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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I do like Anthony Mackie as an actor and I think he did a good Kovacs. He made Kovacs more empathetic, which was a necessary improvement in my opinion, which I appreciate. Speaking of empathy: Poe was my highlight of the season. What a guy. Overall I felt like the season improved on what was already good and fixed what might fell a little flat like the visuals. No need for a few scenes of big CGI Cities which swallow the budget and already look outdated like in the first season. Instead the overall visual quality improved. The image is sharp and the camera work, while at first a little jumpy improved a lot, which made the whole series look more cinematic. And while the sets were sized down their overall quality have been improved, which made them more realistic, which helped with the atmosphere in return. The story was less of a space Noir and while the overall pacing is different it is still good - just in a different way. Some character fates seamed too inconsequential in the end but over it felt like a less gritty but more polished season of altered carbon.

Altered Carbon afronta su segunda temporada con un cambio clave que lo altera todo: nuevo cuerpo, nuevo tono y una clara intención de simplificar el viaje. El relevo de protagonista se nota desde el primer episodio. Donde antes había gravedad, misterio y una cierta melancolía existencial, ahora hay una serie más directa, más ligera y claramente orientada a la acción. No es necesariamente peor… pero sí distinta.Anthony Mackie aporta una energía más física y desenfadada a Takeshi Kovacs. Funciona mejor cuando la serie se entrega al entretenimiento puro, al ritmo rápido y al conflicto inmediato. El problema es que ese giro deja por el camino parte de la identidad que hacía especial a la primera temporada. La reflexión sobre la inmortalidad, el peso del pasado y la alienación se diluyen en favor de un relato más convencional y menos incómodo.A nivel visual, la serie sigue siendo potente. Hay mundos atractivos, efectos bien integrados y una estética cyberpunk reconocible, aunque menos arriesgada. Todo es más limpio, más ordenado, incluso más “televisivo”. Se agradece que la historia esté más centrada y no se disperse tanto, pero también se echa de menos esa sensación de estar explorando algo peligroso, sucio y moralmente **** guion va al grano, quizá demasiado. La temporada avanza sin grandes baches, pero también sin demasiados momentos memorables. Hay conflicto, hay acción y hay respuestas, pero rara vez hay verdadero asombro. Todo resulta funcional, correcto y, en ocasiones, algo plano. La serie parece más preocupada por cerrar arcos que por incomodar o plantear preguntas incómodas.Como continuación, cumple. Como evolución, se queda corta. Es una temporada entretenida, más accesible y probablemente más fácil de digerir para un público amplio, pero también menos valiente. Altered Carbon pierde parte de su alma por el camino, y aunque sigue siendo disfrutable, deja la sensación de que su universo daba para mucho más de lo que aquí se explota.

Acs2 is not as bold as season one, a more restrained approach to the scope of the plot has some benefits but ultimately I felt less emotionally connected to the characters and the screenplay seemed bareboned stood next to the complex weave of dialogue in s1. Mackie does ok here but his takeshi plays it more cool and serious so seems less desperate snarky and vulnerable which is something I miss from kinneman's version (which brought a much needed sense of balanced humanity to this ridiculously op character!). Overall this was an entertaining if less memorable trip this time around.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I read the Altered Carbon novel and thought it was decent but not amazing. I had the same thoughts for Season 1 of the show. I thought it was a worthwhile adaptation and a decent show to binge. I started Season 2 since with Covid running rampant I have a lot of down time. It isn't good. In fact is just bad. The writing is terrible and the acting is atrocious. Anthony Mackie is wooden as the lead and the supporting cast isn't any better. The changes to Falconer that they made from the book just don't work. She isn't an inspirational character and I just don't care about her character at all. They have her set up as this messianic figure but really she is just an angry child. She just wants to murder, murder, murder, and cause uprisings. It was also kind of odd how they really upped the wokeness quotient. All of the leads are non-white, with one being a lesbian, while the badguys are mostly men and white with a few exceptions. This is pretty standard fare with Netflix, but with how terrible the acting was it felt like they put identity over quality.