'The Order' Season 2 Review: Netflix fantasy drama gets funnier and snarkier as Knights set to take revenge
Spoilers for 'The Order' Season 2
When Netflix dropped 'The Order' last year, most of us didn't think there was something new — a boy goes away to school and joins a secret magical society to avenge his mother's death. However, what set 'The Order' apart in its first season was its snark and witty humor.
In Season 1, we met Jack Morton (Jake Manley) who just got accepted into Belgrave University. His aim is to get into the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose — a secret society where his father Edward Coventry (Max Martini) is a member. Jack and his grandfather Pete Morton (Matt Frewer) both blame Edward for Jack's mother's death. Over the course of the first season, Jack becomes a member of the titular Order, but he also becomes a member of the Knights of Saint Christopher — a group of werewolves who guard against evil magic. In 'The Order', the werewolf lore is different in that one becomes a werewolf when a werewolf hide chooses them. The Knights' job description makes them the Order's rivals.
By the end of the first season, Edward was defeated after some members of the Order and the Knights decided to work together. Edward wanted to obtain the power of the Vade Maecum, a magical book, to remake the world in his image. However, when Jack switched out himself for a golem as Edward tried to sacrifice his first-born son to the Vade Maecum, Edward gets trapped in the book.
Before the season ends, the members of the Order wipe the memories of all of the Knights of Saint Christopher, including Jack, Randall Carpio (Adam DiMarco), Hamish Duke (Thomas Elms) and Lilith Bathory (Devery Jacobs). When Season 2 starts, the Knights are scattered having lost all memory of anything magical, including their werewolf selves. Each of them is also monitored by an Order acolyte. Unfortunately for Jack, his monitor is Gabrielle Dupres (Louriza Tronco), who uses the magic to convince Jack that he is in love with her.
The Order's technique is not completely effective, however, as the Knights keep getting their memory back. When mysterious magical deaths start to happen all over campus, the Order's new Magistratus, Alyssa Drake (Sarah Grey), decides to go behind the Order and its new Grand Magus, Vera Stone's (Katharine Isabelle), back and give the Knights back their memories by the end of the first episode. Thus begins a new kind of world within 'The Order'. Vera's plan is to induct the Knights as members of the Order so she can have powerful werewolves under her control. However, with their memories back, the Knights are keener on revenge, especially Randall, who feels like his life was stolen from it. A new, fragile bond forms between the werewolves and Alyssa as they fight new threats that crop up.
It is in the second season that 'The Order' finds its footing and gets more confident in its brand of comical fantasy drama, a brand that sets it apart from other fantasy shows such as 'The Magicians' or network television's 'Legacies'. 'The Order' is funny and the writers know it, peppering all the episodes with humor, often dark and unsettling. There is much more action in Season 2 and it seems like the writers may not run out of ideas ever. The introduction of another Amish-like magical society, an anarchic set of humans, and other elements make this season more enjoyable than the last.
If there is one thing we would want to complain about, it would be the progression of a certain central character. We won't spoil who that is here, but for the second half of the season, it felt like the writers were unsure of how to proceed with their storyline, ending with a mashup of multiple arcs that did not do that character any service. However, as we mentioned before, Season 2 is funnier and sharper. And while the character mentioned above progressed weirdly, other characters have had their growth written into the story quite effectively — Gabrielle Dupres is certainly one to watch out for in later seasons.
'The Order' Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.