Master of None – Season 2 Review

Master of None

After the show’s first season, I was worried that Master of None would try to follow in the footsteps of Louie and morph into an all-out drama. Season 2 definitely feels more serious and experimental. I mean, the first episode is strictly black-and-white, and there’s even an episode that doesn’t feature Aziz Ansari’s character, Dev, at all. Ansari is the best thing about the show, though. The episode without him got so boring that I started skipping ahead. I know comedians like Louis C.K. and Ansari want to be able to flex their directorial muscles, but I’m not one to hand out praise simply because something is different. The episodes of Master of None that break from the mold are certainly the weaker ones.

A lot of Season 2 felt like a repeat of Season 1, anyway, with Dev falling in love with a woman and then hitting a major impasse in their relationship. Only now the woman he’s chasing is already engaged to someone else, so it’s harder to side with Dev on this one. And, like Season 1, so much of the acting is just… bad. I understand those are Ansari’s real parents, but knowing that just makes his mom’s wooden acting all the more distracting. Eric Wareheim as Arnold is also surprisingly off-putting. It’s weird, because Wareheim was so charming in his many Tim & Eric skits, but he just doesn’t fit in here. It’s like Ansari is the only actor who’s at all comfortable on the show. At this point, I honestly can’t tell if that’s some intentionally artsy move.

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.