Altered Carbon: Season 2

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 143 Ratings

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3.7

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3.7	User Score Generally unfavorable reviews based on 143 Ratings

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Altered Carbon

Now Playing: Altered Carbon

Season Details & Credits

Netflix | Season Premiere Date: February 27, 2020

Summary: Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie), in another new body, looks for Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry) in the second season of the sci-fi series based on Richard K. Morgan's 2002 novel of the same name.

Genre(s): Drama, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction

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Season 2 Episodes

tbd
S2:E8. Broken Angels
Air Date: February 27, 2020
tbd
S2:E8. Broken Angels
Air Date: February 27, 2020
tbd
S2:E7. Experiment Perilous
Air Date: February 27, 2020

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Joelle Monique

Feb 21, 2020

All of the body-hopping, impersonations, and lies could easily have grown messy, but the show manages to avoid any pitfalls around race representation. Read full review

The Telegraph Ed Power

Feb 27, 2020

Mackie is up to the challenge of playing Kovacs as an interstellar Philip Marlowe. And with Netflix throwing cash at the screen, Altered Carbon also succeeds at the level of breathtaking spectacle. After a stuttering first season, a would-be blockbuster has belatedly but emphatically achieved lift-off. Read full review

IndieWire Ben Travers

Feb 27, 2020

The distinct episodes help keep viewers invested when “Altered Carbon” goes too heavy on diegetic mumbo jumbo or changes its own rules to set up silly twists. Read full review

The Independent Ed Cumming

Feb 27, 2020

Mackie isn’t as stiff as Kinnaman, and there are interesting questions raised by the idea of what comprises a person. It still falls short of its potential, but Altered Carbon has probably done enough to ensure it runs for years to come. A lump of graphite, if not quite the full diamond. Read full review

Melanie McFarland

Feb 28, 2020

Missick's addition to the cast changes up the chemistry in good ways, mostly owing to the actor's winning persona and its great fit with Mackie's Kovacs. ... The story itself its somewhat downgraded from a provocative examination of the role mortality plays in defining our humanity to a soap opera with a whole lot of gratuitous punching, kicking, and bleeding – much of it occurring in the premiere. Read full review

Tim Surette

Feb 19, 2020

The second round of the cyberpunk noir series will feel familiar to those who watched Season 1, as it's mostly a take-the-good-with-the-bad combination of sticking with what worked and not learning from its own mistakes. ... Altered Carbon has an amazing sandbox to work with, but the story doesn't always know how to play in it. Read full review

Collider Liz Shannon Miller

Feb 27, 2020

A future where one’s physical form is not just disposable but customizable inspires plenty of fascinating questions; unfortunately, the writers either find those questions uninteresting or beyond the scope of their storytelling. Read full review

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User Score

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3.7

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User Reviews

Nthy

Mar 1, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Amazing show. A philosopher once said, no man can step into the same river twice, for the second time it's not the same river and he's not the same man. Last season was a "noir detective story"-inspired mystery, and a Kovacs fresh off a long spell on ice, and he was sad to be brought back into a world he had fought so hard to stop. In the intervening time much has changed. Now we have a Kovacs who has a purpose of his own now and is driven, almost obsessed, with the idea that he might have a chance of finding her. This season is more akin to a James Bond story. Kovacs finds himself fighting to unravel the threads of a dangerous plot before those threads strangle him. Everything goes wrong for Kovacs right from the start and the result is a fast paced ride through a compelling story of ghosts, love, fear, ambition, retribution, crimes, history, and loss. As always the series reflects on what it even means to be human in a world where consciousness has been digitised. We can be transferred from sleeve to sleeve or beamed across the stars, but can we still retain what makes us who we are? Series 2 delves even deeper into the world, exploring things we only got the tiniest taste of in season 1. Each of the actors old and new does a fantastic job, and the writing is excellent. The only sin this tv show has committed so far is that it's too good for this world, and I can't shake the feeling that shortsighted corporate bean counters are going to pull the plug on it eventually.… Expand

0 of 14 users found this helpful014

thelettere

Mar 12, 2020

I'm a sucker for sci-fi, particularly sci-fi that explores issues in non-idiotic ways. Altered Carbon is the rare show that accomplishes this - yes, including in this second season.

I definitely missed the actor from season 1, and was skeptical about Mackie - but he won me over. He's notI'm a sucker for sci-fi, particularly sci-fi that explores issues in non-idiotic ways. Altered Carbon is the rare show that accomplishes this - yes, including in this second season.

I definitely missed the actor from season 1, and was skeptical about Mackie - but he won me over. He's not terribly charismatic and the humor was definitely not there like the first season, but he was solid and toed the line between being convincingly tough and also capable of displaying emotion that conveys to the viewer. I found him watchable and was rooting for him - so he did his job.

The writing, while rarely brilliant, was never stupid - something one cannot say about something like 99% of sci-fi shows. So that's a big win. And at moments it gets close to poignant.

