This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Hanna Season 2. All eight episodes are currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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Hanna makes a bombastic return to Amazon Prime Video with an action-packed second season that expands our heroine’s narrative in new and intriguing ways. Season 2 enters uncharted territory now that Hanna’s journey has gone beyond what we saw in David Farr’s 2011 film of the same name. With Hanna’s surrogate father figure — Erik (Joel Kinnaman) — out of the picture due to the tragic events that took place at the end of Season 1, Hanna must now take on the role of mentor to her new accomplice, Clara (Yasmin Monet Prince).
Season 2 picks up right where we left Hanna and Clara, who find themselves on the run from the diabolical government-funded program Utrax, which is now being led by Dermot Mulroney’s John Carmichael. Hanna’s new mentor-mentee dynamic with Clara is fascinating to watch, as we’re treated to a much more cynical version of Hanna this time around. Esmé Creed-Miles continues to showcase her acting prowess as she effectively sheds her character’s insatiable curiosity from Season 1, instead opting for a more hardened and untrusting demeanor. Clara, on the other hand, often gets into trouble as she’s eager to learn more about the outside world, leaving Hanna to clean up her mess.
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The talented Mireille Enos (The Killing, World War Z) also returns as the duplicitous Marissa Wiegler. Next to Hanna, Wiegler is the second most badass character on the show and while she doesn’t spend a ton of screentime with Hanna, their scenes are always thrilling. Thanks to the extra narrative real-estate afforded by an episodic structure, Enos’ portrayal of Wiegler is more nuanced than Cate Blanchett’s interpretation of the character in the film version – that’s not to throw shade at Blanchett (we would never), but it’s fascinating to see how much Farr has improved upon the character in this iteration by making her less of a mustache-twirling villain and more of a relatable character with actual human emotions.
It’s apparent that she cares for the young assassin by the way she protects her from deadly encounters with Utrax, but it always feels like Wiegler is playing a bigger game that the audience isn’t privy to yet. There’s also a bit of suspense during each of their meetings where you’re not really sure if Hanna will accept a warm embrace from Wiegler, or punch her in the face. But with the addition of Mulroney’s Carmichael as Season 2’s main baddie, Wiegler comes across as much less sinister than she was Season 1.
Mulroney makes for a capable villain in Season 2, but he’s mostly just a bully who gets pissed off whenever he doesn’t get his way. His assistant, Leo Garner (played by Black Mirror’s Anthony Welsh), is a far more interesting character to follow throughout. Gifted in his own right as an efficient killer, Garner teaches at an Utrax-funded school in England that instructs aspiring young assassins like Hanna how to blend into society in order to make them more effective at taking out high-value targets.
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Season 2 is really at its best when the story moves to the school, where we get to see how sick and twisted Utrax really is. To make these young women more believable during real-world encounters, Utrax gives each student their own unique backstory, complete with parents, friends, and even pets. And while we’ll probably never see Hanna attend a real high school or university, many of the same teen drama dynamics found in Riverdale and 13 Reasons Why are here, only in this version, every student is trained in some form of deadly arts. One of the students that stands out here is Áine Rose Daly’s Sandy, who embraces her backstory in some disturbing ways.
As always, Hanna Season 2 is filled to the brim with spectacular action setpieces thanks to Game of Thrones stuntman Marcus Shakesheff, who uses Krav Maga fight techniques for more dynamic fights throughout. Creator David Farr has proven once again that there are plenty of stories left to mine in the Hanna expanded universe, and by the end of Season 2, it appears that he has more to say about Hanna and the men and women behind the Utrax program. Here’s hoping Amazon gives Farr more seasons to play with.
Source: IGN.com Hanna's Ambitious Second Season Has Big Action and High Stakes