Season 2 was a longer episode for this show and it was well deserved. The season revolves mostly around preparation to open the new restaurant and ends in a successful opening night.
Throughout the season, we see more of the character's lives outside of the kitchen. It has its high-stress moments when project management around the restaurant does not go well, but most of it felt calmer with less profanities (don't quote me on that). Some people criticized on how Claire was not well written but I think their relationships will be further developed in season 3. It's hard to judge continuous TV shows in single seasons. They were just getting to know each other and Claire served as a distraction to Carmy and her character fulfilled her purpose. It also allowed for a devastating ending where Carmy gets stuck in the fridge, unable to see the grand opening of his own restaurant and falls into a deep self-sabotage session, which mostly likely pushed Carmy and Claire's relationship to an end. Without Claire, there would have been no such conflict for Carmy. It showed both literally and figuratively that Carmy could not accept good things in his life because he was still feeling a level of unworthiness and guilt.
His psyche is further explained by the Christmas episode (Episode 6), which was... in short words just plain insane. There were many cameos in that episode and everybody pulled their weight, especially Jamie Lee Curtis. Portraying Carmy's dysfunctional family brings depth to the character in a way that I've never seen before. It created a sense of discomfort but at the same time it was deeply moving and we fully understood why Carmy is the way he is in regards to his family and what Mikey's death meant to him. Another notable episode is with Richie's redemption in episode 7. This was many's favorite and it's always good to see the semi-antagonist to turn their game around and it felt so cathartic for Richie now that his background with Tiff was also explored. His deep self-hatred was hard to watch but that made watching him grow such a great TV experience.
All in all, this show is phenomenal. It has pulled off so much in a tightly packed episodes and I am certain that these characters will live with me for a while. I know that Season 3 is on the horizon and I can't wait to see how they finish off another great modern TV masterpiece.
Throughout the season, we see more of the character's lives outside of the kitchen. It has its high-stress moments when project management around the restaurant does not go well, but most of it felt calmer with less profanities (don't quote me on that). Some people criticized on how Claire was not well written but I think their relationships will be further developed in season 3. It's hard to judge continuous TV shows in single seasons. They were just getting to know each other and Claire served as a distraction to Carmy and her character fulfilled her purpose. It also allowed for a devastating ending where Carmy gets stuck in the fridge, unable to see the grand opening of his own restaurant and falls into a deep self-sabotage session, which mostly likely pushed Carmy and Claire's relationship to an end. Without Claire, there would have been no such conflict for Carmy. It showed both literally and figuratively that Carmy could not accept good things in his life because he was still feeling a level of unworthiness and guilt.
His psyche is further explained by the Christmas episode (Episode 6), which was... in short words just plain insane. There were many cameos in that episode and everybody pulled their weight, especially Jamie Lee Curtis. Portraying Carmy's dysfunctional family brings depth to the character in a way that I've never seen before. It created a sense of discomfort but at the same time it was deeply moving and we fully understood why Carmy is the way he is in regards to his family and what Mikey's death meant to him. Another notable episode is with Richie's redemption in episode 7. This was many's favorite and it's always good to see the semi-antagonist to turn their game around and it felt so cathartic for Richie now that his background with Tiff was also explored. His deep self-hatred was hard to watch but that made watching him grow such a great TV experience.
All in all, this show is phenomenal. It has pulled off so much in a tightly packed episodes and I am certain that these characters will live with me for a while. I know that Season 3 is on the horizon and I can't wait to see how they finish off another great modern TV masterpiece.