Season one was great, but the second run of this off-beat superhero caper turned out to be my binge choice for the summer.
Picking up straight after their temporal escape from the first season’s destruction of planet Earth (pretty much their fault), our barely competent crew of metahuman misfits land in the sixties, where they have to contend with the awakening the civil rights movement, same-sex relationships, an organisation of assassins tasked with maintaining the integrity of the timeline, the assassination of Kennedy, and a nuclear holocaust that is six days away (again, mostly their fault).
With so much to pack into ten episodes, it cracks along, but amazingly, doesn’t feel rushed. There’s plenty of time and space to delve into Black oppression, attitudes to homosexuality, love, sacrifice and being willing to do anything for your family … even when you despise them.
The action scenes have a cinematic feel, and the script is top-notch: funny, sad, poignant and tight … not a single word wasted.
Gory in places? Hell, yes; but none of it felt gratuitous or out of place with the mayhem threaded through every episode.
I don’t want to pick up any of the players for an outstanding performance, because they were all outstanding to be honest. Having said that, I really enjoyed Aiden Gallagher’s murderous portrayal of the time-weary Number Five, and of course, Robert Sheehan, JohnnyDepping his way through the season as Klaus.
Marvellous stuff. Ten out of ten.