Spy Classroom Season 2 is one that is a lot more serious than the first season. It’s not to say that there isn’t a large quantity of slapstick, some comedy around the members of Team Lamplight’s personality foibles, and more development for some of the other members of the group – that’s definitely there. However, it does make an attempt to be more dramatic than last season, with varying degrees of success.
The main fault of the first season was putting a lot of time into the material in-between missions, and not a lot of time on the missions themselves. For season 2, the focus here is very much on the missions, though those missions also provide opportunities for further development and explorations of the backstories of the characters. For example, the first mission is a side-job related to the climax of the first season, and also has part of the team, including Annette (Code Name: Forgetter) running into her mother, who is also a spy for another country. We also get a bunch of development for Thea (Code Name: Dreamspeaker) – the team’s Grifter/Honey Trap (in addition to serving as a field leader), as well, along with more information about her mentor, over the course of a mission the team has to Not-The-USA, to take down an enemy spymaster there.
The plots are all generally more involved, and with the exception of the antagonist of the second mission (and specifically the enemy spymaster of that mission, Purple Ant, not his underlings), these missions have much more pronounced shades of grey than the side stories of the first season. There are less clear-cut situations of “This guy’s abusing his children to turn them into thieves,” or “This guy’s a cad who views women only as sex objects”. Instead, we get more of a sense that a war between spies is potentially safer for the general population than a regular war, far more ethically questionable actions are involved. Consequently, it becomes trickier for the team to balance “Doing the right and ethical thing,” and “Successfully accomplish the mission.”
Now, to be clear, this is nowhere near approaching John LeCarre’s levels of nuance. There are still fair amounts of wackiness and humor here, and Team Lamplight wouldn’t last for a day under LeCarre’s Moscow Rules (the radio equipment in their safehouse alone would get them absolutely blown), never mind all their big flashy fights out in the open. That said, it does strike a nice balance between classic James Bond and LeCarre – almost closer to the Craig Bond movies, but set in an earlier period.
The animation here is still rock solid, with excellently animated action sequences, and nice subtle little character traits in their interactions. The overall story is definitely far from over, but this is a very good continuation of the story. If we get a third season, I’ll definitely continue watching.
Spy Classroom Season 2 is currently available for streaming on Hidive.
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