Its 2025 and the TV series landscape has been really wild with some hard swings that sadly fall flat on their second season, rip The Last of Us because considering how great was their first season, they failed. Starting the year I had this theory if 2024 was the best year ever for content after the strikes and all the time they had to develop all this shows and even refine some of them while others were a bit rushed. I've been watching a bunch of these sequels and honestly some have been amazing while others have left me feeling kinda meh. As someone who spends way too much time watching series and then writing about them, I gotta say this year has been a mixed bag. The thing about sequels is they either hit it out of the park or they completely miss the mark, but ironically did you know on 2024 the most grossing movies at the box office where all sequels? thats fkn ridiculous and where I hit the nail that probably we will never have another 2024 for big screen or small screen content, there will be good and great but never as a good year it was for content. I've been particularly excited about a few specific returns this year, mainly because their first seasons or previous ones left such strong impressions. Shows like Severance, Reacher, The Wheel of Time, Silo and Andor all made their comeback this year and I have some thoughts about each one, just to mention a few of the TV series I have been watching, not even had time to post about all of the them but for the most part did cover some fully.
Severance Season 2 which honestly blew everyones mind, after waiting almost three years for this show to come back, I was worried it might lose some of that magic that made the first season so special but damn they really delivered something that felt even weirder and more intense than before. The whole concept of having your work memories separated from your personal ones is still as fascinating as it was on season 1 and this season really digs deeper into what that means psychologically, Im a sucker for anything that mess up your brain specially if its a horror movie, I preffer psychological damage than cheap scare jumps. What I loved most about season 2 is how they didn't just repeat the same formula, they actually expanded the world and made everything feel bigger and more dangerous. The performances from the cast are as great as on season 1, especially watching actors play basically multiple characters, well mostly dual personalities that exist in the same body but have completly different particularities. The production value is insane too, you can tell they dump some big money on making this look and feel cinematic, I think thats the key behind this AAA series, make them feel like each episode is a movie, GOT started this party, some episodes felt more like movies than TV here it worked perfectly. The pacing is much faster compared to season 1, which I appreciated because the first season could drag a bit in certain spots. They also introduced new elements that made the whole Lumon mystery even more twisted and unsettling, for me it was almost perfect, remind me good Mandalorian times and my only complaint is that sometimes the philosophical stuff gets a bit heavy handed, but that's a minor issue when everything else is firing all at once and I might say this could be the best tv series of the year, well season.
Next on the line is a big hitter, big guy, Reacher Season 3 was lets say a pleasant surprise right from the fact there was someone as big as Reacher to push him back, Im talking about Paulie, I wasn't expecting much after how disappointing the second season was. The second season felt like it lost a lot of what made the first one so entertaining, so I went into this one with pretty low expectations. But they really turned things around this time, bringing back that raw action and smart writing that made me fall in love with the character initially. Alan Ritchson seems way more comfortable in the role now, like he's finally figured out exactly who Jack Reacher is supposed to be. The undercover storyline was a smart choice because it gave the show a different feel while still keeping all the elements that work on season 1, not saying season 2 was bad since it does gave us a lot of context how it all started with Reacher teamates and him been in the Army. Season 3 managed to make Reacher feel vulnerable for once, especially during that fight scene in the finale against the "Dutch Giant" Olivier Richters who plays Paulie, the entire season was a setup for this fight. The supporting cast is solid too probably not as good as in season 2, characters actually feel important to the story instead of just being there to fill screen time. They also did a better job balancing the action with character development because season 2 was that, backstory that eventually struggled with. The revenge plot gave Reacher more emotional tone without making him feel out of character, for sure there are still some moments that require you to suspend disbelief but that's part of the fun with this type of show, over exaggerated action scenes at times thats all, most of the times works out.
