‘Undone Season 2’ Review: This Time Traveling Family Is Ready For An Excellent Adventure
In 2019, Undone became one of the best shows of that season. The mixture of time traveling, along with an excellent take on mental health and powerful emotional sense of storytelling made the animated show into a unique piece of art, a show like it has never been seen before on television. The show was successful enough to warrant a second season, and what we have here is another exceptional example of what good storytelling can do in this medium.
We can say that Undone Season 2 is just more of the same, and you would be right. The season doesn’t go too astray from themes and concepts of the first season, but it does give them a new spin, and it expands them into something just as wonderful. The core remains the same, but the execution is different. And what more can you ask but a show that is confident enough in its storytelling prowess as to try something new, something that isn’t just a continuation of the previous season?
Undone is a TV show for Amazon Prime Video, created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and Kate Purdy, both of them the minds behind another fantastic show on mental health, the now legendary BoJack Horseman animated show. The team of creatives is accompanied by Rosa Salazar in the role of Alma, our main character. Also in this season, Angelique Cabral, as Becca, Alma’s sister, and Constance Marie, in the role of Camila Diaz, take more of center stage than in the first season. Bob Odenkirk returns as Alma’s father, Jacob.
Season one was all about Alma trying to save his dad from death. Jacob’s death scarred young Alma in such a way that she could never recover from it. Healing was not an option, the only option was to save her father completely and bring him to life. Which is something you can do when you have time traveling powers. Alma achieved her goal from the past season, but of course, when dealing with something as time travel, the consequences of each action might bring some unforeseeable events.
If season one was all about the father, then season two is all about the mother, about the interpersonal relationship we create with those female figures in our families. Alma might have been so focused on saving his father the last season, that she never thought about how that would affect the lives of her sister or her mother. How could saving her father not be just a good thing for everyone? Families are complicated, nothing is ever so simple when it comes to our happiness and our purpose in life.
Relationships between women, family especially, are not always represented on screen independently of male figures. However, while the figure of Jacob is an important element of the show, this time he takes more of a backseat to Alma and Becca’s journey to help their mother. Jacob is rather unhelpful at some parts, which might seem as a step back for his character, but the decision still feels right to the overall theme of the show.
The series has not lost momentum at all, as it starts just right after the ending of the first season and just never stops. We have to take into account that each episode of the show is just 25 minutes long, but each episode feels packed with themes, plot, and characters. The pacing is relentless, but it is never just too fast to feel like there isn’t enough character work being done, or that the plot is just being schemed through.
Undone keeps being as creative as it can be. The rotoscoped visuals are still interesting, and they allow the show to do things that otherwise would be too expensive to do properly in normal live action. This is season 2 but still there isn’t a show out there that looks or feels like this one. It is quite wonderful and unique.
Rosa Salazar’s performance in this show is just amazing. It is a shame that awards season is not considering this show for any awards. The writing is top-notch. You can really see that the creators feel love for the subject and love for these characters, they are treated with the utmost respect and dignity, which is something you don’t see very often in today’s TV landscape.
Along to the impressive performances by Salazar and the rest of the cast, there is just no other way to say it. The writing and the way the show exposes mental health make Undone a very important show for today’s audiences. The series never feels like it is doing things halfway when it comes to its themes, and that is just the way we want it. The show might put the spotlight on some issues that the audience might not want to see, but these are themes that need to be discussed openly. It is great to have a show on a major streaming service that does just that.
With this second season, Undone will for sure end up being one of the best TV series of the year. Its uniqueness is not a gimmick but something that is a core part of a show that dares to be different, funny, emotional, and thought-provoking. Do yourself a favor and watch it. It will not disappoint.
