TELEVISION REVIEW: Masters Of The Universe Revelation Pt. 2 (Netflix)

 (Virginia - ENRA)

Let's just get right into this:

Part one of 'Revelation' was almost universally regarded as a pooch-screwing. He-Man was almost nowhere to be found, replaced by a whining, childish Mary Sue lead in the form of Teela. Roll credits. (Read my review of Part 1 here for more information.)

One of the biggest complaints that everyone had about Part 1 was that it felt like a gigantic bait and switch. That's...because it pretty much was. In spite of this, Kevin Smith doubled down and offered up this quote to the press:

“Like, you really f-cking think Mattel Television, who hired me and paid me money, wants to do a f-cking ‘Masters of the Universe’ show without He-Man? Grow the f-ck up, man. Like, that blew my mind, bunch of people being like, ‘Oh, I smell it. This is a bait and switch.'”

The backlash for the show continued to ramp up in a massive wave of negative press. Most of the positive feedback centered around the inclusion of strong female characters and having a new, black character created for the show. All of that's lovely for a show about those things...but last time I checked the show's title... (Looks up at the title...) 

Yeah.

Part 1 of the show ended on a wee bit of a cliffhanger that I will admit was kind of cool. Then, as is the way of things, we had to wait for more. The good news was that, in the grand scheme of things, we didn't have to wait that long.

The bad news?

Well..is there bad news?

THE SHORT VERSION:

Eh.  Kind of, yeah.

THE LONG, SOMEWHAT SPOILER-ISH VERSION:

I'd kill to know if this is how Part 2 was always supposed to go or if they hurriedly changed some things to try and make up for the absolute dumpster fire that was Part 1.

Part 2 picks up pretty much right where Part 1 ends, warts and all. I'll spare you the majority of the details and summarize thusly:

- Teela is still pretty much the chief spokesperson for Mary Sue perfume. She can do no wrong and is being lined up as the next Sorceress. She receives no training. She's just a natural, baby! This is her story and He-Man is a supporting character. This theme follows through to the very last episode where even He-Man basically points at her and says, "This is her story now, not mine."
- He-Man is still basically nowhere to be found.  Prince Adam is around quite a bit, and there are two cool scenes involving what the internet is calling 'Savage He-Man', but you don't really get strong He-Man action until the very last episode.
- Evil-Lyn loses clothing the stronger she gets. Because while female heroes get more clothing, female villains get less.  Empowerment! Plus, her brain basically falls out of her ass about halfway through the arc removing all hope of a meaningful salvage of her character. Skeletor just wanted to rule. Evil-Lyn wants to destroy reality itself, which...there's a message there somewhere, I'm sure of it.
- Skeletor does bone. Figuratively and literally. Which I have no reason or need or desire to know about but Part 2 felt the need to share for some strange reason. That sound you hear is me throwing up in my mouth.
- The stakes at the end of the series are so ridiculous that they're irrelevant, even for a cartoon.

Bottom line, everything that was bad about the last series is bad here. The few little good things are also present though. The animation is still gorgeous, the voice actors are chewing the scenery as hard as possible, and ... well, Part 2 is just a little better than its predecessor in terms of storyline.

I'll say that there is ONE beat in Part 2 that was legitimately fist-pumping for me and that was the return of a dead hero.  You'll know it when you see it, complete with the best one-liner about tasty, tasty fear.

MOTUR Part 2 ends not with a roar but a whimper, an attempt at trying to level out some of the gross stupidity found in its predecessor. There are more successes to be sure but not nearly enough. Worse, you get the feeling that it could have been so much more with just a little more thought and a little less wokeness.  Even that is tough to argue against though. Girls being able to look at their heroes and see themselves is important and lord knows it's long overdue. I just wish they'd found a way to do it without stomping all over everything else in the process.

Oh, and that ending? It's pointless.  You can't have a conflict like the one that Part 2 ended with and then follow it up with anything that even remotely matters. In this, the show painted itself into a nasty corner.

Alas, I'm just not sure how many people are going to be waiting to help it out.