On the second season finale of Raising Dion, the Crooked Man/Brayden and his army of zombified thralls had the school surrounded on the night of the performance of Dreamgirls — Dion and Nicole decided they would spend her last night alive facing him, together. Meanwhile at BIONA, Kat and Suzanne were in a race against time to save Pat from his self-inflicted coma.
1. Wow, This Was Weak
After considering not telling her, Dion warns his mom about Brayden’s army, and the two leave the school to confront him, forcing Kwame to step in for Dion during the performance. Noticing the Warrens’ absence, Tevin goes outside to help as well; Janelle also joins the fray in a dazzling display of light. They’re still overwhelmed, but Nicole appeals to Brayden by reminding him of his mother, forcing the Crooked Man out of his body. Dion teleports into the sinkhole with the last antidote intended for his mom, and despite getting infected by the spores, he manages to inject it into the plants, curing everyone — just in time for Esperanza’s rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.”
That all occurs by the half hour mark of a 38 min episode; despite some good moments, like Janelle’s arrival, the pay off with Nicole’s medicine, and Esperanza’s solo, it’s a thoroughly predictable and anticlimactic affair, that seems more interested in the musical moments than a compelling confrontation. Maybe it would’ve been more satisfying if I’d bingewatched the whole season, but having recently rewatched Stranger Things 2‘s finale (which is the closest analogue to this), I can safely say this was rushed and underfunded; they spent all season setting up a zombie takeover of Atlanta, as well as a major loss for Dion, and that was it? I know it’s a kids’ show, but c’mon.
2. Despite Everything, Kat’s Dedicated to Her Oath
Another moment I liked was how dedicated Kat was to making sure Pat survived injecting himself with the powered DNA serum, despite her absolute disdain for him. Sure, there’s a little self-interest, since his mutated DNA could provide the cure for her sister, but there was a strong contrast with David Marsh’s apathetic, “oh we can harvest what we need from his corpse” attitude that wasn’t wholly necessary for her; it was a good way of showing (not telling) her dedication to the Hippocratic Oath reawakening under fire, and more than adequately foreshadowed her decision to join BIONA full-time at the end.
3. Writing on the Wall
Pat wakes up and he’s more than (physically) OK, gaining destructive new abilities, which he promptly uses to leave BIONA HQ. Marsh confronts him in the corridor, but only to offer him resources to study his powers, and build an army. The Crooked Man shows up, and Pat greets him as he rejoins his body… and that’s it: Pat doesn’t kill any named characters, or even leave to taunt Dion. Is it possible COVID disrupted plans for a more impactful season finale? Maybe, but the result is still an awfully boring episode.
4. Post-Credits Tease
Maybe the culprit was the decision to have a frankly ridiculous post-credits scene set a couple of decades from now, where Pat — now sporting a hilarious Vanilla Ice-inspired hairdo and a rip-off of Kylo Ren’s Force Awakens costume — prepares to take Atlanta with his army, only to tremble when a grown-up Dion/Mind Mover shows up. So I’m guessing we might be get a time travel story if Raising Dion is renewed again? Because I don’t expect the show to take the long way round to Dion finally kicking Pat’s butt, nor should they, as that would be rather depressing (Atlanta certainly looks it’s been through Hell here.)
5. Hello Again, Asking Again…
I could be sarcastic and say Jason Piperberg doesn’t deserve to be credited with Dennis Liu for creating the comic this mediocre show is based on, but seriously Netflix, please amend the credits to include him: without artists, comics would not be comics, just scripts, and that doesn’t change whether you like the show or not. Maybe there’s some legal and financial garbage preventing that, but if that’s the case, then I’ll continue to bang the drum for those ignorant about the nature of comics as well. Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend you read his Twitter thread about how he feels not being credited, despite doing “all the art, letters, and vast majority of book layout/file prep for the 1 and only issue of the comic.”
Continued belowBonus Material:
– I know the moment of Nicole and Dion biting their Twix bars before confronting Brayden was meant to be a (no pun intended) sweet moment, but it came across an awful lot like product placement.
– Funniest moment of the episode definitely had to be Pat quipping Marsh could be his own Moira MacTaggert, and him agreeing despite admitting not knowing who she is. (Also, depending on how you feel, Pat’s preference for the pre-“House of X” Moira is a redeemable trait, or another in a long line of his sins.)
– So if someone resurrected the sinkhole plants, everyone they infected would become thralls again right? Just asking.
Well that’s it from Dion, Nicole and friends for now, since the show hasn’t been renewed for a third season yet — if it is, hopefully it will start to live up to its potential, and its diverse cast.
