Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: On the second season of Muted, Camille continues her mental health recovery while Avaline is starting to realize her issues. Meanwhile, more sordid secrets in the Severan family are uncovered.
My Thoughts: It’s official folks, Muted has outdone its already impeccable first season and earned number one position as my favorite currently running series on Webtoon.
Story (5/5) – I loved the shift in creative direction here. After the first few chapters, Camille’s arc takes the backseat to focus on Avaline who is in an abysmal mental state because of her repressive mother before learning about her past actions. Both plots are handled delicately without overshadowing one another whilst the family history is as horrifying as it is compelling.
Characters and Themes (5/5) – A recurring theme present is mental health issues which both Camille and Avaline grapple with, particularly trauma, anxiety, and depression. The perspectives, however, are nuanced as they depict characters at different stages of these struggles and support systems. For Camille, she is surrounded by a supportive network of individuals who are concerned with her well-being and actively try helping her recover such as her second cousin Silvia and girlfriends Nyra and Dendro. The same cannot be said for Avaline who is drowning in toxicity with seemingly no escape; as a result, she is mostly left to her devices to stand her ground. Even then, she feels confined to complying with the family tradition of an arranged marriage because that’s what she has been brainwashed with for most of her life until benign demon Raum comes along to talk her out of it and figure out what she truly needs which is of course independence from her toxic upbringing.
Athalie is still the malevolent matriarch that you can’t help but love to hate, and this season did not make me feel any more sympathetic towards her and reassured my animus. This isn’t to say she’s a poorly written character as her contemptible demeanor and actions make her motivations and thought process more complex. When it’s revealed Athalie sold the soul of her twin child to a demon to murder her now-deceased sister’s children (aka Camille’s mother) under the premises that they were not pureblood. While Athalie does seem to genuinely buy into this eugenics agenda, it becomes increasingly clear these views are also mired with sheer jealousy and thirst for power as she persistently continues to have Camille killed despite her case being ruled moot by the council of other witch matriarchs.
Art (5/5) – As with the first season, the pastel watercolor choices fit the story perfectly.
Dialogue (5/5) – There were a lot of memorable ones here including this gem of an exchange:
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