Hunters: Season Two

The second season of the 2020 show Hunters follows the titular group of Nazi hunters in the 1970s, who gather for one final mission to take the ultimate prize: Adolf Hitler (Udo Kier) himself, whom leader Jonah (Logan Lerman) discovers did not kill himself, instead secretly escaping to Argentina. The group is fraught with tension, with demons from their pasts making themselves known at every turn, and the Hunters must reckon with their trauma and their rocky histories to bring the founder of the Nazi party to justice. The story also contains a series of flashbacks to Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) founding the Hunters, working hard to assemble the group while covering up his secret identity as former Nazi doctor Wilhelm “The Wolf” Zuchs.

Hunters is a show with a lot going on, from the extensive interconnected character arcs of its ensemble cast to its philosophical explorations of concepts such as justice and the law. It’s a testament to the show’s effective structure and considered editing that it’s able to communicate its numerous ideas without overwhelming the narrative (or its audience), making for a TV experience that manages to be engaging without being overcomplicated. The show also encourages its audience to grapple with the philosophical conundrums it presents, exploring many different perspectives without being non-committal.

The writing is solid, effortlessly shifting tones from intense and bloody to light-hearted and comedic without losing any narrative momentum. It tells its conceptually larger-than-life story with its tongue in its cheek but also makes sure to give the darker and more serious parts of the tale the gravity and oxygen they deserve, balancing levity and drama perfectly.

The tight scripting is helped greatly by some brilliant performances from the show’s cast, who all match the tonal shifts perfectly and work hard to ensure the complex character dynamics at play are as compelling as possible. There’s also a lot of great action to break up the drama, with some very inventive and visually dynamic fight scenes to inject some extra tension and danger into the proceedings.

Overall, Hunters’ second season is an interesting one, balancing pulpy violent wish-fulfilment with genuine philosophical musings and gripping character drama effectively to make a multi-faceted and engrossing TV experience. Its disparate tones might not sit well with every audience member, but critically they don’t come at the expense of the important stories at the core of the piece.

Umar Ali

Hunters: Season Two is released on Amazon Prime Video on 13^th January 2023.

Watch the trailer for Hunters: Season Two here: