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Logan, alias cable-hacker Eyes Only, believes Max to be dead.
In fact the transgenic cat burglar is alive - but far from
well - back in the clutches of Manticore, the secret scientific
organisation that created her. When she attempts to escape,
Max discovers that Manticore's previous experiments spawned
far more frightening creations than enhanced humans such as
herself...
The
second season of James Cameron and Charles Eglee's Dark
Angel also turned out to be the last, as the series has
been cancelled. That is a pity, though to be fair this season
is not of the same consistently high quality as the first.
The
previous season ended up with the two main characters, Max
(Jessica Alba) and Logan (Michael Weatherly), on the verge
of consummating their "will they, won't they" relationship.
Such events have been the death knell of series such Moonlighting
and The New Adventures of Superman, so Cameron and
Eglee take steps to prevent their two leads from getting jiggy.
Max is injected with a bio-toxin keyed to Logan's genetic
profile, which means that the lovers cannot touch without
risking Logan's life. This plot device successfully maintains
a tangible sexual tension, although the number of times that
Max declares the relationship to be over because she can't
stand the heartache any longer does grow rather repetitive.
Other
developments in this season take the form of replacements
for characters from the first one. Now that Lydecker (John
Savage) has redeemed himself of his bad guy role, a new villain
is introduced in the shape of Ames White (Martin Cummins),
a government agent who is intent upon tracking down all the
transgenics. But White's true agenda is far more complex than
it initially appears, and the plot twists concerning him keep
on turning throughout the series.
Another replacement character is Alec (Jensen Ackles), the
new recurring male X5 transgenic, who sort of takes over from
William Gregory Lee's Zack. However, Alec is much more of
a lovable rogue than the zealous Zack ever was. Alec is played
by the same actor who appeared in the previous season as the
deranged X5 Ben. It is explained in the opening instalment,
"Designate This", that Alec and Ben are clone brothers,
which actually becomes a plot point later in the year.
Probably
the biggest change for this season is the introduction of
a diverse array of weird and wonderful Manticore mutants,
which Max releases into the big wide world. These part-human
part-animal creations include a lizard man, a mermaid, and
the dog-like Joshua, who becomes a regular character. Sympathetically
portrayed by Kevin Durand, Joshua provides much of the series'
comic relief, such as when he frequently strays among the
public against the advice of Max, or when he raids the contents
of Logan's fridge in Borrowed Time. But things take
a more serious turn towards the end of the series, as the
stakes are raised during the final five episodes, in which
Joshua faces heartbreak while public hostility towards transgenics
reaches its flashpoint.
It's
not all doom and gloom, however. A couple of earlier instalments
are predominantly light-hearted: the Halloween episode, Boo,
and the mafia tale, Fuhgeddaboudit, which features
a transgenic called Mia (Tracy Leah Ryan) who is able to manipulate
the minds of others. Humorous situations abound as the deceptively
ditzy Mia encourages Max and Logan to reveal their innermost
feelings for each other and persuades Alec and Logan to hug!
The
hour-long finale, Freak Nation, offers some sense of
closure, although it is clear that the series still had some
way to go in terms of explaining Max's intended role according
to the plans laid out by the mysterious Manticore founder,
Sandeman.
The
first season DVD box set was not exactly brimming with extras,
but we get even fewer of them here. Apart from a trailer for
the video game (again), all we have is a six-minute featurette
discussing the processes that contributed to the visualisation
of 2020 Seattle.
As
I said before, Season Two of Dark Angel is not as good
as the first. Nevertheless, the 21 episodes in this box set
remain far more entertaining than a lot of shows on air at
the moment. So get down to the stores, people - bip, bip,
bip!
Richard
McGinlay
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