[WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]

After the (mostly-unjustified) criticism that plagued Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Kevin Smith’s eagerly anticipated sequel, “Revolution”, has debuted to almost universal acclaim with a 100% certified fresh and 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.8 IMDb score (compared to a 5.6 for Revelation), and an overwhelmingly positive online buzz amongst the highly vocal (and notoriously difficult to please) MOTU community.

In this second season, Smith delivers the familiar high stakes and epic worldbuilding of the first, crafting a story that is packed with action, humour and glorious fan service as Hordak and his seemingly unstoppable Horde sets its sights on Eternia and the power of Castle Grayskull.

The fact that Smith and co. manage to pack so many storylines, Easter Eggs and air-punching moments of geeky delight into just five episodes is a true testament to the entire creative team. And whether it’s the return of Keldor, Prince Adam’s estranged uncle, once thought dead, who returns to take his rightful place on the throne of Eternos, or Skeletor helping Motherboard unleash their terrifying “Techno Virus” across Eternia, or the blossoming love story between Adam and Teela (or hell, any of the dozen or so other intriguing plot threads),  this is certainly a series which is going to reward repeat viewings.

Sure, the more cynical viewer may roll their eyes at times, condemning the plethora of new arrivals and costume changes as little more than a cheap ploy by Mattel to sell more toys.  However, given the origins of Masters of the Universe, a global juggernaut toy franchise that existed almost entirely to shift units back in the 1980s, I’m not sure that criticism really holds up.

I love the “magic versus technology” themes being explored here, something that has always been an interesting component of Masters of the Universe’s sci-fi fantasy environment. And, while the inherent limitations of the five-episode format may have reduced a lot of these themes and developments to little more than surface level, it does provide an interesting new wrinkle to the proceedings that takes it beyond the usual “Skeletor wants to capture Grayskull” cookie cutter storylines.

The voice cast are once again fantastic, with Lena Headey stealing every scene she’s a part of, delivering some fantastic lines of dialogue, including telling Teela “you’re not worthy to wield the Staff of Ka, you were nothing more than a bait-and-switch” (nod nod, wink wink), and Mark Hamill doing his best to be at least a little less Joker-y as Skeletor this time around.  Melissa Benoist does a solid job taking over from Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela, and William Shatner delivers a brilliant, typically melodramatic turn as the aforementioned Keldor.

Oh, and special credit should also go to Keith David, whose cold, calculating Hordak has several truly memorable scenes, including the brilliant moment where he sic’s the rest of the Horde on valiant hero Stonedar (“I hire well.”) Very Thanos-esque in both his deliver and presentation, and while he perhaps gets done a little dirty for this particular Horde fanboy, the post-credit scene suggests that he’s down but definitely not out.

Thankfully, the YouTube outrage grifters who generated so much ad revenue with bad faith criticism of the original show and the narratives surrounding it have been mostly silent so far. Zero complaints about Andra taking over (and flourishing) as the new Man-at-Arms, zero complaints about Teela and Evil-Lyn eating up the screen time with their own universe-saving storyline. It’s almost like those things didn’t really matter in the first place. Hell, even the “He-Man was sidelined!” nonsense has all but dried up here (for context, He-Man appears on screen for a total of 122 seconds across the 3rd and 4th episodes of this series.) Go figure.

The whole thing zips along at a dizzying pace, leading to a genuinely satisfying conclusion that would likely have satisfied even the most jaded MOTU fan. That is, however, until the aforementioned post-credit scene that delivers a delicious teaser that will have anyone who understood it instantly clamouring for a third season. For context, the final moments see the badly-wounded Hordak floating in some sort of tank, being slowly healed by Horde Prime while a masked Hordak-esque woman vows revenge. As those who read Mike Costa and Drew Johnson’s 2013 Masters of the Universe DC Comics series will know, that woman is Despera, who turns out to be a kidnapped and brainwashed Adora (aka She-Ra) who was kidnapped as a baby from Eternia by Hordak.  Which, when you consider another little teaser earlier in the series, is enough to get any fan’s blood bumping about the possibilities.

At the end of the day, yes, Revolution is perhaps a little too fast paced at times, and certain moments would undoubtedly benefit from being allowed to breathe a little more. Some of the stakes also feel a little diminished purely because of how quickly they’re overcome, but I guess we can blame the initial online outrage for the fact we only got 5 episodes instead of 10 this time around.  That said, when the biggest criticism you can levy at a series is that there’s just not enough episodes, it’s safe to say that you’re probably dealing with a pretty damn great show.  Watch it, watch it again, and then tell all your friends about it, because I need a season three, damn it!

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The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson-Adams (aka Ceej)
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