Let’s do a little recapping from season one to get everyone up to speed.
Season one of From Dusk Till Dawn was mainly a retelling of the original movie with some major changes and additions. We were introduced to a few characters that were not in the film, namely Freddie Garcia, a Texas Ranger who’s tracking the Gecko Brothers to avenge the death of his partner, and Carlos, a vampire from the conquistador era who’s looking to raise his status within the vampire clan.
Season one also managed to expand upon some of the lesser characters in the film. In the series, Santánico Pandemonium plays a much bigger role as we learn she was enslaved and turned to a vampire to lure men to the dinner table, so to speak. Richard Gecko, famously played by Quentin Tarantino in the film, also plays a bigger part in the series. Rather than a murderous dolt who can’t control his sexual desires, we learn that Richie suffers from visions that lead him to commit these murderous actions.
Season one ends much like the film, with Seth and Kate driving off into the sunrise in a badass car. Where it differs is Richie is still alive (well kind of) and runs off with Santánico to form a sort of vampire Bonnie and Clyde. Kate’s brother Scott also manages to escape his original combustive death from the film and is now stuck in the Titty Twister as a member of the vampire horde.
What season two improves on is escaping from the trap of being limited by the plot of the original film. It’s a sequel that carries familiar characters into parts unknown. The characters are now able to distance themselves from the original source material and grow at their own pace. Furthermore, the audience can watch these characters go through their journeys without any knowledge of what’s to come next.
Season two takes place three months after the escape from the Titty Twister. We learn that Richie and Santánico are on a mission to take on the Nine Lords, hitting them where it hurts, their pocketbooks.
Richie, now a vampire, is starkly different from season one. Now on his own, he is out of the shadow of his more capable brother and seeks to make a name for himself. His is the biggest transition of any of the surviving cast and probably the storyline I’m most invested in. Vampirism and the loss of his visions have made him a new man. He’s much more take-charge and has decided to symbolically lay the old, bumbling Richie to rest.
In an interesting crisscross, Seth has become somewhat unhinged. He and Kate are also living a life of crime, hitting small jobs here and there to make ends meet. The both of them are haunted by the fact that their siblings are still out there somewhere as vampires and it’s taking a toll on them emotionally. Where Richie has moved on and acquired a newfound confidence, Seth has turned to drugs and has hit rock bottom. One of the more interesting scenes involving Seth is where he kills a hotel clerk that turns out to be a vampire. Although he was right in his suspicions, his rationale comes from a place of paranoia somewhat like Richie’s from season one.
It’s also pretty clear that Seth might be somewhat reliant on Kate to keep him in check. Unlike Seth, Kate is convinced she can save her brother somehow. At this juncture her quest seems to be doomed from the get go, as Scott seemed completely at ease as a vampire and has settled into a sort of “familiar” role, subservient to more established vampires.
Although “Opening Night” does touch on Freddie and Carlos, we don’t learn much about their story over the last three months. Freddie still appears to be completely engrossed with taking down the Gecko boys and not much is revealed about his family that he left behind or his new role as a member of an ancient line of vampire hunters.
Carlos does emerge from the labyrinth underneath the Titty Twister. We find that he has decided to defang himself (for some reason), but other than that not much is revealed.
By far, Santánico’s journey is the most interesting thing season two has opened for us. We learn that a new bad guy, Malvado, has come to clean up shop after the destruction at the Titty Twister. We learn that Santánico and Malvado have a deep history, as he was the one who enslaved Santánico and taught her to be the siren-like murderer she is today. The hate runs deep with Santánico with all her focus aimed at taking down Malvado.
Santánico’s story does pose a problem for season two in that it’s basically the same as Freddie’s but far more interesting. As where Freddie wants revenge for the death of his partner, Santánico was enslaved by Malvado for hundreds of years and turned into a monster. So much more seems at stake with Santánico’s revenge quest than Freddie’s. Also, Freddie’s backstory is pretty much known to us by this point unlike Santánico’s. who we are learning more about as the show progresses. Unless the series decides to give Freddie a new motivation, I see his story being overshadowed by Santánico’s in the future.
So far, Season two of From Dusk Till Dawn has managed to open up some new and interesting directions for the franchise to go, but in doing so it may have wrote itself into a corner with some of the other characters. Unless season two manages to find new motivations for some of it’s returning characters, the series may be dragged down by repetition.
Posted By Mike
