REVIEW: ‘My Dad the Bounty Hunter’ Season 2 Brings Even More Sci-Fi Joy and Action

Netflix Original My Dad the Bounty Hunter is back for Season 2, and the adventure is an even larger family affair. An animated sci-fi-action-comedy series from Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin—animated by Dwarf Animation Studio—My Dad the Bounty Hunter followed Lisa (Priah Ferguson) and Sean (Jecobi Swain), who stowed away on their dad’s latest work trip, hoping to finally get some quality time together—only he’s an intergalactic bounty hunter. That’s the premise of Season 1, and after being launched into the surprise outer space adventure of a lifetime, how can a kid adjust back to life on Earth?

With the revelation that their mom, Tess (Yvonne Orji), is actually not from this planet, Lisa and Sean are taking different paths in getting back to their everyday lives. While last season showed Sean struggling to fit in, he now uses his adventures to write short stories in his class and succeed in such a way that he’s now, well, popular. Lisa, on the other hand, is struggling. Having lived a thrilling few days on an intergalactic journey, Lisa is struggling on Earth, with everything feeling repetitive and boring, causing her to struggle in school.

As for their dad? Well, Terry (Laz Alonso) is working at a shoe store, dedicating time to his family and leaving the bounty hunting behind. That is until he becomes the bounty and not the hunter and is abducted and taken to outer space. With their Dad captured by intergalactic adversaries, Lisa and Sean are off on another hyperspace adventure, this time with their mom at the helm.

Back in the spotlight for My Dad The Bounty Hunter Season 2 is the Endless Horizon Conglomerate (or EHC) that Lisa and Sean seemingly helped their dad dismantle last season. Only this time, we see them running Bucky Quanto’s, the best wing spot in the galaxy, into the hipster gentrified ground and stretching out their tendrils to take over more of the galaxy for their capitalistic gain through a guise of responsible sourcing and community involvement. Their thinly veiled attempts to exploit people and planets is still their main goal, just with a new face.

But while Capitalism is the big bad again this season, the heart of Season 2 is a science fiction story that grounds itself in Afrofuturism when the kids meet their grandparents in the Kingdom of Doloraam. This adventure may be about their dad’s job or the latest mission but it is a family story that looks to connect the children with the intergalactic legacy that their mom has tried so hard to leave in order to protect her kids from intergalactic enemies and dangerous aliens.

While I could dive into the grand galactic capitalist conspiracies that are running through the galaxy, My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 focuses primarily on family dynamics as we meet Tess’s family and learn the details about why she chose to leave them. Last season brought loving Black fathers into the spotlight, and this season, it highlights the complexities of tight-knit Black families that will resonate for anyone who has had to set boundaries and venture out of a family’s home in order to build their own.

Much of the story of this series revolves around the complexities of familial love and speaking up about your emotions when you feel them. Last season we got emotional moments between Terry and his kids, with each of them showcasing a depth of feelings that needed moments to explore. This season, we see something similar happen between Tess and her parents when she returns home. But more importantly, the series speaks across the generational gap when Tess realizes that the way she loves her kids is how her parents love her, allowing her to understand some choices that may have seemed overbearing at the time.

That said, My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 is also an action-packed addition to the series, with chases, shapeshifting fights, and a look into an Afrofuturistic planet fighting against a corporation looking to take it over and exploit it. The animation does a phenomenal job of highlighting large battle sequences, but it also captures unique cultural expressions in fashion and artwork, connecting Lisa and Sean into a powerful lineage bigger than they could have imagined.

The fight animation and direction are even better than last season, using vibrant colors and neon lights to accent much of the movements in battles that range from one-on-one to more large-scale moments. And a standout in this season is Tess. While Terry is a trained hunter with fighting skills to boot, Tess is figuring everything out as she goes along and does so with style. Having been on Earth for some time, she’s a little rusty in the intergalactic information department, but she stays on her toes, never skipping a beat and adapting quickly.

From disguises to getting information from people at a poker table and using her Taebo tapes to fight, Tess’s inexperience is endearing. This is particularly true when balanced against Lisa and Sean, who aren’t scared of anything, leaning on what they learned in their last adventure to help their mom succeed.

As for Terry, he’s on Doloraam, due to his work as Sabo Brok. The Kingdom believes they’ve kidnapped their princess, but in reality, well, he married her. Competing against fighters and proving that he deserves Tess is the focus of his role this season, adding comedy and some family complexity.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter uses its score to capture action sequences with a perfectly paced soundtrack, capturing joy, excitement, and beyond. From hand-to-hand combat to galactic dogfights and of course, laser battles, the series perfectly crafts sci-fi action.

Additionally, the comedy of the series cuts across age demographics in a way that captures an all-ages audience directly. As adults, you identify with the parents and the struggles of being in a relationship not really approved by the family, at least not at first. You can see the importance of speaking to your family and not assuming that they won’t support you. And of course, you have the rebellious crew of aliens with mountains of charm and humor, especially from Blobby and Glorlox (Rob Riggle) that match well with all of the sci-fi and action references that once again make some fantastic nods to the genres.

At the same time, Lisa and Sean are a vital connection to younger audiences that allow them to experience those adult complexities and see where they fit into it all. There is an emotional intelligence in My Dad the Bounty Hunter as a series that effortlessly captures nuanced elements of family relationships that make the animated series stand out with its ten episodes. While the choice to make each episode vary in length does harm the pacing slightly, the joy that the series brings is unmatched as is the action, even with its small hiccups.

What starts as a risky rescue mission changes into a family homecoming and connection that is a healing experience from an emotional perspective with tons of action-packed in for a thrill, and that dynamic storytelling is the series’ strength. My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 once again speaks to all ages and particularly young audiences to explore intimate family relationships and where kids fit into them. Doing that through science fiction in an animated action-comedy makes it all the more magical.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix now.