Preview: From Dusk Till Dawn Season 2
Ted Hentschke
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When I first heard they were making a “From Dusk Till Dawn” TV show for Robert Rodriguez’s newly launched El Rey Network, it honestly struck me as desperate and confusing. I had no idea how they would manage to make a show out of a film that earned cult status primarily by gluing two completely different grindhouse films together and releasing it like a makeshift centaur to a natural history museum.
I always enjoy watching it with people who haven’t seen it before, with a look of bewilderment quickly overcoming their faces as the taut crime thriller takes a hard right turn into exploding vampire city. It feels like two acts of two completely different plays, not so much meshing the styles of screenwriter Quentin Tarantino and director Rodriguez as having them duel in a breakdance fight, except one of them is breakdancing and the other is putting on a very impressive polka. I fucking loved every second of it.
I was unsure how they would stretch that into 10-part series. I imagine unfamiliar viewers would be quite taken aback when their tense crime drama, rife with suspense and subtle yet rich characterization, suddenly turned into a multi-episode fight scene against squishy vampires. When the series came out on Netflix, curiosity drove me into an all-night binge watch, which repeated itself the next day when I made my friends sit through the series all over again. I thought the show was brilliant, greatly expanding on the source material to make a show far more compelling than the admittedly silly original.
When we last left our heroes, Richie had just become a Culebra and left with Santanico to take down the head of the serpentine organization. Seth and Kate ride off together, presumably up to more endearing thievery. Freddie has gone home to his family, and Carlos is braving the test of the labyrinth. It was a thematic end to the story arc, which was loosely based on the Popol Vuh mythology of the hero twins Xbalanque and Hunahpu. As the tale goes, after the twins defeat the shadowy lords of Xibalba, they return to the world of man. Hunahpu became the Sun, and Xbalanque become the Moon. Dawn and Dusk. Bet you didn’t realize your silly vampire show was so symbolic, did you?
Notice how his hair is slicked to the left while hers is to the right, symbolizing their love drawing them together? Right, guys? Right?
Since the new season premiers tomorrow with the first episode, “Opening Night,” (or you can watch it NOW), I’ll try not to spoil too much. It picks up a little bit after where the first season left off, with everyone set on their new paths and without significant plot having happened in the meantime. Richie and Santanico are continuing their crusade, while Seth and Kate are continuing just trying to have enough money to stay ahead of the cops. For an opening act, it feels a bit slow. While the action does ramp up towards the end, this is mostly just a gallery of vignettes to set up all the characters important to this season.
“Don’t let ’em see you cry, Seth. *sniff* Embrace the pain and brood.”
Episode 2.02, “In A Dark Time,” is really where the story kicks into gear. If you have not watched the first season, do not jump in now. While a lot was still left up to mystery in Season 1, Season 2 relies so heavily on you being familiar with various events from the first season that watching this blind would be like trying to decipher the plot of “Game of Thrones” with only the execution scene of Ned Stark to go off of. Go ahead… go watch it. I’ll wait.
Cool, you finish it? All right, that slow burn mythology story just got cranked up to 11. While still maintaining a lot of the piecemeal revelations, shit is happening from the get-go. New big baddie Lord Amancio Malvado (Esai Morales) makes his debut, walking through the door and promptly cutting off Narciso’s face before adding it to his trenchcoat made of faces. Quite the intro, Rodriguez, on par with the ball collector from Planet Terror. Danny Trejo also debuts as “The Regulator,” an otherwise unnamed killing machine that eats eyeballs to steal knowledge.
I can’t tell who’s glaring at me more… him or his jacket.
I don’t really know how much more I can sell you on this series. It’s got a guy who makes jackets out of faces and a Danny Trejo golem that eats eyes. Narratively, it is reflective of the first season, with a number of different stories all leading to a convergence. I’m interested to see how the now insane Carlos fits into the picture, with the final scene of the second episode providing a particularly poignant “badass but crazy” moment. Sex Machine is back, which might seem a bit contrived, but their explanation just leads to more questions that I can’t wait to have answered.
Smolder.
Everything is lining up nicely for the second season of “From Dusk Till Dawn.” They are boldly treading into new waters with the plot of the film no longer serving as material. As a way to get me pumped for what is in store this season, the first two episodes were an injection of excitement straight into my brain stem.
If you are a fan of the series, do not miss the premier tomorrow night. If you are not, what are you waiting for? It’s got hot snake vampires and a Danny Trejo golem. Get your shit together.
And here we see a Danny Trejo in the wild, hunting a herd of eyeballs.
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