‘Wolf Like Me’ Season 2 Wasted Its Newest Character

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Season 2 of Wolf Like Me.

When it was first announced that Edgar Ramírez (seen earlier this year in Netflix’s Florida Man) would be joining the cast list of Peacock’s Wolf Like Me Season 2 as Anton, a character from Mary’s (Isla Fisher) past life, it just seemed that Wolf Like Me had decided to lend a sneak peek into Mary’s past—something it kept closely guarded for the entirety of Season 1. But, once the brief stay of the dashing and attractive Ramírez is over in Adelaide, the character leaves behind a shadow of what could have been had the series decided to delve deeper into his continued relevance in Mary’s life.

Wolf Like Me

Release Date

January 13, 2022

Cast

Isla Fisher, Josh Gad, Emma Lung

Main Genre

Supernatural

Genres

Romantic Comedy

Seasons

2

‘Wolf Like Me’ Season 2 Fails to Utilize Edgar Ramírez’s Anton

Wolf Like Me Season 2 uses the most perfect and crowded opportunity to introduce Ramírez’s Anton into the scheme of things. Shrouded in the mystery of his own charisma, Anton arrives at Mary’s doorstep during the baby shower thrown by Emma (Ariel Donoghue), quickly putting Mary in a murky situation. Mary’s awkward demeanor quickly establishes that there is clearly something fishy in her association with him. Obviously, a love triangle would be futile without the new guy in the equation giving serious competition to the incumbent. So, to establish this, Wolf Like Me allows Anton to flatter everyone around, especially Sarah (Emma Lung), Gary’s (Josh Gad) sister-in-law. However, only a few scenes later, Anton puts out the real reason behind his excursion into Adelaide. It’s revealed that Mary had bitten Anton, and Anton survived to tell the tale. He turned into a wolf later, punished to endure the dread Mary experiences every day of her life.

Despite the captivating influence yielded by Edgar Ramírez’s charm and the interesting nature of the situation when he arrives, not only does the character fail to provide any significant insight about Mary’s life apart from that he once used to date her, but the character also fails to impact the overall turn of events. If anything, by choosing Ramírez to portray a charismatic character such as Anton, and then using him as bait to keep the audience distracted from possibly the biggest conflict in the story, Wolf Like Me Season 2 wastes a character that showed great potential upon his surprise re-entry into Mary’s life. By the time Abe Forsythe‘s Wolf Like Me decides to dip its feet in the messy pool of blood left behind by Mary’s actions in the Season 1 finale, it becomes crystal clear that Anton was placed in the story only to keep the audience busy until the biggest events of the season.

Anton’s Arrival Creates Exciting Situations in ‘Wolf Like Me’ Season 2

The twist in the story comes, however, from the excitement Anton shows toward exploring his life as a werewolf. Unlike Mary, who has only tried running away from the beast inside her, Anton has embraced his furry side. He even suggests that he went into the Indonesian wilderness to experience the taste of the land’s exotic offerings. Even the way Anton presents the idea makes the thought momentarily alluring for Mary, and the brief spark in Mary’s eyes helps set up Gary’s nightmare that follows in the subsequent moments. Although the conversation between the past lovers is halted by the sneaky full moon that forces them to turn into wolves, the attraction endures as Gary stands witness to the two making passionate love in their hairy forms throughout the night. (Poor Gary.)

After providing Mary and Anton a night to rekindle their attraction towards each other, Wolf Like Me quickly drops the ball on their connection the very next day. While the previous night’s experience leaves Gary snowballing into a pile of emotional wreckage, all the chaos comes to a halt when Mary chooses to bid farewell to Anton, cutting short their potential love story. Just like that, Anton is reduced to a character used solely for the purpose of creating momentary flashes of fire in Gary and Mary’s relationship before he departs for another wild adventure. In retrospect, Wolf Like Me should have taken the varying perspectives of Mary and Gary on the future of their child to fuel the tension between them, rather than introducing a past lover who appears only for a one-night stand. After setting up Anton as a threat to Gary, Wolf Like Me puts Anton in the backseat to allow Gary to fall and recover, without much hassle.

‘Wolf Like Me’ Season 2 Wastes the Potential of Edgar Ramírez’s Anton

Anton definitely brings with him a great aura that casts a shadow of mystery on Mary’s life in Wolf Like Me Season 2, momentarily bringing tension into Gary and Mary’s relationship. But, eventually, the character’s impact only gets reduced to a subplot—a mere distraction to keep the ball rolling rather than focusing on the potential murder mystery on the sidelines. Edgar Ramírez’s quirky antics and mannerisms, while interesting initially, turn him into a caricature later on, reducing the character to one without much substance.

Despite the indication that Anton may share a deep bond with Mary (one that even Gary has not been able to form), Anton’s effect is reduced to the moment of bestial attraction, culminating in the “wolf sex” scene (which does not happen on screen). Moreover, through Anton, the series had real potential to deep dive into Mary’s initial struggles with settling into her werewolf life. As Mary’s teacher, Anton could have been a great vehicle to drive Mary’s story. Given an evil shade, Anton could also have very well jeopardized the relationship of the to-be parents. A villainous figure could have been just the chaos-inducing factor that Wolf Like Me needed, especially considering the show’s hesitation to get to the meat of the story. Instead, in the end, Ramirez finds himself to be exactly what he was during his first appearance: An unwanted, uninvited guest.

When it comes to Mary, we barely get to know anything more than we did before he arrived. Moreover, Anton does not help achieve any story-related milestones aside from briefly keeping Gary and Mary distracted from the furry problem growing inside Mary. During his stay, he does end up adding a lot more flavor and character to Wolf Like Me’s otherwise unadorned world, making his quick departure even more disappointing. Anton’s presence also helps build the myth of the world of Wolf Like Me. His existence as a werewolf cements the possibility of many others like Mary existing, potentially setting up further complications in later seasons as more of Mary’s kind may turn up at her doorsteps for reasons unknown.

Both seasons of Wolf Like Me are available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

Watch on Peacock