You Asked For It

Despite the show setting up the birds and the pigs working together against a common enemy, that never actually happens. Not a single pig is seen when the birds are initiating their plan against Gale. We don't even see much from the pig that stayed loyal to Gale either.

I know this is Angry BIRDS Stella, so it makes more sense to give the incredibly limited screentime to the birds instead, but I feel like you could've snuck in a little more piggy power into this episode, considering how they've been set up to be sympathetic. Maybe instead of Handsome Pig being completely useless, you could have a couple minion pigs distract him to help the flock instead.

For something more positive, that chase scene on top of the castle was quite tense! Every hit that Stella dodges leaving a shiny mark on Gale's castle, and eventually part of the castle even crumbles under its sudden increase in weight! This leads up to the confrontation on the roof, the castle's crown, where Stella accidentally gives Gale a taste of her own medicine.

Finally, against the wishes of both her friends, AND the pigs, Stella chooses to bring back Gale with the Golden Egg, believing that, even after everything, she still deserves a second chance.

Then Gale runs off into the woods, never to be seen again, and Stella tosses the Egg into the ocean. The End.

Wait what?
That's it?!

What about Gale? What does she do now that she’s lost her Golden Egg AND most of her loyal piggy minions?

And tossing the Golden Egg into the ocean isn’t going to do shit (In fact, I've taken so long to write this that a new comic has come out, and confirmed that tossing the Golden Egg into the ocean indeed didn't do shit!), we’ve seen that thing get casted into an active volcano and it just shows up fine and dandy a few days later!

And what the hell is the Golden Egg’s deal anyways? The whole island is named after it! There’s a dusty old book entirely about the thing!

And who’s this King Pig look-alike that keeps popping up in said old book? Did the crown belong to them? Are they related to the ruins on Golden Island?

Are you gonna give us the answers to any of these questions, Mrs “What if Angry Birds was more story focused”?
Nope! And they never will!

Even as a dumbass kid with no standards, it ticked me off just how many loose ends the Grand Finale leaves untied.

Ah well, let's now talk about season 2 as a whole.

There's been a slight change in the lighting style this season; the highlights and shadows are a little more distinct, almost like something cell-shaded, and I kinda prefer it over the style in season 1.

It's also definitely picked up the pace! A LOT happens in this season! Season 2's narrative game is definitely stronger than season 1, where nothing much happens story-wise until Gale suddenly "dies". Unfortuantely, I also feel like season 2 is a lot more weaker than season 1 in other aspects. While "Friends Whenever", "It's Mine!", "Premonition", "Last Bird Standing", and "You Asked For It" have permanently etched themselves into my head, and are the first things I think of when I think of Angry Birds Stella, the rest of season 2 have a much harder time competing for space with the entirety of season 1.

I think it's because it's lacking in the characterization department. In season 1, we're always learning new things about each bird and seeing them interact with each other in different ways. "Rock On!" and "The Prankster" shows Poppy being an absolute menace, while the ending of "Bad Princess" shows why the flock keeps her around. We see Stella trying to engage with the flock's respective hobbies in "Own The Sky". Most importantly, "A Fork In The Friendship", "Rock On!", and "Don't Steal My Birthday" shows the flock actually doing things together as a friend group.
Season 2 however, while it does start off strong with "Friends Whenever", quickly falls apart in this regard as it decides to do away with character moments in favour of the Golden Egg stuff, when it could've easily had both. "The Golden Queen" could've expanded upon Gale and Luca's dynamic as seen in season 1's "The Golden Egg" and "The Runaway", but instead it treats Luca as an excuse to lead Gale to the Golden Egg, and quickly shoves him aside the moment they reach the cave. "Camp Scary" doesn't even bother with Willow and Dahlia's characterizations. "The Storm" simply repeats the same "bicker-reconcile-nevermind" format that we've seen Stella and Gale do since Season 1 Episode 1. Quite a shame, really. It's very easy to see a world where season 2 outclasses season 1 by a landslide. As a wannabe writer with a million scrapped works, I know "write good characters" is MUCH easily said than done, but just look at season 1; they're clearly competent at this!

It's still a damn shame what happened to the Angry Birds Stella spinoff. From how much marketing they made before the game released, and how much stuff they did the moment it came out, from plushies to Telepods to novels to comics to a motherfucking japanese manga(!), they cleary wanted this to be The Next Big Thing, much like the original Angry Birds was when it first came out. Unfortunately, as Harry Slater from Pocket Gamer's review puts it: "It's Angry Birds. If you care about that any more then you'll probably find something to enjoy. [...]". Angry Birds Stella is an Angry Birds game in a world that already had 10 other Angry Birds games. All the people you didn't pull with all those previous games likely aren't going to raise an eyebrow at "Angry Birds with a story". The only audience you will get are the people who are still sticking around with Angry Birds. Angry Birds Stella would've never been The Next Big Thing, not a chance.

But in a better world, that shouldn't matter. The value of art isn't how much you can benefit from it, it's about what it imparts on the people that see it; what it means to them. And from what the community made when Angry Birds Stella first came out, to the way fans talk it about today, it meant a damn lot to a whole lot of people. (Possibly including Liisa Kareranta, one of the character designers, considering the things he posts. Having worked on the short-lived fan-made project Angry Birds: The Motion Comic, having the chance to work on an offical "Angry Birds but with a narrative" must've been quite surreal!)
Angry Birds Stella could never be The Next Big Thing, and that's alright. It just needed to be Angry Birds Stella.

Angry Birds Stella deserved more.