Altered Carbon Season Two Gives Diverse Actors but Sub-par Plot

Altered Carbon is back on the block serving up heavy intergalactic pre-dystopian dulled-neon realness. Season one was a brilliant, gritty piece of sci-fi noir. Told outside of time with precision, intention and clear inspiration from Richard K. Morgan’s genre-bending book. The true brilliance of season one came from its presentation of the plot, unfolding slowly over time and never really telling you anything concrete until the very last episode. Season two does what a season two does and returns to places of deep significance to the narrative to a mostly predictable effect.

Not So Neon Dreams Altered Carbon is known for its dark visuals and was off the bat compared to Blade Runner with its bleak, rainy, futuristic San Francisco (aka Bay City). Season two is kind of the opposite. Season one ends with Takeshi Kovacs (whose name is said WAY too much) on his way to find his boo Quelchrist Falconer on the planet Harlan’s World. So yeah, Harlan’s World is the complete and total visual opposite of season one’s Bay City. The whole thing is wild toned down. Almost muted visually. It looks like such an intentional departure from the vibrant and shiny fluorescence of season one, and it’s not a good look. The sets and muted colors give off a Star Trek Deep Space Nine holodeck type feel. This is in sharp contrast to The Next Generation holodeck, which was godlike (but I digress). Visually, Altered Carbon almost gets it done. The action elements are a draw for the show, and season two is…