Fate: The Winx Saga: Season 2 (Final)

  

Based on: Winx Club (2004) Nickelodeon animated series created by Iginio Straffi

Created by: Brian Young

Producer by: Jon Finn, Macdara Kelleher, John Keville, Edmund Sampson

Starring: Abigail Cowen (Bloom), Hannah van der Westhuysen (Stella), Precious Mustapha (Aisha), Eliot Salt (Terra), Elisha Applebaum (Musa), Danny Griffin (Sky), Sadie Soverall (Beatrix), Paulina Chávez (Flora), Eve Best (Farah Dowling), Miranda Richardson (Rosalind Hale)

Although the first season absolutely enamored me, this second (and sadly final) season seemed to fall short. 

It was great to see all the familiar characters from season 1 back again. It was also refreshing to see old enemies become new allies under the dictator-like ruling of Headmistress Rosalind. Her strict, emotionless style had a way of bringing the students together. I really enjoyed the new character of Flora coming in near the beginning and lending her own plant-based skills to the team. I also loved Stella, a former self-decided enemy of Bloom, putting aside her differences to help the team. This was especially true near the end when she used her personal influence to give legal advise when Bloom was in need. But sadly, that's just about all I can say very positively about this season. As I think about this season, mostly negative things come to mind. So in a break from tradition and from the theme of my blog... I feel a need to write the truth. 

Terra's friend, Flora, using her powers

Terra and Flora on some kind of mission together. Flora definitely represented the better aspects of the season; she was always fun to watch

It didn't help that the season 1 finale seemed to kill off one of the show's best characters, Headmistress Dowling. This murder happened very suddenly and unexpectedly. It felt abrupt and without foreshadow to me.. and I didn't think the tragedy was felt enough over this second season. Dowling was beloved by most of the fairies in the show, especially Bloom. There were a couple mentions of searching for her, but other than that, she seemed to disappear as a character. For a being of her power and influence, that was both tragic and unrealistic. Overall, this second season simply felt like it petered out a bit; I didn't feel as strong an emotional connection with the characters as I had in the first season and the stakes didn't feel as personal or real. For lack of better words, the season felt like it was forcing itself to proceed forward. 

Headmistress Rosalind doing something probably nefarious and dictatorial... or maybe she's just teaching

I thought the season's overall plot was odd and contrived. It seemed to depart from the original Burned Ones season plot, which I didn't get the impression that season 1 solved (though I may be wrong). Instead, they introduced a new being whose intention was to absorb the powers of fairies to use them for himself. I felt like this came out of nowhere and didn't serve to build the world and its history like the Burned Ones did. Season 1 also had an excellent plot of backstory with a destroyed village and certain characters' part in that... which seemed to fizzle away this season. I don't remember that being concluded, but again, that might just be me. 

Bloom activating her "Dragon Flame," which was a plot device in both seasons, but I don't feel like it was every adequately explained or utilized 

The season finale also felt undeserved. In the season 1 finale, Bloom transforms into a full fairy, wings of fire bursting out of her in a beautiful display. Her transformation felt very earned because she had been training with her fire throughout the season and had felt inklings of it trying to burst out of her. In the season 1 finale, she talked about simply releasing what was already burning inside of her and wanting to be let out. The season 2 finale had all of Bloom's fairy friends transform in the same way. While it was an admittedly beautiful moment of teamwork in desperation, it didn't have the same kind of earned feel as Bloom's own transformation, and for that reason, it fell emotionally flat. None of the other fairies had been striving hard to produce more of and control their element. None of them had tried to transform before, or even talked about it. None of them had discussed a process or given a reason why they hadn't transformed before this. So when they all decided to simply transform alongside Bloom, it felt like a flat spectacle of visual effects without the emotion or character connection to bring it to life. 

I'm sad to have to write an entry like this, but I stared at the blank blog page for some time before realizing I really didn't have much positive to say. I'll still end on a good note-- it was fun to watch. If I didn't enjoy it overall, I wouldn't have finished the season or have even continued to write this. I enjoyed watching Bloom and all the fairies over the whole season. Even though the writing and development felt like it declined, it was still effective escapism and a fun world to simply be part of.