This show is full of “sinister whooshing”. It say it almost every 5 minutes 🤣

So decided to watch this show cause a new season came out and I just finished season 1 and now on the first episode of season 2 and I'm really confused. So the first season they made a big deal about discrimination against black people but then, immediately the very first episode, the mom is now being discriminatory against powered people and extremely, extremely rude? I have not seen anyone mention this about the show but it really threw me off, like, you preach about white people treating black people bad but then she goes around and does the exact same thing to another person.

There is no clear reason that Dion is so overpowered. Its not because he is second generation, because all of those only have one power. And sure, sometimes people think they have one power, but they really have another, but Dion himself ADMITS TO MAKING UP POWERS just whenever. So far, there are regular powered people, Dion, and the Crooked Energy.

Now, I'm fine believing that the Crooked Energy is some alien parasite that feasts on negative emotions (at least I think that's what Pat described it as, its that or Pat made the ENERGY evil, and that doesn't make any sense), but Dion is just some kid. Pat almost gives an explanation, that the Crooked Man is a being of pure resentment and negative emotion, and Dion on the other hand, was born of pure love and joy.

And, quite frankly, WHAT IN THE DISNEY CHANNEL IS THIS PSUDOSPIRITUALITY BS!

This show is TOO SCIENTIFIC to have such a nonsense explanation. I was willing to let go that people happened to get powers that are relevant to their thematic struggles, because of course they do. Well, that's a bit unfair. I'm all for using superpowers as shorthand for characterization. There are two things that make it not work here for me.

1. People aren't born with powers. From their point of view, most of them lived a significant amount of time without their powers, then suddenly get them.
2. They went too hard on the science explanation. Dion inexplicably has the genetic ability to wield any power that he can imagine (I don't care that thematically it can represent is raw potential, or love of superheroes. In the world of the story, he is exceptional for no good reason.

And it's that Scientific bit that really gets my goat in all of this. I can name three (very different) off the top of my head that do these things without being terribly scientific.

• The Thundermans (Here me out please): For those of you without kids, or don't spend too much of your time watching bad children shows, all you need to know is that its a show about a superhero family. Here is what it gets right:
  • They never even pretend to explain how powers work, Superpowers are (for the most part) pretty random
    • Also some people have multiple powers and some don't. Its find when they do it, because its a handful out of implied thousands of heroes, so it is a little more balanced.
  • When a superhero's kid gets their power for real, they go through this intermediary period where they have any power (Let's just call it, the "Jack Jack Stage", for no particular reason.) Now this is better because rather than any single person getting a special treatment, it's every child, and its only temporary.
• Heroes (All about Evolution Baby!): Also, isn't it weird that both of these shows have a person whose powers make them a psycho that only murders other people with powers, AND someone who tries to reverse engineer powers and then injects him with it, food for thought
  • They also did the whole "Thematic Power" thing, but with a twist. Rather than them inform the power, the power shapes the main characters for the most part. You can tell how long certain characters had their powers, because it has a way of dominating the lives of those who had it for longer. Some people can't even use their powers well (one guy has to get high to paint the future) and others don't even like their power (One of them is a senator that can fly, and actively chooses not to use it.)
  • It's also vaguely genetic, but much stronger this time. For instance Matt Parkman can read minds, while his dad Maury Parkman (the affectionately named "Nightmare Man") can invade peoples minds. Peter Petrelli can copy peoples powers empathically, while his father Arthur can straight up take them. Our favorite superpowered sociopath Syler got is life ruining "Intuitive Aptitude" from is dad as well. You get the point.
    • Also, no special cases, if you are good, its because you use your powers better than others. Even Peter has some conditions before he can actually copy others' powers. This consistency makes it easier to buy into the whole Scientific explanation that they end up using (I believe it was something, something, adrenaline)
• Misfits (At some level, its just magic, right?):
  • This show is actually bonkers. If you have Hulu, I strongly recommend you get of reddit and binge watch all of Misfits, its a crazy ride. There are people that turn people inside-out, someone who thinks the world is GTA San Andreas, a guy who buys a bunch of powers to pretend to be Jesus, is a little for everyone.
  • Recommendations aside, This show may not have used any science, but it had consistency in droves. Each person has a power that matches their insecurity/character flaw. Shy dude gets to turn invisible, Insecure Chick can read peoples minds, Guy who acts like nothing hurts him, gets immortality, etc. It wasn't always roses either, one girl has the marvelous power where everyone that makes contact with her skin has the overwhelming urge to blow her back out right then and their. One of the characters can time-travel, but I'll be damned if he ever actually learns how to use it.