The Wheel of Time Season 3 was probably the biggest heartbreak of the year for me because it turned out to be the final season due to cancellation, it was expected because even though is one of my favorite fantasy tv series with Magicians (2015), TWOT became very repetitive plus it was heavily criticize for going off road with the books. The pacing felt much tighter this time around, with less of the slow buildup that sometimes made previous seasons feel sluggish with quite a good amount of fights and focus on certain characters like when they gave Perrin two entire episodes. Sadly a good amount of episodes felt rushed specially compared to the books as critics mention online, I have never read the books so Im not aware of this and they still felt rushed, but there were scenes that stick with you like when Egwene was the at the Seat. The character development was on point over all, especially for Rand who finally felt like the main character he's supposed to be and was starting to actually use his powers, not like Nynaeve who honestly should have died. The production values looked great as with previous season, with some really impressive action sequences and visual effects that didn't look cheap but still some of the scenes were just too fkn dark that I had to watch on 4k, then they look ok. What frustrated me most is that just when the show seemed to have most of the characters use their powers it gets the axe right on the head. They also did a better job balancing multiple storylines without making any of them feel like filler, the world building was cranking too, they balance way better the storylines even though there were too many at certain point reason why Perrin episodes were epic. Its just a situation where the audience finally put a stop for a series that went too far away from the lore, look at others like Halo, worst timing for someone like me who liked it despite the critics.
Silo Season 2, this was a series that blew me away in 2023, this second season was interesting but definitely felt different from the first season in ways that didn't always work for me, too dark, too draggy. The show split into two main storylines with Juliette exploring outside the Silo and everyone inside dealing with political chaos but still going nuts about what is going on with Juliette, is she alive? where is she?. Both storylines had their moments, the pacing felt much slower than the first season which was already pretty deliberate, there were certain times in the middle where it felt like nothing was really happening, nothing significant which is dangerous for a show that relies so heavily on mystery and tension. Rebecca Ferguson is still great as Juliette and watching her navigate this post apocalyptic world was visually beautiful and interesting but just as TWOT there were episodes that were too damn dark, it was 4k or go home. The political stuff inside the Silo was hit or miss with sometimes feeling important and other times just like filler to stretch out episodes. Tim Robbins continues to be excellent as Bernard bringing this perfect mix of authority and paranoia to the role, this time even a cruel straight murder pretending it to be out of loyalty and love. The mystery elements are still pumping the blood for the series when they are actually moving forward, it's just that this season took too long to get there. I'm still invested in finding out what happens next and who build all this Silo but I hope they tighten up the pacing for future seasons.
Andor Season 2, honestly I dont know whats going on with this ridiculous release schedules, TF is this 3 episodes at a time per week on the same day thing???, they probably did this release schedule because it was the last season as Disney wants to pivot into other stories for Starwars Tv series. This show has always been different from other Star Wars content focusing more on the human cost of rebellion than flashy light saber battles. The second season covers four years in twelve episodes and sounds like it might felt rushed but actually works well enough for me with always the great Diego Luna who keeps on to play perfect as Cassian, bringing this quiet intensity that makes every scene feel important, Cassian is an always dramatic guy, reminds me when Diego play Felix Gallardo on Narcos Mexico. What I love about this show is how it treats its characters like real people dealing with impossible situations, not just heroes going through every mission impossible but in the middle some of them with very traumatic memories like Bix who after complaining about Cassian risking everything for the rebellion, just when he decides to cool down and just be with her, she goes full throttle on the rebellion cause.They managed to increase the pace as episodes went by without losing the emotional side of the story that makes this series special. Ben Mendelsohn as Krennic was one of my favorite characters with Denise Gough as Dedra, yup Im team Red, bringing this perfect mix of ambition and cruelty to their roels. Even knowing how poor Cassian's story ends this season managed to surprise me with its emotional changes from many of the characters like Bix and Syril, probably perfect example of how to end a series on a high note, probably the only other Star Wars tv series that puts up a fight to Mandalorian, at least in my opinion.
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