WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

THIS REVIEW MAINLY SPEAKS IN REGARDS TO SEASON 2'S STORY, EPISODES WILL BE NAMED AS THOUGH SEASON 1 AND 2 ARE ONE COMBINED SEASON.

The best way to describe season 2 is that it's a really vague, mysterious, mostly episodic journey with a heavy emphasis on themes of self acceptance, and what it means to be human.

Season 2 is in all honesty not TOO far from season 1 despite what others might say, but with digital animation as opposed to cels, and the overarching plot revolving around Alex Rosewater and the origin of Paradigm City is being tackled MUCH more head on rather than being cast aside in favor of whatever lesson might be learned from whatever job Roger takes on as a negotiator that more than likely forces him to call on Big O. This season dumps an insane amount of info on you compared to season 1, so I'm glad I decided to take this season a bit more slowly.

Despite what most others say, I still really love this part of The Big O's story, more so than season 1 in some ways. Some preferred when the series was about Roger finding himself in situations that require the help of Big O during negotiation jobs, and sometimes learning something that adds to the mystery of Paradigm City and Roger's own origin, and that's fine. In fact, in some cases I agree. But as someone who was fascinated by the stage that those stories took place on and wanted to know much more about it than we were being given previously, I'm really glad that they decided to bring that aspect of The Big O's world into focus.

While this season can indeed feel convoluted and overwhelming thanks to the sheer amount of important plot details it throws at the viewer, not helped by how vaguely this exposition is communicated, I genuinely like the way the story was handled, looking back. The only exception is episode 18, which fell flat in MANY ways.

The series' ending is able to be summed up by the phrase "The Show Must Go On." And it is... really confusing at first, and very, VERY controversial. For the most part, it's up to one's own interpretation as to what happened, and it leaves one feeling really dissatisfied at first but after spending a LONG while thinking about it and reviewing the information given, I quite like it. The fact that it's so unfulfilling at first is, in all honesty, a pretty big flaw, so its no wonder there are so many people who strongly dislike this season, but I think it's remedied by how good it feels when you understand what happened and you find yourself smiling after rewatching the last couple minutes of the final episode with a newfound understanding of the meaning behind each word that Roger says.

In this conclusion, Roger performs his much needed job and negotiated with Angel/Big Venus to let everyone keep their current memories and not reset/erase the Paradigm City we've come to know so that the literal show can go on, regardless of whether the actors in it will be able to remember who or what they really are. Self acceptance is a prominent theme in season 2, as established by episode 13's plot, in which Roger has a severe mental breakdown and begins to doubt everything he knows about himself and the world around him, bolstered even further by the revelation that Roger is an artificial human created by Gordon Rosewater, modeled after a man he had once hired years ago. Knowing this, it's only fitting that the biggest crisis seen throughout the entire series is resolved by allowing Angel to accept herself and the world she came to live in following the loss of her memories, and allowing Paradigm City to exist as it was before Alex had attempted to use Big Fau's power to enact himself as a new "God." When Big Venus/Angel makes this decision, that final moment of tension in which Big Venus seems to disappear, and the audience is left wondering what happened only for the absolute relief of what comes next is immaculate. Coming back to the show after the fact, that moment in which the screen fades in and shows that same dark and gloomy Paradigm City roadside scenery from episode 1 backed by that wonderful melody you've come to know and love played on an absolutely striking saxophone alongside the notable difference that Roger's relationships with Dorothy and Angel have seemingly remained untouched, is absolutely fantastic. Genuine goosebumps.

While things weren't exactly ideal or even pleasant for the vast majority of the residents of Paradigm City, they were able to make the most of their situation and find some form of happiness despite that. This connects back to Roger's monologue from the very first episode of the show, in which he states that, despite having lost all memories, the human race was able to keep civilization going and press on. But that's just my interpretation of the ending. Everyone has their own thoughts on what it all means, I suppose. That just makes it more fun to think about, though.

Season 2 is really tough to appreciate, and it can be even tougher to understand what it's going for at first, to the point that I was initially left really annoyed and heartbroken by this ending. But after pondering on the subject matter for a while and really taking time to understand what's happening, this and Season 1 combine to make a show that I adore to such a degree that I can't help but forgive most of its flaws just so I can give it a 90/100. Good shit.