Reacher Season 2 - My Reaction So Far

Season 1 of Amazon's Reacher was a surprisingly entertaining show with a great cast that showed clear chemistry with each other.  The banter between the characters were fun to watch rather than annoying and the pacing at which each character's background is revealed kept me engaged through the entire season.   Unfortunately, season 2 has not had that same ingredients.

Most of the new characters already had a developed relationship so the character development happened mainly through flashbacks and the chemistry between them were lacking or lacked tension.  The pacing also feels more off this season there lacks any mystery to events and each episode felt a bit like the previous episodes.

Two more episode remains in this season and hopefully it picks up pacing and provide a satisfactory ending that will hold over until season 3.

Anime to Start the New Year - The Apothecary Diaries

For the first post of 2024, I'm starting with a positive review of The Apothecary Diaries.

Originally a Japanese light novel and then a manga before being released as an anime starting in October, 2023.  The Apothecary Diaries takes place in a fictional imperial China and follows a young Chinese girl who loves studying and making medicine.  With a pragmatic acceptance of realities of social norms of feudal China, the protagonist nevertheless ends up rising in prominence within the imperial court.

I enjoyed the characters and mysteries surrounding our heroine and the relationships she establishes with members across the social spectrum.

Unlike many modern anime, The Apothecary Diaries immediately secured not just a one season but two seasons of episodes (24) and as of this writing is half way through the initial 24 episode run.  I've been fully enjoying the anime and would recommend.