REVIEW: ‘LINK CLICK,’ Season 2 Episode 2 — “Night Raid”

After another massive cliffhanger at the end of the last episode, LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 continues the trend of keeping viewers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. The hit donghua (Chinese animation) series from Studio LAN and BilliBilli continues to wow fans with beautiful animation and incredibly tense storytelling weekly. Lu Guang (Yang Tianxiang) is recovering from his wounds, and Cheng Xiaoshi (Su Shangqing) is trying to put the pieces together to find the mysterious villain and stop them.

The first half of LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 spends time re-treading some of the story beats from Episode 1, but this time with a little extra perspective and information. After Officer Chen Bin disappears from Lu’s hospital room, police chief Xiao Li heads out to find him while Cheng and Qiao Ling (Li Shimeng) stay with Lu. Officer Chen’s fall to his death is shown at the end of Episode 1, but the first half of Episode 2 gives more background leading up to that moment. It’s an interesting approach that I was initially turned off until the story dove deeper into Chen’s wife and the child they are expecting together.

One of the things LINK CLICK does best is explore the emotional sides of the stories it is trying to tell. Officer Chen has not been a major player in the series, so his death would be easy for viewers not to care, given what had been shown up until now. By showcasing his wife and how excited they were to have a child, the episode allows his death to have that knife-to-the-gut feeling that some of the others in the series have had. There is a moment in LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 when it catches up to Chen’s death that shows his wife looking at the ultrasound of their unborn baby that made me audibly gasp. It was that emotionally resonant.

The other big focus is the reveal of the main villain’s powers and part of their appearance. They aren’t shown in full, so there isn’t much to discern about their appearance, but the depths of their ability and how it relates to Cheng and Lu’s are explored. Seeing Cheng connect the dots and discover the villain’s ability was well-done, and it sets up a really interesting showdown between the two sides. Having abilities that complement each other on opposing sides is a fascinating approach full of intrigue. I have no clue how Cheng and Lu will be able to counter the new ability to win, but I sure will be following intently each week to see how it all pans out.

LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 also delivers some excellent animation in a battle scene in the back half of the episode. Studio LAN and BilliBilli have knocked it out of the park in every episode of LINK CLICK so far, and seeing Cheng and Qiao in action here is yet another example of their exemplary animation abilities. It would have been nice to see the action moments take up more of the episode time that was instead used to re-visit the previous episode, but what was there was amazing to watch.

Despite spending half the episode re-visiting the first, LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 continues the mystery without feeling stale. New perspectives give even more emotional weight to an already heavy series, and unraveling new details ratchets the tension up another notch.

LINK CLICK Season 2 Episode 2 is streaming on Crunchyroll, with new episodes every Friday.