Summary
A change of location doesn’t sap any of the pace and thrills of this accomplished Belgian thriller.
This review of Into the Night season 2 is spoiler-free.
When it debuted last year, Belgium’s genre-blending original series Into the Night turned out to be quite the surprise hit. Masquerading as a simple hijacking thriller, it gradually revealed a much wider dystopian sci-fi premise, and across six zippy episodes, it never let the pacing or the tension sag. It’s little surprise, then, that the second season, which boasts a very similar structure, is also pretty good, even if it takes an episode or two to get going after the sheer pedal-to-the-metal pace of the original outing.
That outing kept a small-ish group of survivors alive after a literal race against time, fleeing a deadly, corrupted sun to the supposed safety of a military bunker, where you’d think continued survival would be easier. But no such luck. Thanks to a litany of logistical problems and new character dynamics, the bunker is far from the haven it seems, and before long everyone is once again risking their necks to save themselves and each other from threats both invisible and otherwise.
It’s this change of setting that hampers the pacing a little in the first couple of episodes. An airplane is a ripe container for a thriller since being in the air lends a certain amount of jeopardy. A bunker naturally lacks that immediate sense of peril, so it takes a little while for the new dangers to make themselves known. When they do, though, Into the Night Season 2 is off and running, splitting up the main cast and once again delivering a number of taut set-pieces to keep the binge-watching crowd on tenterhooks.
And the binge-watchers will inevitably be well served here. There are once again six episodes, and each once again clocks in at a little over half an hour. That’s a breezy watch by any standards and the obligatory cliffhangers make each subsequent installment an enticing prospect. This is a show that’s willing to kill off or at least morally compromise every character you come to like, too, making the drama unpredictable and engaging. As before, each episode is named after a main character, contains at least one flashback to their life prior to the ecological calamity they’re currently confronted with, and lends some focus to their predicament that helps to flesh out both the overarching plot and that character’s backstory simultaneously. It’s a neat balancing act, providing just enough drama to keep us invested without getting bogged down and distracting from the next potentially deadly scenario.
I thought the first season of Into the Night was underrated — hopefully, this one captures enough attention to bring a few new eyeballs to what is shaping up to be an impressive — albeit bumpy — ride.
You can stream Into the Night Season 2 exclusively on Netflix from September 8, 2021.
