We Need to Talk About Season 2 of Hunters

NOTE: Spoilers for season 1 only, no spoilers for season 2

The second season is finally out. The second season of Hunters is finally out and if you are like me, you probably have mixed feelings about it. I loved the first part of the first season. I thought Logan Lerman was great and his ragtag group of gentile and Jewish Nazi hunters was kind of intriguing, sometimes funny and bizarrely endearing. However, as the season progressed, I started to question where the show was going. And when it came to the end I don’t think I have ever hated a finale more.

Let’s get into it. Spending the entire season attached to Al Pacino’s “Meyer Offerman” only to learn that he was the Nazi the group was chasing was devastating. More than infuriating, however, was my genuine confusion about the point of his character’s part, not to mention its centrality, to the plot. His character’s motivation simply didn’t make any sense. Why would he go through all of the trouble of disguising himself as a prominent Jewish philanthropist and creating a Nazi-hunting squad? There was no Tarantino payoff, no satisfying end. I didn’t get it. And that’s why this review is so hard to write beause the few parts I really loved in the first and second seasons are completely overshadowed by the many things I didn’t.

Put down the drugs. I decided to put away my rage and confusion, and give the second season a shot. So is the second season worth it? Most of the time the show makes absolutely no sense at all. The other part of the time it alternates between annoying and infuriating. And yet, there are some parts, some quick and fleeting parts that are genuinely satisfying.

The second season is like if the creators had a great idea, started writing it and then took a lot, and I mean a lot of drugs, and then got in a car and drove it into a ditch. Before I say why I didn’t like this season I want to talk about why you should watch it. First, Logan Lerman. Lerman remains the star and again gives an incredible performance. He’s back, no longer a reluctant newbie, he’s now an experienced and determined hunter. In fact, with his 1970s Israeli hairdo and beard, he’s the best part of the show. I hope he continues to take on different Jewish roles despite any controversy that might result. Even though I didn’t like Hunters, I loved him in it, just as I loved him in Indignation, one of the best adaptations of Philip Roth’s novels.

Many of the main members of the group are also still their endearing selves. For instance, Josh Radnor as Lonny Flash is still pathetic if not completely hilarious. Tiffany Boone as Roxy Jones is still bad ass. And Carol Kane as Mindy Markowitz is still the group’s Jewish mom.

The show also explores an interesting big ‘what if’. What if Hitler, played by Udo Kier, was still alive? How would the world react? How would he act if he again had the world stage? If nothing more, the show is a solid conversation starter, even if the execution is riddled with plot holes, random detours and more anti-Jewish tropes. There are moments with Hitler that are genuinely satisfying for an audience wanting him to face justice, but they are so few and far between, it feels like the show is mocking us as we are being robbed of a truly cathartic moment.

My issues with the second season. The second season continues to explore the idea of ambiguity between being a genocidal Nazi and a proud Jewish Nazi hunter, and again it doesn’t work. It’s believable that a successful undercover Nazi hunter is required to disguise himself as an antisemite, an enemy of Israel, a Nazi or whatever it is he needs to be to get the job done. But it falls flat when characters consistently toggle between the two extremes. Should we really be questioning a main character’s allegiance throughout the duration of the show?

It is never completely clear if Hunters is supposed to be a show about revenge or justice for the Shoah, or something else entirely. Is Hunters supposed to be a serious look at the struggles and complexities of Nazi hunting in the 1970s or just a mockery of it?

Such a waste. The thing I disliked most about Hunters is again what they did to my original favorite character, Al Pacino’s Meyer Offerman. The second season drags out a plot line for him that for all intensive purposes ended in the first season. It’s not even clear why Pacino needs to be in the second season. We know what is going to happen. There are no real surprises anymore. There is no need for him to be in the show. In the end, it is a real shame that Pacino’s masterful acting is wasted on such an idiotic character.

The time Hunters spends on a serious analysis of Jewish survival during the Shoah and the search for answers and justice afterwards is ultimately overshadowed by the incoherent fluff it is forced to fill with so many side characters and random plot detours. I wish I didn’t feel so attached to this show because despite a couple brilliant performances and a few genuinely satisfying parts, in the end it was a real let down.

The cast. Hunters also stars Jerrika Hinton as Millie Morris, the determined FBI agent, Kate Mulvany as Sister Harriet, the inconspicuous nun, Louis Ozawa as Joe Mizushima, and Greg Austin and Lena Olin as the incarnation of evil as Travis Leach and The Colonel.

By Aaron Gold. Aaron Gold is a writer and the founder of The Hasmonean.

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