The Politician. Season 2. Review

The first season of The Politician was a very strange beast. A high school political satire where the entire cast looked to be in their mid-30s in a very distinct Ryan Murphy style which can tread the line between quirky and irksome on an episode by episode basis. Then the ending came along  and in a surprisingly smart twist no the first season was revealed to be a prologue of sorts establishing the  central character Peyton and his campaign team so they can go up against Judith Light and Bette Midler  in a state senate campaign. Season one was mediocre overall but the ending  certainly made future seasons an interesting prospect. Did the second season released six months later provide the suggested upward momentum

Not really. in fact, it’s fair to say that season 2 is simply more of the same amplified to even greater extremes. For every moment that is surprisingly hilarious and piece of satire that hits its target they will be some other detail or plot point that feels like it belongs in an entirely different show. After a surprisingly strong first episode the season settles into a distinct rhythm with a more plot driven focus that might occasionally hit on a strong satirical idea but never manages to take advantage of it. his is a show where in its strongest satirical  episode a character  unironically drops an  “ok boomer.” Bette Midler and Judith Light ham it up and can be quite entertaining  but the writing is lacking punch and makes them feel like they have been added purely for the purpose of moving the show forward to completing its next arc and delivering another end of season flash forward cliff-hanger .The finale then proceeds to do exactly that but it’s not as effective as first time round. Audiences who have gotten this far will have seen this show pull this trick barely six months ago.

The Politician is not an awful show. Having seen Ryan Murphy’s disastrous Hollywood miniseries mere months ago on the same platform he can do a lot worse. Nevertheless this show was never able to take advantage of a promising setup going into its sophomore effort .For every good idea and there’s something that can come across is cringe inducing ,awkward or unnecessary (especially with this seasons more plot driven focus.)

5/10