It’s been well over a year since El Rey’s From Dusk Till Dawn concluded its first season. While the first ten episodes of the show were an expanded adaptation of Robert Rodriguez’s first film in the franchise, everything from here on out will be, more or less, completely original. We’ve already been introduced to a wealth of characters in the expanded mythology, though, so there’s definitely plenty of room for the story to flow. Let’s take a look at the long-awaited Season 2 premiere, “Opening Night.” As usual, I’ll try to keep major spoilers to a minimum here.
The episode begins with a brief recap of the latter half of the previous season during a voice-over from Santanico. During this narration, she explains how angry her former masters are over losing control of her, but Santanico will be coming for them before they can find her. The story then cuts to the present day, where Santanico is now employed at a low-level in the meat industry. Her boss, however, isn’t the noblest of men, and he is forced to succumb to a plot by Santanico and Richie Gecko. Luckily for him, though, he knows more about the Culebras than expected, and he manages to capture the pair.
Flashing back, we witness the beginning of Richie and Santanico’s plan as they stake out the meat plant. We learn that the plant may be connected in some way to Santanico’s former masters, and the recently-turned Gecko plans to use this connection to find the leader of the Nine Lords. The performances on From Dusk Till Dawn have always been somewhat surprisingly spectacular, and these scenes between Richie and Santanico are no exception. She has been a strength ever since she made her first appearance, and the show looks to continue this trend in the new season.
We move back to the infamous Titty Twister to see that things aren’t going nearly as well for the masters as they once had before the escape of Santanico. Additionally, Scott is now the seeming-pet of the masters. The scene at the bar introduces an interesting new character to the mythos that I’m sure will prove to be a great addition this season.
We also catch up with Katie and Seth Gecko, who are now on the run. Madison Davenport and D.J. Cotrona were both incredible in the show’s first season; they always had great chemistry whenever they appeared together on-scree together and the status quo in “Opening Night” gives us even more than last year. It’s really interesting to be able to see these two unlikely allies (that definitely don’t like each other as much as they probably would hope to) having to work together in this new life, and I’m so very excited to see how the events between these two play out over the course of the season. We learn that, while Seth is simply looking to survive, Katie is actively looking for Scott and trying to find a way to help him.
I don’t want to go too in-depth about the plot, but I do want to briefly talk about a couple of things. The first is the music and sound design in the episode. It’s a smaller thing to most people, but a great score really allows me to invest more fully in a show, and the score on From Dusk Till Dawn has always been pretty stellar. I wouldn’t really say that it’s anything special or unique, but the appropriateness of it allows the show to be engrossing on an entirely different level. The other thing is the set design. While the first season of the show was largely set in a single location, this episode really opened up and expanded the world in a great way. The design of the set and the production values are spot-on, and it reminds me (in a really good way) of the design of Resident Evil 4. While great acting and story are vital to a strong show, good production values add so much more, and it really gives the audience a much better experience than they would have otherwise.
Possibly the most exciting thing about this season of From Dusk Till Dawn, as I mentioned in the beginning, is that this year’s story will be a completely original addition to the universe’s mythology. It was great to see a serialized television adaptation last year in what was definitely one of the best action-oriented shows on television, but it’s just so exciting to see such a fun world expanded even more. The cast, including the new additions (at least so far), are just as great as ever, and the action is already living up to what we’ve come to know and love from this show. We’ve still got an entire season to go, so things could definitely take a turn for the worse, but “Opening Night” was a very strong opening that left me wanting a whole lot more.
What did you think about the season premiere of From Dusk Till Dawn? Are you excited to see where the story goes from here? Let us know in the comments below!
[Photo via El Rey Network]
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