The Uncanny Counter Season 2 Review – An underwhelming return

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 2 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 3 – | Review Score – 4.5/5
Episode 4 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 5 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 6 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 7 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 8 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 9 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 10 – | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 11 – | Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 12 – | Review Score – 2.5/5

The Uncanny Counter was a smash hit when it dropped on Netflix back in 2020. The story was simple, playing on that idea of having a bunch of demon hunters teaming up and tackling otherworldly threats. It was a decent story, and throwing our lead character Mun into the thick of things, going from being an ordinary schoolkid to the defacto leader of this group in a journey that made sense across the series.

Now we’re back with season 2 and things have certainly changed – and not for the better. All the cast and crew are back, but with a new writer at the helm, the story attempts to switch things up, but fails to do so. Mun is now an all-powerful hunter and he’s working to train the others in the team to reach his level.

Unfortunately, a bigger threat is growing in the shadows coming in the form of an Evil Spirits group that happen to be lurking in China and could pose a huge threat. The monstrous Pil-Gwang is flanked by the unstable Gelly and loose cannon Wong. Together, they head back to Korea, intending to cause chaos.

As a result the Counters are forced to bring on a new member, coming in the form of damsel in distress Na Jeok-bong. His powers come from quite literally sniffing out the evil spirits that can counter (no pun intended) the territory that Mun can conjure. Unfortunately, Jeok-bong is not just a comedic, one-note character, he’s also utterly useless in the grand scheme of things.

He has no super strength and his abilities only work as far as the plot wants it to. In fact, there are large stretches where Jeok-bong’s powers are just rendered useless, namely after him getting a nosebleed and another when he has a cold.

Along with Jeok-bong stagnating any character growth for the team, the actual narrative itself is lacking. Despite a really strong and exciting start, the second half sees cracks starting to form and, unfortunately, the established world-building rules in season 1 thrown out the window. In fact, there are moments here that rewrite and damage the first season’s narrative completely.

Most of this comes from the show’s wildcard this year, Ma Ju-seok. This guy goes through some harrowing ordeals and unfortunately, it results in a rogue evil spirit taking a fancy to him.

Both of these storylines (Ju-seok’s possession and the Evil Spirit group) work parallel to one another until the latter half of the season, where everything collides together in dramatic fashion. While this does work well to keep things fresh, and there’s plenty of action, the extent of issues aren’t just with the worldbuilding. Unfortunately, there’s also a couple of rushed and somewhat underwhelming subplots too that do nothing to help elevate the story.

It’s a pity that season 2 is such a step-down. On paper, there’s actually a lot to work with here. That’s never fully realized though, as the second season feels like a huge drop-off in storytelling quality, character depth and worldbuilding. It’s such a shame too because this could have been great. Instead, what we get is a middling, underwhelming season that’s best forgotten.

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