This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Same cast is back, but everything felt off somehow. Alvarez's character Mr Evans shifts from being this loveable mess who deals with life through neurotic charm into more of a grown man trying desperately to fit into some kind of Bro Code Brotherhood of America thing. We've still got Malcolm as the boyfriend, Gwen as his high energy best friend, Markie the gym teacher, plus the principal and Rick. Evan and Malcolm are officially a couple now, but things are rocky between them. Markie's still saying offensive stuff with good intentions behind it and still crushing hard on Gwen, who's back together with her jobless boyfriend. Rick's still off in his own weird world, chasing his next terrible business idea. This season pushes Evan to confront some of his own biases, both about himself and the people around him. The one episode that actually worked for me was the dinner at the principal's place, where they meet his daughter's husband, a very flamboyant guy from the South. Evan just can't wrap his head around the idea that someone this openly gay presenting could genuinely be in love with a woman, but it turns out sexuality is way more complicated than he assumes. There's another decent episode where Evan's mom visits town to celebrate him winning Teacher of the Month. Everything else though is pretty rough, stuff like the robot trash cans and the military guy just don't work. And we never really get any real depth into Malcolm and Evan's relationship either. Like, why are these two even a couple? There's no real chemistry there, they clearly don't fit together, yet the show just has them stay together anyway.
Honestly the jokes just didn't land this season. Most of the storylines circle around Evan and his anxiety over how to present himself as a gay teacher. There's way too much cursing happening in classroom scenes, and a lot of the plots just don't do anything meaningful for the teachers or the students, they go nowhere. I was bored through nearly every single episode. It was hard to believe this was the same show I'd had so much fun with before. This time it genuinely felt like a slog to get through. That effortless charm Brian Jordan Alvarez usually brings as creator and lead was almost completely gone this round. The jokes involving the rest of the teaching staff fell flat too. This season does give more screen time to the students and their side of things, but none of that really matters when the whole show feels this flat, I lost interest after just the first two episodes. I kept hoping it would pick up because I genuinely wanted to enjoy it, but I have to be honest, I'm really disappointed, and it's a shame to say this show probably deserved to get cancelled. It wraps up on a cliffhanger with Malcolm giving Evan an ultimatum, choose the school or choose him, but at this point I just don't care how it plays out.
Bottom line, a disappointing follow up that loses the charm and chemistry that made season one work. (2.5/10)
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