I do need to watch season 1 again for comparison to see if I agree with the consensus here about a drop in quality. But I do remember the last episode being so dumb I stopped watching it - which didn't happen here. So while it perhaps does not quite reach the heights of season 1, it also doesn't descend to the same depths.

Edit: just watched season 1 again. Can confirm there is a definitive drop in the quality of the cinematography, and a slight one for the writing. In contrast season 2 comes off like a WB show, as other reviewers have noted. So not a great look, but still watchable.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Cobthecrazed

Feb 27, 2020

Meh, after the first couple of episodes. Mackie plays a very stiff Kovacs, Who seems much more interested in being sarcastic than actually accomplishing anything. Gilchrist starts out very annoying, and continues along that route as they try to figure out why her brain is messed up!Meh, after the first couple of episodes. Mackie plays a very stiff Kovacs, Who seems much more interested in being sarcastic than actually accomplishing anything. Gilchrist starts out very annoying, and continues along that route as they try to figure out why her brain is messed up! Chemistry between the two is virtually non-existent. Thinking there really shooting more for a politically correct version of altered carbon in season two, and having a storyline that actually makes any sense! You'll watch it, and you'll watch it till the end of the season, but you won't walk away with any real feeling!… Expand

19 of 19 users found this helpful190

Spiralus

Feb 28, 2020

I gave season 1 a 6 which, in hindsight, was generous. I know this now because i expected season 2 to be awful. . And yup. Episode one doubled down on all the worst parts from the first season. Stupid fight scenes, stupid motivations masquerading as deep. Thin world building. Trying to beI gave season 1 a 6 which, in hindsight, was generous. I know this now because i expected season 2 to be awful. . And yup. Episode one doubled down on all the worst parts from the first season. Stupid fight scenes, stupid motivations masquerading as deep. Thin world building. Trying to be cool like preteens. It comes off as awkward and painfully shallow. Screw this train wreck. This is coming from a lover of sci fi. I know its silly but im sad this show is so bad. I feel like the budget that should have been targeted towards me was aimed at morons who think sword fights are cool. Like i got lumped with them. I kind of hate whoever made these decisions. I still have the expanse.… Expand

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

hailtothethief

Mar 16, 2020

The second season is a space soap opera that only recycles ideas from the first season without developing the story in any interesting way.

They don’t expand on the world, or give characters any depth (all Kovacs talks about the whole season is how he loves Quell). They don’t address anyThe second season is a space soap opera that only recycles ideas from the first season without developing the story in any interesting way.

They don’t expand on the world, or give characters any depth (all Kovacs talks about the whole season is how he loves Quell). They don’t address any questions on human ethics, mortality, gender roles, wealth inequality or the growing divide between social classes that the first season does. There’s no mystery to keep you hooked. Instead we’re given a noticeably lower budget space romance with a predictable plot.

I won’t criticize the acting because these low cost writers they hired could make any actor look bad. The last fight scene somehow reminded me of power rangers... and now it will for you too.… Expand

5 of 5 users found this helpful50

ManRammer

Apr 27, 2020

This season was a super big letdown. Mackie is just completely a wooden plank compared to the previous Kinnaman. No offense to Mackie as a person. He's just a very bad fit. The story has so many McGuffins and Deus Ex Machinas that it felt like pure fan fiction aimed at teenagers. That filmThis season was a super big letdown. Mackie is just completely a wooden plank compared to the previous Kinnaman. No offense to Mackie as a person. He's just a very bad fit. The story has so many McGuffins and Deus Ex Machinas that it felt like pure fan fiction aimed at teenagers. That film noir cyberpunk detective feeling, setting and acting is all just gone. Environments look boring, dark and brown. The actors are so bad that it feels like I am watching a low budget day time TV soap opera. None of the moral and emotional complexity of Kovacs is there. His sharp envoy mind is set aside to become entirely a character with no proactive moves, and acts only reactively to how the story wants him to move. The bounty hunter girl with the coils has the stage presence of a tame lunch lady, and just can't even in the slightest way convey that she is a badass bounty hunter. It also has the New Star Wars syndrome of 'why are these characters all friends now and trust each other when they don't know each other and they have all grown up in dirty murderous environments.' It is just.. bad. So bad. DO NOT WATCH… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Pi0

Feb 27, 2020

Netflix and the plane weak ass cast ruined a good... even one of the best series of netflix. The blade runner atmosphere is gone. The story and the world looks not like on the same budget like season 1.

15 of 15 users found this helpful150

SEE ALL 55 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

64

Series Overview
Season 2

65
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E8. Broken Angels
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E8. Broken Angels
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E7. Experiment Perilous
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E7. Experiment Perilous
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E6. Bury Me Dead
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E6. Bury Me Dead
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E5. I Wake up Screaming
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E5. I Wake up Screaming
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E4. Shadow of a Doubt
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E4. Shadow of a Doubt
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E3. Nightmare Alley
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E3. Nightmare Alley
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E2. Payment Deferred
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E2. Payment Deferred
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E1. Phantom Lady
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
- tbd
  S2:E1. Phantom Lady
  Air Date: February 27, 2020
Season 1

64
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: February 2, 2018