Kevin Smith’s Masters of The Universe: Revelation has split fans of the He-Man franchise, with some enjoying the return to Eternia and others feeling a little cheated considering for most of the first half of the season He-Man and his nemesis Skeletor were “dead”. So as the second half kicked off, the question was whether the series would do something dramatic to turn around the naysayers, but as the first season returned to Netflix, it was clear that the series was not attempting to play it safe.

As you may expect, this article features some major spoilers from the outset.

The last time we dropped in on Castle Grayskull, things had gone awry for the heroes of Eternia, with Skeletor having taken control of the power of Grayskull and transformed himself into a self-professed “Skelegod”, and Prince Adam being seriously wounded and on the verge of death. As the new episodes picked up the aftermath of these events, we were only halfway through the episode before Smith decided to kill off not one but three well-known characters, the first of which was the Sorceress of Grayskull.

Having helped Adam, Teela, Andra and Cringer escape the castle, Skeletor dispatched the weakened Sorceress with relative ease and took Man-At –Arms hostage in the process. While still reeling from this turn of events, the action moved to Adam, who after being healed by Teela – who has now been revealed to have powers of her own - lead the survivors to what they assume is safety. However, when Skeletor tracks them down and takes over the souls of classic returning characters Fisto and Clamp Champ, within minutes both characters have been blown up by Andra and we are another two heroes down.

Related: Master of the Universe: Revelation Part 2 Release Date, Poster, and New Character Revealed

One thing for certain is that Smith is pulling no punches with the series, and although some of this is rectified by the end of the new episodes, nothing here will sit right with those who were dissatisfied with the first half of the season. In fact, it seems that the new episodes have only managed to further alienate these fans who expected, like the 80s cartoon, that each episode would begin and end with the same status quo and soft reset that kids cartoons – and The Simpsons – have in the main. However, for others, the rolling story and the expansion of the Masters of the Universe world has been a welcome return and they are now looking forward to a second season.

Masters of the Universe is not the only new take on the property to arrive on Netflix recently, as in September another animated series based on the franchise landed on the platform in the form of He-Man and the Masters of The Universe, a reimagined CGI version of the He-Man story that is aimed at a much younger audience. With whispers still abound of a live-action movie being in the works and still an active concern after a number of years, the question is will any new iteration ever live up to the nostalgia of the original 80s series?