Overlord Season 2 - Episode 2 (Review)
A Departure From Quality
Overlord II simply isn’t doing itself any favors. The pacing compared to the first season feels off. The first episode of season two felt like a setup for many things to come. It ended with a tribe and race full of new characters, the lizards. Little did we know that the second episode would be almost entirely dominated by them. All I can go off in comparison is the first two episodes of season one of Overlord. So far they are light years apart in terms of pacing and interest.I thought episode two would give us more action and the potential for more answers. Instead, it went in the complete opposite direction. It was made to be all about the Green Claw Tribe. This would be fine if it actually entailed something interesting. Almost the entire episode was simply backstory and talking. There is nothing wrong with setting up future plot points and backstory for characters we have just met. However doing it for two episodes straight, simply feels exhausting. The backstory of the Lizard tribes great war was interesting enough. It also leads to the plot point of attempting an alliance with the other tribes.
Slow Pace And Somehow Less Action
Brother of the leader of the Greenclaw tribe, Zaryusu Shasha has tasked himself with this challenge. This lead to the most interesting part of the episode. Rororo. A four-headed hydra-like creature that seems to be a companion to Zaryusu. That said, we didn’t get to see him do much other than walk around. Hopefully, in the future, we will see more personality from the creature, maybe even its abilities in battle.The pacing of this season so far is strange. It’s slow, with a lot of build up, but little in terms of plot movement and action. The scene with the assistant butler penguin wasn’t anything special. I get that they were attempting a comedic angle, a butler penguin trying to take over Nazarick with the power of… Cleaning. That scene had little place or meaning other than the failed comedy effect. Also to let the audience know we wouldn’t see the main character Ainz Ooal Gown in this episode. This is the first episode the main character hasn’t appeared. With something, Albedo said in the final episode of season one, “A human undead body can only reach level 40. Aura has found a village of Lizard men why not attack and destroy them?” Why do I get the feeling that the lizard tribe story only ends one way? With all of them together in one place just as Ainz Ooal Gown wants, so he can wipe them all out, thus creating a stronger larger undead army. If that ends up being the only payoff to all this, then these first two episodes were a complete waste, let’s hope that isn’t the case.
Overlord II Is Off To A Rough Start
If there was a more ridiculous scene than the penguin butler then it was the probably one with Zaryusu. He went to the Red Eye village to make an alliance or declare war on them, based their response to an alliance. It couldn’t have been a more awkward and weird attempt at humor right from the get-go. Zaryusu meets the chief, an albino lizard woman who looks more like a snake than a lizard. With eyes wide, he gets on his hands and knees sticks his mouth in the air and makes a sort of mating call. Not only was this painfully not funny, it sucked the drama right out of the room. It’s a pretty safe bet that a lizard woman whom a new main character expressed he wanted to marry after meeting her, was not going to go to war with his tribe all within the same scene.All in all this episode was an utter disappointment. With the first episode seeming to set up so much, I hoped for a big payoff this week. Turns out this episode was all about the lizards and it wasn’t even interesting. It also failed to set up much in terms of story and was even more devoid of action than the first episode. Whether or not we return to what’s happening with Ainz Ooal Gown next episode or we pick up where the lizards left off, one thing is clear. This season needs to pick up the pace and start delivering interesting plot points and answers, fast. Otherwise, this will end up being one of the biggest drop-offs for a show that I’ve ever seen. I really hope that doesn’t end up being the case, as season one was truly special.