The Shannara Chronicles season two ended with some epic fantasy shenanigans, completing its first season on Spike TV. Season two was an improvement in almost every way possible, but was it enough for the show to earn a third season?
The Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States threw a bump in the episode review road. We watched the final two episodes but had little time to review. And now, since the season is a week over, this isn’t an in-depth look at those last two episodes as it is a recap of a fantastic season and a bit of wondering about where the show goes from here.
The most interesting line during the final two episodes came from anti-hero bounty hunter Jax who says:
“If this is our last show, let’s make sure it’s a damn good one.”
It’s a very self away set of words early on in the final episode. More importantly, the show delivered on the line, offering an action-filled closure to its second season. If this is the last episode, they put on a damn good one. Shannara completes the stories started by Wil and Eretria in a satisfying way. There is loss and victory along the way. So, if there is no more, one can enjoy the 20 existing episodes.
If Shannara does go on, what are we left to learn? Lyria is the new Queen of Leah and Mareth is the Queen of the Elves AND the future of the druidic order. Let’s hear it for girl power! Eretria is off to find herself. And Wil, well … SPOILER … he dies. Sort of.
Even with its closure, viewers might want to ignore the last few minutes of the last episode. Since a season three is still up in the air, Shannara ends with a bit of a cliffhanger too and ends on Wil, very much alive, but in a very dark place.
But the true dark reality is that the show was garnering an average of 250,000 viewers per episode which is a steep drop from the MTV audience a season earlier. However, a few things are still promising here:
1. Spike TV is rebranding so they might’ve anticipated a drop in ratings. Perhaps Shannara gets one more season.
2. One of the reasons Shannara went to a two-episode a week formula was because, according to a representative, viewers were watching On Demand. Such viewings will help boost numbers.
3. A Lord of the Rings TV show is coming from Amazon, so perhaps Spike will extend the show to ride a potential wave of genre interest.
4. The Shannara series of books is VAST and the show runners have plenty of material to work with to make many more season.
It’s no surprise that Shannara ends with Wil saving the day. Shows like these rarely end any other way. However, the road to get there was spectacularly bloody, touching, and terrific. If this is the end of the road for the show, it was a fun ride.
We’ve come to the end of the road for Shannara Season 2 reviews on Monkeys Fighting Robots.
