking Jason Sudeikis) determination to remain on Earth and help his simian murderer pal, the minor Deadpool villain Monkey (a grunting, squawking Fred Tatasciore). It seems Bryce made a cope with the Devil (Keith David) to reside – properly, “reside” – just a little longer in trade for serving to with Satan’s nefarious long-term plan. The particulars of that scheme are performed frustratingly near the chest. This additionally provides Bryce the chance to make amends and reconnect along with his estranged daughter, Iris (Cristin Milioti), within the new season’s setting of New York.
While these new instructions make for intriguing drama and sometimes humorous comedy, the collection – mockingly, like Bryce himself – cannot shake the burden of the previous. Characters just like the straight-laced Japanese cop Haruka (Ally Maki) and scorned politician Akiko (Olivia Munn) return, however they really feel awkwardly shoehorned in: Akiko, as an illustration, dons the mantle of Lady Bullseye to avenge Monkey’s homicide of her uncle, however she treads water for a number of episodes actually coming into play close to the top of the season.
There are new characters too, like Leslie Jones as Bryce’s boisterous former agent Eunice, and a handful of assassins-for-hire with nifty skills. (One is a Greek statue come to life; one other is a ghost-girl plucked proper out of a J-horror film.) But there’s not a lot that distinguishes them from each other, since all of them communicate in the identical tone of voice and supply. The present’s rapid-fire sarcasm feels interchangeable from one second to the following, as if it had been spit out by a generative AI skilled on episodes of Archer.
On the plus facet, Hit-Monkey’s creators appear conscious that the central premise of a ghost murderer who can solely be seen by and talk along with his mute primate sidekick isn’t sustainable. In trade for his soul, Bryce receives momentary corporeal type and the power to talk to characters like Iris on his personal. It’s candy now and again, nevertheless it has the seemingly unintended consequence of sidelining Monkey. Though Season 2 makes an attempt to escalate Season 1’s questions in regards to the furry gunman’s morality, it by no means fairly hones in on a dilemma price following for a number of episodes.
There’s an irony to Hit-Monkey returning whereas a present like Lost experiences a cultural resurgence on Netflix. The two haven’t got a lot in frequent (properly, Haruka has a short-lived time-travel subplot), however Lost’s reputation in each the appointing-viewing and streaming epochs is proof optimistic that some exhibits are constructed to final, whether or not you watch them weekly or abruptly. Hit-Monkey’s second season leaves an unlucky query mark in that regard. It’s all accessible on Hulu now (the place you may also watch Lost), however there’s probably not an attractive general construction to warrant a binge watch. And there’s probably not an episode-to-episode hook both, so it’s not prefer it may’ve benefited from a week-by-week launch. Season 2 builds to a satisfying conclusion, nevertheless it takes mighty lengthy to get there, and feels unfocused within the course of.
This isn’t a horrible or offensive present. Its first season had simply sufficient soul laced with sarcasm, however the brand new one appears intent on reversing that dynamic. It’s principally a set of insincere quips and observations, with simply sufficient semblance of story to really feel technically full. Any interpersonal drama on Hit-Monkey is simply sleight of hand. Characters are torn aside and are available again collectively at random, whereas existential themes about human nature rear their heads in the previous few episodes, however in methods meant to impression character arcs that merely aren’t there.
The first season had its issues, together with its depiction of Japan – its Japanese-U.S. cultural mixture most undoubtedly warranted being set in Marvel’s fictitious hybrid metropolis San Fransokyo – however not less than there was a definite sense of setting to the story. The New York of Season 2 feels completely generic and vague, with none actual taste, or any folks round the principle forged in most situations. Its places don’t really feel like they exist earlier than or after Bryce and Monkey wander into them; with one notable exception, the writers do not even attain for the low-hanging fruit of jokes in regards to the metropolis.
It’s laborious to dislike the second season in its entirety, however that is principally as a result of it makes for worthwhile background noise, simmering on a constant medium flame whereas sustaining the very same rhythm for jokes and quips from scene to scene. You can kind of inform the place the punchlines are supposed to be due to the actors’ supply, however they by no means have any actual perspective, chunk, or motive to interact with them. By the time this newest chapter in Bryce and Monkey’s animated saga reaches a degree of catharsis – which coincides with some late-in-the-game gore that will’ve been appreciated earlier within the season – it feels too little too late.
