matthewjmiles

It came as a complete surprise to me that the second season of CBS' Strange Angel had, not only debuted, but aired in its entirety by the end of July this year. I was a fan of the first season, enough to the point that I had spoken about it and visited this IMDb page multiple times, so I am kind of shocked that the microphones in the devices around me and the cookies online didn't in some way advertise this to me a few months ago. I certainly heard about the second season of Lodge 49 in that inadvertent way, through a promoted ad on Facebook or Reddit, which I watched at around the same time as this last year. Granted, I don't have CBS' streaming service, but due to the still rather obscure nature of this show, maybe CBS should be making more efforts to promote their content. Nevertheless, it was of course pleasant when I did discover its existence to be able to watch the entire season immediately - now a seven episode run, down from ten - and I have come to the verdict that... it was good.

As I expressed in my review of the first season, I don't have any knowledge really of the history of American rocketry, nor the particulars of Thelema and its famous faces. I can only base an opinion of the two as they are portrayed in the show, but also I can't be sore that something like a depiction of Aleister Crowley as we see added to this season might have disappointed me in relation to the real man. I did delve briefly into the official Thelema subreddit and witnessed several doubters who seemed entirely opposed to this story simply because it borrows from a legitimate religion. I don't think this should be an issue; even if Angus Macfadyen's portrayal of Crowley WAS way off from the real thing, there's nothing to say that a creative interpretation of the character, whether accurate or not, would not be completely acceptable in this context. The story is serviced by the real world inspiration, not the other way around.

So, I guess I should talk about the actual content of the show. This season continues almost immediately from the half-cliffhanger of Ernest dive-bombing his plane towards Jack. The people of Thelema move into Jack and Susan's mansion, which inevitably gives the Magus - Alfred Miller - a much more prominent role where we get to see his character in various new scenarios where he is not just acting as the Magus. In addition, the first rumblings of World War Two consume the world and prevent any further progress on the rocketry project, but re-positions Jack and Richard's team with a military group. All of this amounts to a solid season that I think justified the episode count, and wisely they didn't need to stretch it out to ten episodes like the first season. One of my favourite aspects of TV is character development. I think TV has the most potential to display this, naturally as it has a longer form than any other medium. The pace and development of the show feels largely premeditated, like the entire course of the story (which I believe has been confirmed to span five seasons) has been meticulously planned out, as each prominent character is addressed in turn with a new element added to their subplots and none are left by the wayside with the promise that they'll be focused on more in later episodes. This all lends to the quality of the story and our interpretation of events as we follow Jack throughout the season. The production value and visuals remain at a superb standard, again allowing no doubt that what we are looking at isn't early 20th Century America. To top it off Ben Wheatley directs twice the amount of episodes than he did in the first season, which is great to see.

Overall I'd still recommend Strange Angel to viewers both interested in the subject matter of Thelema and rocket science and those who know absolutely nothing about it. I can imagine based on what we've seen so far that - if they do indeed make it to five seasons - each subsequent season will continue the tone and pace already established while developing the characters into relatable, increasingly three-dimensional figures and upping the stakes as befits the story. With a new character playing the role of a cliffhanger to this second season, it's clear that the path into the next is already laid out. I'm happy that the people who are watching are enjoying it, to the point that it could become a kind of (literal) cult classic, but I would still say that it is flying under the radar and could benefit from a push in advertising, as I think this would be well received (even with its more controversial aspects like it explores within Thelema) as a flagship CBS show in the mainstream. That is up to them, I suppose.