'Light as a Feather' season 2 review: Haley Ramm's Violet as a captivating antagonist helps the predictable story sail through
This article contains spoilers for season 2.
Hulu's creepy teen drama, 'Light as a Feather' season 2 just premiered on Hulu today and it's not a surprise that fans had extremely high expectations from it. After the stellar run that was its debut season, we were looking forward to the same tone of unpredictable eerieness that set season 1 apart from its contemporaries in the teen horror genre. Sadly, that was missing in the initial stages of season 2, but worry not, we have our very own Violet back and Haley Ramm makes up for the lack of spine-tingling fear and suspicion in the first couple of episodes.
Essentially a story about five girls playing a supernatural game and then bearing the mortifying consequences of it, 'Light as a Feather' follows McKenna Brady (Liana Liberato), and her friends Alex (Brianne Tju), Candace (Ajiona Alexus), and Olivia (Peyton List), indulging in the titular game after being introduced to it by the new girl in town, Violet. The slumber party game soon turns out to have some extreme consequences in the form of death predictions for every person who pays it. It also comes with a curse that causes bone shards sticking out of a gooey, morbid wound on the body of the person who carries it and Violet carried the curse for the most part in season 1, before it latched on to McKenna. The season ended with Violet's truth getting outed, resulting in her being institutionalized, while both Candace and Olivia die.
The story of season 2 kicks off with McKenna (Liana Liberato) reeling in the aftermath of the first season's tragic events, and the terrifying finale. For the most part, we see her trying to come to terms with the reality of the predicament she has landed herself in; she goes for therapy but seems skeptical about it. She even reaches out to Violet in prison but doesn't tell her the truth about the curse. Violet understands right away what McKenna is trying to hide and tells her the only way to get rid of the curse is to play the deadly titular game once again. She even offers McKenna help, provided she gets Violet out of the confinement facility.
This obviously doesn't sit right with McKenna's only best friend alive, Alex, even though they both know that Violet is the one person they need to get to the bottom of the mess. And the secret about the curse also starts taking a toll on McKenna's relationship with Trey (Jordan Rodrigues) as she attempts to hide it to protect everyone around her. With Violet becoming an unlikely ally, for McKenna and Alex, things change once people start going missing in the town. It is after a dangerous accident that McKenna knows for sure the game has been played once again, and there on begins the golden trio's quest to dig deeper into the origins of the game.
Throughout McKenna's journey in season 2, laden with instances of her sleepwalking and her and Alex doing community service, somewhere the uneasy vibe from season 1 goes missing. We see Violet and Isaac (Brent Rivera) get closer, newcomer Adriyan Rae's character Peri develop a fondness for Alex, and people coming back to express their suspicions about McKenna, but other than that, everything seems quite predictable for the most part of season 2. The narrative also kicks off with a rocky start, chopped here and there, with information being dropped onto viewers every now and then without any steady continuity. But that could be explained by the fact that McKenna suffers a lot of blackouts this season, and since we see the tale from her perspective, there are gaps and holes that often seem haphazard.
That being said, it is Violet's character that keeps us glued for the most part. Considering her sinister presence in season 1, it's hard to tell for sure if she is an ally or the enemy to watch out for. The layered nature of the characters have also somewhat evaporated in season 2, but the eerieness of Violet as a possible antagonist, is always intact, and for that Ramm should take a much-deserved bow. There are a bunch of new characters who have been woven into the plot, but it seems like a struggling attempt at bringing in more spare people to wipe off at the end of the season, to keep the main characters alive.
In the end, it all ends up in McKenna and co risking it all to see themselves through the horrors of the game, but that's when the best part of the entire season arrives. We get a flashback of how McKenna's twin sister, Jenny, had died as in present time the gang lights candles, to prepare for another round of the disastrous game. McKenna says let's begin, and that's right where the season ends. Granted there are a few very obvious loopholes here and there, but if you enjoyed season 1, season 2 is definitely worth a watch. A little disappointing because the expectations were massive, but if not for anything, watch it for Ramm's portrayal of Violet.
'Light as a Feather' season two premiered on Friday, July 26 on Hulu.