Season two of Beastmaster is okay.
The Voden storyline had potential, but there were fewer explanations about the Nords than were needed to make them into a real distinct threat as compared to Zad's folks. Then things get screwy with geography. Tao always implied that he had been traveling a great distance, but now it turns out that Xinca is right next door to Zad's kingdom. Tao's return home is mishandled, saddled with a religion is bad story and his brother is wasted, here and then gone without much impact. And at the end, the Nords are swept away by Zad and that's the end of them.
The contrast between civilized Voden and savage Zad could have been worked more and more coherently. Fertile ground on a show about a man who talks to animals. There is just not the sophistication of theme that a later series might have.
As far as the only new characters who stick around goes, Arina isn't herself the problem, I do wish that they had skipped Orpheo and the idiotic pregnancy. Judging by how rarely (never) it got mentioned, I guess the writers felt the same. With some better backstory and a real connection to Voden, thugs might have had more depth and impact.
Iara was a good enough replacement for Curupira and the New Sorceress was as good a foil to the Ancient One as the old, if much different. What was going on there is this feeling that there are behind-the-scenes issues affecting the casting decisions because they just seem so random. Or maybe I'm just used being able to Google casting calls in real time these days.
Best of Season Two
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White Tiger
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The turnover between Curupira and Iara. Nice series mythology builder.
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A Terrible Silence
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Even if I kind of suspect the "elephant bones" were Styrofoam, it involved all the characters in interesting ways and had a nice finish.
Worst of Season Two
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Heart Like a Lion
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The whole thing comes down to laughing at the villain? Really?
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Game of Death
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Snoozer. Predictable. Predictable snoozer.