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My Strange Friend Season 2 chinese drama review
Completed
My Strange Friend Season 2
1 people found this review helpful
by labcat
Dec 23, 2021
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Isolated sparks here and there that result in disappointment

Don't watch this without watching Season 1 because Season 2 starts in the middle of nowhere. It's not really a new season but a continuation of an incomplete "Season 1". Just don't expect yourself to be confusion-free if you watch Season 1 either. There are things that are not properly explained after you watch all 24 episodes.

The premise of someone with supernatural powers (apparently gained after touching some alien stone) accidentally having most of his powers transferred to others can be interesting, even if it is turned into a comedy. However, after watching Season 2, one may still feel that there could have been a good story if there is proper effort put into writing a good story.

The humor in "Season 2" doesn't really work very well, especially when it is juxtaposed with the generally more serious tone as the mysterious person trying to kidnap the people with superpowers comes into the foreground. And though it doesn't feel like a new season, it seems that the production team has put in even less effort in the production in "Season 2". Often enough, scenes end abruptly (and for no good reason). The introduction of new characters is haphazard.

Season 2 can be rather exasperating because the story seems to be getting somewhere, with the identity of the biggest villain being revealed while the suspense regarding his motivations is maintained. I think the supernatural powers should have received more attention, perhaps with the characters already having powers in Season 1 strengthening their powers. Unfortunately, this does not happen.

Still, the story is worked into a climax. Then the story is wrapped up rather abruptly. It is not that the story ends in the middle of nowhere like in Season 1--there is a sense of completion, but the denouement leaves much to be desired. In the last episode, the series takes such a dark turn with the near triumph of the villain--it is actually quite nicely done, but it is incompatible with the largely lighthearted tone of the rest of the series in Seasons 1 and 2. Then the crisis is solved with the abrupt introduction of a supernatural power that has never been introduced, which is the way you do things if you are suddenly given less than half an episode to finish the story and you have to come up with something, hoping that the audience will buy it. After the deus ex machina, there is a pathos-filled scene at the end that can be moving in itself but is again very much incompatible with the rest of the story. If a series could suffer from dissociative personality disorder, this series would definitely be diagnosed with it.
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