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I don't know what happened, but I'm four episodes in and this doesn't even feel like the same show. The first season was breezily funny, comfortable in its skin, invigorating. So far, this season is a ponderous slog. It's like someone watched the easy sexuality and knowing embrace of stereotypes in the first season and suddenly decided the show needed to be "responsible" and "important". The show has stopped trusting its audience to be intelligent and now has to underline its social relevance in relation to Trump and #metoo and Black Lives Matter in case we're too dim to connect the dots. Loved this show last season and I'm really hoping they rediscover the fun.
I'm seven episodes in and have the opposite reaction from you, in that this has been a deeper, richer improvement on the already excellent first season. I don't know how they can avoid being truthful to some topics in those 80's time since the focus has been widened to include more of its (diverse) ensemble. Like, Episode 4 is my favorite of the whole two seasons because apart from it being an enormously fun match, we see each two's individual lives leading up to the match to give it meaning. How can they not address on what it's like being black in that decade, especially in the female wrestling scene in that decade, without how tough it is to be a WoC? And I think they address it with the necessary gravitas it deserves and light tone the show has; there are a few bouts of (sometimes-played-for-laugh) realization of ignorance and deep, wrenching regrets of how far you can only go when you are not the default, but mostly before and after they shrug it off, joke about it, and/or get back in their good-spirit self, because what can you do?
Season 1 is more exuberant and doesn't have to deal with this stuff because apart from having to set up the premise, assemble the players, and establish the team struggle, the focus is more on its white, (relatively) privileged characters, especially Marc Maron's Sam. To focus more on its cast with equally deep characterization mean the show has to rightfully deal with their problems, and I feel they do right by both them and the show's spirit.
I'm in the same camo as Peng. Some of the best stuff the show has ever done is towards the end of S2.
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Just watched Episode 8 (the episode within the show) and it was deliriously glorious. Loved it, and I think Spinal would too. Best of the series alongsides 4.
I thought it was ballsy and fun that they did the show-within-a-show and stuck with it for the entire runtime.
This season was a huge improvement over the last and---it's not quite the right word, but---fixed most of the problems I had with the initial season.
The first season was more balanced between Ruth and Debbie, whereas this season seemed to privilege Brie's Ruth at a much greater rate, so that Debbie became more of a supporting player, especially after self-destructing and dumping the things at her house. There's risks with that, in that there's little repercussions for the [] though it could be easily alleged that it matters less why she [] than that the two finally have their talk.
I did think the fourth episode--the Welfare Queen episode--did a nice job of short-circuiting the initial layer of racial representation to settle on more dynamic mother-son understandings; the 8th episode being episode-inside-episode was mad fun; and the sketchiness of the Sam/Ruth relationship made sense, even though its an emotional shift that makes Sam less "lovable."
Russell works in being both time-specific attractive and in being an alternative to Sam; the Arthie and new girl stuff gets too little coverage, so even though it's sweet, it lacks the narrative development to fully work.
I liked it overall and devoured it in two days, but an ensemble focus would help it generate more developed side characters over time.
Even though it's underplayed all season (except at the end of penultimate and beginning of last episode), Bash's storyline of denial, and his slightly dead eyes during the final song montage, is heartbreaking.
Episode 5 did not help my opinion. The show isn't funny any more. It isn't fun any more. There used to be jokes and banter and fun sexy moments. We've got another episode of post-Trump Twitter pandering. Where are the laughs? All we're doing here is a Harvey Weinstein re-enactment, as if we need to hear more about that. It's gone the way of Orange is the New Black, getting so caught up it its own perceived 'importance' that it's stopped being entertaining. The joy of the first season was watching an ensemble of women discover that the stereotypes they embraced were like riding lightning, full of power and danger. Humans' dark fantasies and fears and hopes and prejudices personified and doing battle. So far in season two, it's just another televised victimhood drama. If you want to tackle contemporary social issues, fine! But don't stop the stuff that lured me in. Girl-on-girl enemas as comic relief are not cutting it.
I will try to make it through this season just for the sake of it, but I'm not really looking forward to these like I used to.
Episodes 6 + 7: much better. I greatly enjoyed the build-up to Debbie's big oops. Nice scene with Sam and Ruth at the screening of his movie. Bash is getting most of the funny material at this point.
Episode 8: kind of fun, kind of boring. The scenes with Allison Brie work best. It's always fun to see the actors engage in fully staged matches. A lot of the filler material tested my patience. I suppose it's more authentic to have it not be so clever, but a few of the scenes were a real chore to get through (the song especially).
I'm curious what you thought was wrong with Season 1. And I am too lazy to go hunting for the thread to see if you posted specifics :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish
I definitely liked this season even more than the first, which I already liked quite a bit, but don't think I can articulate why. This is a show that I really love watching but don't know how to talk about.