[Netflix Review] The Hollow Season 2 (2020) ★★★★☆

Mira, Adam and Kai in The Hollow season 2

The Hollow brings a new mystery and new adventures evolving beyond all fun and games. 

 


It’s time for next level gaming so join the second season of The Hollow. It’s is a great follow up to the first season with more monsters, other creatures, and another mystery, while the stakes are really high this time. We also get to know more about our heroes, who they are and how their family looks like, which gives the series a more rounded feel.

The adventures and monsters can be scary, it’s always dangerous but there’s also lots of room for fun and humor, although this time it gets more serious. This second season levels up in all kinds of ways and will be a treat for young and old(er) fantasy and horror lovers.

It will appeal to younger children from 6 years and up but older children and adults surely will like it too, due to the humor and some absurd characters.

This second season consists of 10 episodes with each a duration of 24 minutes. It has a monster-of-the-week structure and each episode they encounter a new danger to overcome and exciting creatures, while the big story arc involves figuring out why they are still in The Hollow.


Plot

After their victory of The Hollow game Adam, Mira and Kai wake up in their own beds. But something is wrong, very wrong. They are still digital, animated instead of real persons. Did they really win The Hollow game? Are they still in the Hollow and why? Does it have something to do with the glitch that also played up in the game/the first season? Is this level two and didn’t they win the game after all? Or is there something else entirely going on?

But they are not the only ones who are still there. The other team consisting of Skeet, Reeve and Vanessa are too. They have to figure it out, together, meanwhile facing their biggest fears, new monsters and creatures and in different and new environments. It’s a new mystery, and everything is different, even the rules have changed. It is going to be their most dangerous and important game they have ever played.


Why you should watch it

While the first season focused on the mystery who they are, where they are, and how they got there, this time it’s a little bit different. They now know they have played the game The Hollow and that they have won. Or did they? Now they have to figure out why they are still there. Meanwhile they have to keep playing.

But before they do end up in the gaming part of The Hollow, we meet them at their own homes. We meet Adam’s family and Mira’s and Kai proves to be insanely rich. Their background stories add more diversity and interesting elements of their characters to the story and is a good choice after we knew nothing about them. Now they become more real characters and they act slightly differently after having all their memories back. So their motivations and behavior is a bit different too.

This also means that old underlying problems are coming to the surface. Even more so now Skeet, Reeve and Vanessa are still in The Hollow too. None of them knows what’s going on and they have to work together. Overcoming their personal problems and trust issues. There’s more focus on the characters and is well balanced out with the dangers and adventures they have to face.

All these elements make this second season more interesting and fleshed out. It’s not about the game anymore, but about much more than that. The stakes are real this time and even can become a matter of life and death. This means that a death does happen and will leave our heroes devastated.

The adventures are all new and exiting. New creatures like Parrot people, a giant snail, a mad professor, Vikings, a water dragon, a dwarfish granny, and much more they have to face. They find themselves in a train full of ghosts, under water, in a strange puzzle environment, on an exotic island and other strange surroundings.

More importantly, they encounter another team, that they have to stop from winning. A lot is going on and the action and weird events are fast paced and fun and exciting. It’s another great adventure and let’s hope there will be lots more.


My favorite part

I like the episodes with the huge snail called Louie and the mad professor and that’s when they also meet Reeve and Vanessa for the first time. In the first season Adam, Kai and Mira had to learn to work together and now they are a great team. But now the two teams who used to be opponents have to work together to solve this new mystery. This is very well done and gives more friction.

But the story starts out great. Full of mystery and fun and serious personal issues, like a giant chicken, a creepy doll and bullies all mixed together. Jumping right into the action, fun and scary bits and new mysteries, it shows exactly what this series is all about.

Also some details are very funny, like when the water dragon is touching and feeling with its tongue the hole in its mouth where its big tooth used to be. It’s such a fun little detail that really makes the series more entertaining.


Ratings

Rating: ★★★★☆

Scare factor: ★★★☆☆

Thrill factor: ★★★★☆

Entertainment factor: ★★★★★