This review is based on the first two episodes of Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter Season 2.

Humanity has always been fascinated with the idea of re-inventing ourselves. It’s a shiny, illusory concept to set your past on fire and start over, but everyone has their breaking point. There’s a reason that countless texts from authors like Kafka, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald (or Rowling or R.R. Martin, for more modern takes) are all enraptured by the idea. Not only that but prestige television like Better Call Saul, Fargo, and American Gods have all also played with this idea of starting over. Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter Season 2 similarly starts off with Joe enjoying a fresh start, but if this season proves anything, it’s that you might be able to take the he-yump from out of the werewolf hunter, but you can’t take the werewolf hunter from out of the he-yump!

Joe is now “retired” from the werewolf hunting game (while experiencing a healthy career as a “regular duck hunter”), as he attempts to run his Hawaiian-themed bar, Oahu Joe’s, with Cleve (Steve Little) in tow. It’s a rather bold move for the series to abandon the many great characters and cast from last season (such as Scott Adsit, Steve Cirbus, and Stephanie March), but it’s exciting to see the show moving on and mixing things up rather than just functioning as a belabored extension of what went on last year. Even if you’ve never seen season one, with fresh start there’s really no reason why an uninitiated viewer would be lost. In a lot of ways muting the werewolf hunting allows the show to go to a lot of fun new places.

This season of Neon Joe also mines new, exciting territory from this absurd world, like the unrequited love of Joe’s neon-clad babe (which was briefly hinted at in the show’s first season). She seems to be taking up much of Joe’s mind now that he’s calmed down, yet with her still out there, he’s unable to truly be happy and at peace. Joe laments at one point, “I’m not doing too good, Cleve. All my tropical dreams are slowly turning into tropical dust.” Make no mistake, this show isn’t shifting into drama territory, but the way it takes itself seriously is certainly an asset to the surreal comedy.