Well, the good news is that the second season of Citadel is a vast improvement over the first. The six episodes released in 2023 seemed not just undeveloped but unfinished. Everything was rushed, and the bland characters were reduced to chess pieces. Even visually, it looked worse than detritus.
Season 2, on the other hand, arrives with a greater sense of assurance. It's conceived around high points, and those moments are packed with deaths and plot twists. After the spectacular failure of Season 1, the creators—Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil—must have been determined to prove what they wanted Citadel to be. Their "vision" can be glimpsed in the newly released seven episodes, and it essentially boils down to this: no one is truly a hero, and anyone can die at any time.
That's a good enough manifesto for a superficial, serviceable series whose highlights are shocking revelations and fatalities. Season 2 does manage to shock, but the effect, alas, is only temporary. While it's a step up from the previous season, it remains a continuation of the same flawed foundation. Since the characters have been flat from the beginning, we don't care about their fates or tragedies. Nor do these new episodes make much effort to fix this problem. Instead, they rely on sentimental dialogue, with characters repeatedly declaring their deep, overwhelming affection for one another.
This is, after all, a show produced by the Russo Brothers, with Joe Russo directing a few episodes this time. Their involvement brings a distinctly Marvel-like touch, which is why sentimental lines are often paired with jokey lines. It's the kind of humor familiar from Marvel films—deflating serious moments with a quip. When Mason (Richard Madden) tries to explain himself sincerely, James Hutch (Jack Reynor) cuts him off, saying no one wants to hear his speech. Meanwhile, the early scenes between James and Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci) veer into buddy-comedy territory—specifically, the kind seen between clashing superheroes with contrasting personalities.
Of course, some jokes feel as forced as the quips in Marvel movies. When Paulo (Gabriel Leone) cries over "wood reclaimed from a Tuscan barn," the series seems to be stretching his eccentricity for no real purpose (his "fine taste" doesn't pop up elsewhere in the series). The visuals, too, fall somewhere between competent and chintzy. Some establishing shots—featuring city names pasted over mansion exteriors—become repetitive. In one episode, a drawing of a wolf appears so frequently that it grows irritating, a clumsy attempt at making a moral point or something.
Citadel's most showy sequence is set at a gala, where the creators experiment with color and light. The result is superficially attractive—much like the plot twists. And that, ultimately, is what Season 2 amounts to: superficially attractive. A character describes Mason as a "sexy robot," and the phrase applies just as well to the series itself. It has a glossy surface but is hollow emotionally. It's junk food—thoroughly vapid.
Final Score - [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times