Ben’s Breakdown | “The Order” Season 2 Wrap-Up
I love good surprises. The second season for The Order kicked things off very nicely for their first three episodes by finding a brilliant way to bring our three Knights of St. Christopher back together and in action in a way that would not provide a disservice to how season 1 ended. From there the series became very plot-driven by throwing at us red herrings and misdirection. While the first season primarily dealt with understanding who our two magical teams as well as the impending threat that was Edward Coventry. This year the creators of this series employed their own literary sleight-of-hand by presenting story threads that appear to lead us to the main threat of the season, only to see them apparently dealt with in a satisfying manner, which would only lead to the next big threat that our witches and werewolves would have to handle. Every time a new magical problem would arise leading me to believe where the story was about to go, only to wrap that specific problem up as well.
This pattern would be repeated until the series re-visits something that was brought up early in the season that has created an unexpected side effect. As these story threats would rise and fall we would see character arcs that provided additional drama to the situation that both The Order and the Knights were facing. When all was said and done we were left with a world that no reset button could fix. When the first season ended our Knights had their memories erased, which allowed for everything to return to as close to normal as possible. This time around there are some drastic changes that either the witches or werewolves may not be able to recover from. Where the first season had a very clean ending with virtually no loose threads, season 2 ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. It will be most interesting to see how season 3 addresses this should The Order be renewed by Netflix.
All of the primary characters started strong and remained strong through to the end. As the Knights found themselves in new situations the way their characters were written and acted remained consistent throughout the season. Even when presented with life-altering changes their core values never remained. I’ve seen many shows where the very essence of a character changes to the point where they become unrecognizable. Not so here. Each of the regular characters gives a sense of consistency with who they are, which is quite necessary with the different threats they had to face from one episode to the next. It could have all fallen apart from anywhere, be it weak writing or acting. Instead, both writers and actors maintained the integrity of these characters, making for an emotionally invested season.
At the end of last season, I wrote about how utterly disappointed I was with its wrap-up. This time, for as jarring as the cliffhanger was I find that I have complete faith in the creative team’s ability to not only deliver a strong opening should there be a season 3 but I also look forward to seeing how the narrative may change yet again. Seasons 1 and 2 look nothing alike in how they are structured, yet they are both amazingly strong. Through its different approach, The Order found a way to keep me interested and engaged throughout this second season.
For giving us a magnificent season with thoroughly believable characters along with a unique way of developing the storyline, I give season 2 of The Order 4 out of 5 Wolf-Skins!
