Spoiler warning for the new season.
See, I told you I would come back with a Total Drama review.
I mean, I thought I would update sooner because I was under the assumption that we would get all the episodes at once but that didn't happen so yeah.
But I'm here now as promised. I gave myself some time to let it all sink in and think things through. And now, all I have to say is...
I'm underwhelmed and kinda disappointed?
Don't get me wrong, this was by no means a bad season. The characters weren't derailed to hell and back (well, most characters, but I'll get to that in a minute), the character dynamics were good and there was some moments were I actually felt the drama.
That said, I feel like they fumbled the bag towards the end of the season. Like, the first batch of episodes we got were great for the most part. A few quirks here and there (underutilizing characters such as Emma and Nichelle for example) but nothing to lose sleep over.
Then we got the new batch of episodes yesterday and things started to get weird.
First things first, Caleb and Priya's arc. I thought what they were doing at first was interesting. Caleb using Priya to make it far, Priya wants something more but Caleb doesn't, Caleb realizes he likes Priya but she finds out the truth right when things change and now he has to fix things between them. Interesting enough. I thought after he finally confessed to Priya and explained himself that the arc would end there. Because I can't see what else they could do with it.
No. They then added the plot line where he's working with Julia and then it's just a back and forth of weird bullshit with him and Priya and it's just ugh. Then their relationship, which started out as cute to watch and worth rooting for just becomes uncomfortable to watch. Like, at some parts, it felt like Priya developed some of Courtney's worst traits.
I think they should've just ended their arc when they first made up and leave it at that.
Next, let's talk about the finale. I have mixed feelings on it.
Now, I love Wayne. He's been one of my faves since the beginning but I weren't big on his characterization this season or the fact that he won.
Did anyone else notice Wayne kinda got dumber this season? Like, don't get me wrong, he was never the brightest in the first season, but here it felt very in-your-face. It didn't bother me at first but by the end of the season I was kinda over him. Not in a pissed off way but more of a "okay I get it let's move on" way.
Not only that but, he really didn't do much this season? Let alone have any type of plot that would make his win make sense. You could argue they did something like this with Owen during the first season, but at least there they gave him some stuff to do and built up his interactions with the other contestants. Here, Wayne kinda screwed around and didn't really connect with anybody but Raj. If they were going to pick a hockey bro to win the season, I'd argue that Raj was more deserving of that.
And if you wanted to argue that the finale was meant to show a character winning fair and square, then why didn't they emphasize that later? The cheating thing was earlier in the season and after M.K. got exposed, it wasn't mentioned too much after that. I actually kinda forgot it happened towards the end.
Again, I'm not mad about this finale, just kinda thought there were much better routes to take than the one we got.
On the topic of Wayne getting dumber this season, it seems like character derailment was a bit of an issue this season. Aside from Priya and Wayne, the whole stint with Millie near about killing Damien and sorta not taking it seriously at first kinda rendered the development she had last season useless? She learned to take accountability and wanted to work on being a better person, why would she risk Damien's life for a challenge after that?
I think my biggest criticism of this season that it felt directionless, both story and character-wise. Some arcs were rushed, stopped immediately, or dragged out for way too long (specifically the back and forth between Priya and Caleb). Meanwhile, some of the characters got underused, derailed, or stayed for way too long (Wayne is a special case of all three of these).
Also, Damien was robbed. That is all.
While I don't think this season is terrible or anything (I still rather watch this season than All Stars or Pahkitew Island), I do think that it's not as good as the first season of the reboot. It sucks because the season started off really strong but they ended up dropping the ball.
Now that the two season are out to the public, my only question is when the hell is the reboot coming to the states? Like, from what Terry McGurrin said, the U.S. was the first country they gave the show to, so it's ridiculous that Cartoon Network or Max is being so slow with the release when other countries has already hit the ground running. Idk, the show is leaving Netflix this month so maybe that's a sign.
So all in all, I'm giving the season a 7/10. Not bad but could've been better, especially the last few episodes.
That's all from me for now. Later y'all!