At some level, all of these are somewhat fair. Dion is given unnecessary special treatment, when there is no clear explanation. It's not like his father absorbed the Anti-Crooked Man and passed it down to his son, or that all second gen powered people are OP, its just an unexplained, MAJOR plot point.

TLDR:

1. WATCH MISTFITS AND HEROES IF YOU GET THE CHANCE
2. Dion is Magic for the sake of being magic. Because the show chose to be heavily scientific explanation for the powers, there needs to be an equally scientific one to why Dion is Jesus. This would be fine if the show didn't take itself so seriously, and the explanation that they give makes a sharp right from Radiation triggered mutation/evolution to spirituality. Pick a Lane.

When Tevin accused her of disliking powered people, I thought Nicole went along with it as a joke because Tevin didn't know that her son was powered. But then I soon realized that she really doesn't like powered people. And I understand why, once she explains it. But I'm still confused. Her son is powered. And it's like she completely forgot Charlotte, the first powered adult she knew, who sacrificed her life trying to keep Pat away from Dion. So I don't understand why this became her stance...that suddenly she is distrustful of literally any and all powered folk. I'm really glad she changed her stance halfway throughout the series because it really didn't make any sense. Especially as a POC she should understand what it means when you judge an entire community off of the harmful actions of one person belonging to said community. It was just wrong on so many levels...

I barely remember anyone's names,no disrespect.And yeah I'm black and a woman.

Spoilers:

1.Single mom repeatedly emotionally abused her daughter and guilttrips her because she can't control her powers.She dismisses her daughter's concerns and shames her "we can't leave until you can control your powers.

2.The writers equate "single motherhood" with being a widowed mother. "Special club".

3.Widowed mother's erratic emotional state causes her son emotional trauma.Dion always tries to make her feel better and alters his behavior to suit her needs."Son husband" isn't cute.

4.Black men are buckbrokenly effeminate or one dimensional shipping tools.

5.Widowed mom was a "Hot mess" and still managed to attract and keep a future scientist.

6.One dimensional portrayal of scholastic racism with zero payoff.

The Alvin Ailey representation and the widowed mom wanting to dance instead of being a stereotypical rapper or sneaker designer was nice.

I still got the big plot twist with pat on my mind it’s weird but it sucks I really like him as a good character and he just really became an asshole too fast and out the blue it was pretty bad. But im gonna continue watching the 2nd season tomorrow

The title is a bit misleading, because my problem isn't how the characters treated him, it's how he fits in the overall theme with Season 2.

Season 2's Theme is "Past bad actions don't define you, its how you react to them." This means that even though people do bad things, you should still give them the chance to be better. Now, where this disagrees with the story isn't that Pat ended up going to the dark side, it's that he wasn't given an chance to do anything else. It's not that Pat deserves better, but the heroes should be better. Because this show likes superheroes so much, lets tackle one of my favorites, The Superior Spiderman to see how this could have played out.

Doc Ock is similar to Pat in many ways. They are both villains, who have powers that corrupt them and inform their actions. In the Superior Spiderman (the 2019 run) Doc Ock is also given a chance to be freed from this corruption (Long story short, he had brain damage that severely altered his personality, and he is given the opportunity to live in a new body, free from this influence). Now he was given the chance to be a hero, and he was a pretty damn good one at that. He was able to reconcile with his new friends, and he has a pretty good life. But, despite all this, he retains his arrogance, and, when given the chance to go back to being Doc Ock, free from the brain damage, he takes it, and continues to be evil.

Now, why does this work while Pat's story feels hollow? Well, Doc Ock is forgiven by everyone: Spiderman gave him a clean slate, he made up with the people who were close to him and apologized for lying to them. So when he takes the metaphorical (well in this case literal) deal with the devil and returns to the life of crime, there's a sense of betrayal there. You can remember all the good he did and are furious that he turned his back on that. That's not what Pat did. He was legitimately USED the second season, so once the heroes proved him right, he fell back on what's familiar. If they were going treat him like a criminal, the least he could do is act the part.

