It’s been three years since the first season of this punch-packing thriller debuted on Netflix. And now the streamer has finally added the second season of this violent K-drama to its platform, and the series has once again become an instant hit, amassing millions of views in only a few days. It’s smashed through the competition, easily taking the #2 spot on the Top 10 Most Watched list, and it seems the #1 spot is now within reach. So you’d better watch out, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole.
The adaptation of a webtoon, Bloodhounds, originally created by Jeong Chan, centers on a young boxer named Kim Gun-woo, whose mother becomes the latest victim of a ruthless loan shark as she tries to keep a roof over their heads. After the events of the first season, which see Gun-woo joining forces with a less murderous money lender named Choi Tae-ho and a young former marine named Hong Woo-jin just before the three tumble into the dark world of underground debt collection, the second season of Bloodhounds shifts into a more personal story of Gun-woo and Woo-jin coping with the events they’ve lived through as they now find themselves in the sight of an illegal boxing syndicate. It’s a slightly quieter story, but no less intense and gripping than the first season, and sets up a third season that will be nothing short of a wild ride.
Between audience reviews and the early critics’ reviews that are rolling in, it seems that Bloodhounds has masterfully found its footing. And while the stakes of Season 2 feel slightly lower, it’s no less of an intense, emotional thriller. Critic Charles Hartford says, “Bloodhounds Season 2 is a fast, action-packed race from start to finish. Yet, throughout the course of the season’s run, it never quite matches up to the same stakes or intensity of its predecessor.”
Audiences, however, seem to disagree. “I personally thought the story was much better this season than the last. As fun as Season 1 was, the pacing and some plot points were a little sloppy, and some scenes felt unnecessary, draggy, or out of place, especially towards the end. This time the story felt much more tighter and fast-paced, the scale was more epic and I felt much more of a constant adrenaline rush with the increased number of and even better fight scenes, including much more boxing this time,” says one casual viewer on Reddit. Overall, it seems that Season 2 took a risk with a more emotionally fraught story, and while it didn’t abandon the action that made the first season so successful, it relied more on narrative tension to carry it forward into something that worked wonderfully.
Do you prefer the first of second season of Bloodhound? Let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other fans are saying.
