Master of None – Season 1 Review

Master of None

I guess the fad now is to give a stand-up comedian a television show where they play an alternate version of themselves wandering around LA or New York, trying to be more poignant than their stand-up act lets on. Master of None definitely feels like Louie and, to a lesser extent, Maron and Legit. I’m already liking Master of None more, though. While I don’t really care for Aziz Ansari’s stand-up routine, I do like him as an actor and, considering we’re almost the same age, find him more relatable. But even if he was ten years older, I would hope that Ansari’s enthusiastic personality would still be a thing. It’s much more enjoyable watching him react to a bad situation, because his delivery, even when he’s “sad,” is energetic and fun.

For instance, one of my favorite exchanges is when Ansari tells a story to H. Jon Benjamin’s character, whose response is, “That’s a pretty boring story. I wouldn’t tell that to anyone else.” And Ansari replies, “Yeah, I could feel it going south as I was saying it.” I feel like every other show would have turned that into a big argument or sticking point for the characters, but Ansari’s Dev self-deprecatingly shrugs it off and moves on. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of other laugh-out-loud moments in the series. Sure, most of it is at least amusing, but Ansari and team are clearly striving to wax philosophical and fight social injustices with this project. Which is fine. It doesn’t have to be hilarious. I just hope future seasons don’t turn into an all-out drama like Louie has become.

Can I back up for a minute, though, and say how great it is that H. Jon Benjamin has a recurring role? It’s always fun to see him outside of cartoon voice-overs. But the rest of Dev’s friends and co-workers aren’t nearly as endearing. His main band of friends in particular didn’t work for me. It wasn’t that they were dumb characters but that the actors’ performances felt forced, like every one of them had been miscast and was now stuck trying to make the best of it. I’m not sure it was a good idea to use Ansari’s real life parents as Dev’s parents, either. His father seemed to enjoy the role, but his mother always looked like she was reading cue cards. Regardless, despite the overall weak cast, it’s a fun show, and I really hope we see a second season next year.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.