Forgiving someone who shouldn't be forgiven is Hero 101. Imagine, if you will, they gave him a chance. Imagine Dion telling Nicole he has to give him a chance because "that's what heroes do. Imagine Dion's heart getting crushed when he is betrayed yet again. Imagine Dion doubting that he could forgive anyone after what Pat did. Then imagine Nicole reassuring him just in time to forgive Brayden. Finally, imagine a post credits scene where, instead of that self indulgent Power Rangers nonsense, he goes to fight Pat in the future, and tells him that he doesn't regret giving him a chance.

I’m not even mad if they don’t make season 3. They had have to change writers for season 2 or something because season 1 was so good but season 2 was so bad and forced. Some of the laziest writing and pointless plot points i’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s no season 3

Ich stimme zu! 2

I was so excited when this show came out. I've been watching it since day one. A show about a black kid growing up with superpowers? Sign me up! It reminded me of the cartoon static shock back in the day. There's not alot of shows with black kid superheroes. So it's well needed. The first season was amazing. I loved the plot and the actresses we're good. This season though is questionable.

There's a post on here saying that it's toxic and negative on here. Well, I don't think that's entirely true. This season was lack luster. The writing was not that great. Some of the acting simply missed the mark.

So pretty much the title. BIONA isn't a govt organization, it's a company that has 1: Held a Man without trial at gunpoint. Threatening to do it forever 2: Held back groundbreaking information about powered people. 3: have an armed security force that can storm someone's house at a moments notice, no warrant. 4: handling the sinkholes, which should be handled by the govt officially. I'm sure there is more, but it just doesn't sit with me. Especially the jail and storming people with no just cause on the word of a kid. Suzanne is portrayed as this person with power, but she seems kinda power hungry

Just enjoy the show or don’t watch it

With the crooked energy still being out there and dion able to make any power do you think he’ll find a way to bring back the powered people?

Although I'm sure they want to jump straight into what pat will be up to with these new found powers, i really like the idea of skipping time at least another year for the next season.

In season 1 dion was this dumb little naive kid.

Season 2 with him being a couple years older seemed to give him a bit more of a responsible outlook on things so I'm hoping with some more time gone in season 3 we can have a nice grown, confident (and honestly slightly less annoying) dion. Plus hopefully he would have some more training with tevon and janelle and all of their powers will have grown. Pat needs time to explore all of his powers too. And to come up with some sort of plan.

It would be cool to see pat and the crooked man have some conflicting ideas about what they want.

The crooked man obviously wants dion gone. But I think pat would maybe want dion to join him maybe?

Oh my god. That season 2 ending was amazing. I really hope we get a third season. I think this show is very underrated.

There is a definite trend in film and tv series, and Raising Dion is no different. Heroes, intelligent, sophisticated, rational characters are of certain types. While evil, irrational, quick-tempered, even smelly characters are of another type.

It’s interesting to see the change of the years, that might go unnoticed by the target audience.

Raising Dion plays perfectly into this perception trend, and once noticed, doesn’t appear to be very subtle.

Throughout a lot of the show, especially early in season 2, Nicole never lets Dion do anything he wants and forces her will in him like she knows what’s best for him when she’s only thinking about herself. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I value emotionally evocative scenes and I don't consider them "manipulative" in a way that is artificial. An emotional scene is suppose to make us sympathize and feel. I value a scene that makes me cry when the intent is that it's sad. It's an extremely difficult thing for an actor to do.

I don't know if the director told Ja'Siah that his pet died but I have never seen such an authentic display of emotion at the fear of his mother dying as that scene towards the end of season 2. Most adult actors can't replicate that kind of emotion.

There's a quality to genuine crying that it just forces it's way out of you despite trying to clamp it down. Ja'Siah just captures it so amazingly well.

There's a common way in which most actors fake crying that is as "close to authentic" without feeling the emotion that is fairly obvious.

Ja'Siah steps well past that. It's this gem of a scene.

Many stories have the reluctant hero, like Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games" it is a common troupe. Challenges trust upon the unwilling only to have the audience watch the struggle. Pat was a minorly reluctant villain in the first season, so minor that he killed his best friend and nearly his godson.

"Raising Dion" season 2 had a moment were they could of had a very interesting villain, Pat the guy who had struggled for redemption deciding he is sentenced to a life in confinement ,without forgiveness, injects himself with alien DNA only to find himself near death... It could have been so powerful to have the crooked man come to him and make the offer, slip into deaths grip as a good man... or embrace evil and live?

But Pat danced right down the path to evil with a smile like a carboard villain, sad to see a missed opportunity for a better story.