007: Road To A Million’s Season 2 delivers big wins but is slowed by its own ambitions.
A good friend of mine once lambasted me for using Pitchfork’s x.x system to grade an album. He called it nonsense, hipster for the sake of it. I argued it was “a vibe that I could build upon”, he won.
So here, we do things differently: firstly, this is a space of curation, reserved for only things that we expect to be good. So…I’m implementing this system for now.
EM – Expected More
Mission underwhelming. Potential, but gadgets left unused and exits sloppy.
G – Good
Mission completed. No surprises, no disasters. Solid, reliable. James would nod politely.
VG – Very Good
Mission memorable. Smooth, sharp, some flair in execution.
M – Masterclass
Mission flawless. Charming and artful, results undeniable. M-approved.
007: Road To A Million’s Season 2 delivers big wins but is slowed by its own ambitions.
Its goal? To offer Bond fans something to hold them over while they wait for the next Amazon-produced film.
The concern is that this show served casuals and non-fans very well, much to the chagrin of the smaller core fan base.
For me, it represents the one piece of Bond media my partner will watch without eyeing the exit. For her, it’s the one reality show I don’t reflexively sneer at. Shows like this are the connective tissue that let us bring our partners into Bond, a Trojan horse in Midnight Blue.
Season 1 was criticized for omitting 007. I don’t think that assertion was true, and your opinion on it will dictate how highly you rate its sophomore outing. My partner and I found Season 1 struck the right tone and navigated the shark-infested waters well.
Season 2 goes in a distinctly different direction: fan service. Sometimes at the expense of casuals. This split improved as the series went on, with strong challenges and locations.
Irritating couples? More irritating. The editing leaned hard on controversy particularly with two on-trend sisters and a couple called Rob and Alex. Like Star Wars, I worry that a few diehards may have too much control over what the masses are meant to enjoy. Look no further than the comments sections of every season 2 review: complaints of “woke” and “cash grab” abound. A new show not ranking in Amazon’s top 10 isn’t there for the diehards. There just aren’t enough of us. We (while fractured) don’t represent wider society.
The contestants are similar to last season, though we spend less intimate time getting to know them until the later episodes. Most are delightful, but none captured us quite like the Bone Bros. The missions hit iconic locations and the fan service is obvious, but my wife said it pulled her out of it. She’s happy to step into the Bond world but looks for subtlety.
The elephant in the room: the show had a clear villain. It wasn’t Control or his Moneypenny stand-in, it was Alex. Some call him funny and a hoot. We respectfully disagree. He single-handedly dropped the show from Very Good to Good for me. To quote Eminem poorly: You need a little controversy… or it feels empty. As such, the editing leans heavily on controversy, showing couple squabbles and team bickering while shoehorning Control into curious places. Though, I’ll never complain about too much Brian Cox.
The final episodes redeem the series, sparking the debate between us over Very Good vs Good. By “debate,” I mean me trying to extract a letter grade from the Mrs., who really had no interest in evaluating the program that way. The Casino scenes and the “luck” element of the show were true highlights and nearly tipped the scales.
Season 1 was a major win for me, bordering on Masterclass. I may be in the minority of hardcore Bond fans, but multiple non-fans in my life have been waiting for this new season with bated breath.
On Season 2…The verdict? Good, close to Very Good, and with tweaks it could have easily been Masterclass. The Bond connections were solid, but the show sometimes felt a bit Hollywood. Some of the camerawork felt staged, less natural. The fourth wall device also jarred at times. Season 1 captured relatable, tender moments; Season 2 struggled here until the final few episodes.
Still, the final mission delivered. The right two pairs made it through, with drama, high stakes, and emotion intact. This was the true triumph, and we got time to celebrate the final two. Stick it out to the end.
It must have been Good, because I bought more Bond memorabilia for the bookshelf because of it. Mexico City, anyone?
