I really enjoyed season one. I'm not a book reader so this show is my introduction to the universe and it's great; incredibly diverse, beautiful cinematography, and amazing potential with the magical aspects of this world.
Season one packed all that. Sure, some moments had me "girl what is this?" but all in all I loved the big coherent plot and few subplots to fill up the holes and drive the larger storyline.
Queue my disappointment when I started season 2; the first episode, to me, was a mess (respectfully). It was hard to keep track of everything that was happening and evolving in front of me, and I literally had a headache with the constant, unnecessary jumping scenes to different subplots. Needless to say, there were way too many of the latter and keeping focus was becoming a task.
Though it was episode 1; usually first eps are a little messy (I tell myself) so I forced myself to stick through it.
So far, nothing is really changing in terms of pacing. The flow is incoherent and it's impossible to connect with characters that I loved in season 1; just when I'm about to "connect" again to a character's motives, you'll get thrown into an entirely different scene with polar opposite plots that add literally nothing to the main storyline. And it's a shame because these subplots would've been amazing as a stand alone spin off show, and give them their deserved attention.
I read somewhere from a book reader its because the writers are unnecessarily merging different timelines together and honestly? It shows. This season is all over the place.
I'll force myself through it because despite my annoyance I am committed to seeing the end, but overall, to me, this season is highly lacking that "wow" factor that it had in season 1. Which is genuinely a shame, because the cast and diversity are great.