credit: The Mighty Ducks
Welcome back to The Gilmore Girls, I mean The Mighty Gilmores, I mean…oh yeah, The Mighty Ducks. It’s kind of tough to remember whose show this is at times since the title would indicate that it’s about the titular Mighty Ducks, even when the content leans more toward an episodic drama that is about a bunch of kids that are learning to play hockey, AND deal with their lives as things change. It’s easy to see how season 1 was such a good time since not only were there cameos by a few of the original actors from the movies, but Emilio Estevez became an important character as well.
Unfortunately, the one character that was already kind of awkward, Alex, is only getting worse as the dramatic arc continues to build and Alex is once again fighting against the notion that she is in over her head and is sinking quickly.
In the first season, her intentions were easy to deal with since she wanted to further her son’s love for hockey, and she wanted to make a group of kids that no one believed in finally win the big one, so to speak. The problem in season 2 is that her desire for fairness and inclusion has reached a point where it’s no longer as useful and is instead cloying and a bit childish.
credit: The Mighty Ducks
It’s actually possible to root for the supposed jerk in this season.
Coach Cole isn’t nearly as much of a jerk as Coach T was in the first season, and what’s more, he does have a son that he cares about, even if he can’t really connect with him. It does feel that if, or rather when, the miracle happens that Alex’s team beats Cole’s, Coach Cole will be proud of his son and eat humble pie gladly as Alex gets to show that the underdog will always win with heart.
The downside here is that the idea that underdogs will always win just because they believe in themselves is a bit harmful when it comes to sports, and to life in general. Like it or not, Coach Cole’s approach might need a few tweaks to avoid being too stressful, but he’s training kids to excel and to push themselves in ways that will help to shape their futures.
They can be kids off the ice, but if one desires to go as far as they can, Alex’s attitude of ‘We’re okay, we’ve got heart’ doesn’t really stack up to superior training and a desire to be the best. Heart is important without a doubt, but without skill, it’s only going to carry one so far.
I’ll come out and say it, the Ducks have changed, and not for the better.
In the movies, the Ducks always had issues to deal with, whether they were personal or part of the team dynamic. But so far, it would appear that Maya, Koob, and Sam are little more than hustlers who don’t know how to run a hustle, Nick is a little weasel who fancies himself an analyst, Sofi’s heart is no longer in the game like it used to be, and Evan is all ambition since he can’t wait to be drafted by Coach Cole for the big, upcoming tournament.
The Ducks aren’t exactly unified, they’re simply together, save for Evan, who does get selected for Cole’s team. One could say that the Ducks have another ace in Coach Cole’s son Jace, but that remains to be seen. What can be seen at this point is that Alex had no idea of what she was doing when she applied for this job since she was likely thinking that hockey camp would be like regular summer camp.
credit: The Mighty Ducks
Lauren Graham is not Heidi Kling or Kathryn Erbe.
Heidi Kling, who was Charlie’s mother in the first movie and made another appearance in the third movie, was a great character for the story, as was Kathryn Erbe, who is a much better actress than Graham. The character of Alex likely works for others, but as a helicopter parent who doesn’t know how to let go and allow her son to live a bit and has the temerity to challenge a coach that’s actually been in the NHL and knows what he’s doing, she’s kind of a mess.
If she gets to pull out a win with her team this season, it will affirm that not only has the point of the Mighty Ducks been reduced to a ‘You’re okay, I’m okay, we’re all okay’ type of theme, but it will show that the spirit of the Ducks has deflated in a big way since, at this point, the kids earned their win in the first season, but they haven’t earned anything at this point.
If there’s a season three to this show, then it needs to make a significant move and dump a couple of characters.
Lose Nick and Alex to start with, and perhaps lose the entire cast save for Evan, who might be interesting to see return as a coach after a serious time jump. At this point, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers has managed to change so much of the story that it’s become little more than a faint shadow of the movies.
a faint shadow
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