Although there is no such thing as a scarcity of remakes that fail to seize the spark of the unique work, there are none which might be fairly like Bel-Air. Drawing from the broad narrative beats of the 90s sitcom The Recent Prince of Bel-Air, although with none of its attraction or wit, the primary season more and more bordered on being a parody of itself. This begins to make a bit extra sense when contemplating that the unique impetus to creating it got here from a fan-made quick YouTube trailer that primarily was a confined sketch and will most likely have stayed as such. That it has now been stretched into two seasons of tv has laid naked simply how skinny of an idea and method that is. This second season of Bel-Air isn’t a whole catastrophe by any means, with some moments within the first 4 episodes providing hints of potential, however it’s also outlined by a way of directionlessness that continues to pull it down. The place the unique collection managed to hit needed dramatic notes exactly as a result of they have been juxtaposed with the comedic tone, this streaming reincarnation stays one-note and rote regardless of one of the best efforts of its forged.
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Season 2 picks up two weeks after the occasions of final season, which culminated in Will (Jabari Banks) packing his baggage and leaving the mansion to exit on his personal. It isn’t a spoiler to say that this separation just isn’t everlasting, as Will remains to be in contact with a lot of the Banks household save for Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes), with whom he stays annoyed. Their stress turns into a centerpiece of the primary few episodes, regardless of the makes an attempt by Aunt Vivian (Cassandra Freeman) to maintain everybody collectively whereas additionally pursuing her artwork profession. Whereas all this is occurring, Carlton (Olly Sholotan), Hilary (Coco Jones), and Ashley (Akira Akbar) all have their very own respective storylines as they attempt to make their means on the earth. There may be romance, drama, and battle that the collection continues to dutifully cycle via. Nevertheless, simply as all that is enjoying out, one has a rising sense that there’s little precise significance to something and that the present is spinning its wheels. Most seemingly vital developments are quickly undone, solely to get changed by ones which might be acquainted and performed out earlier than they even begin.
Picture through Peacock
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Specifically, the present remains to be unsure about what to do with Carlton. A lot of this problem dates again to the primary season, the place his main objective was mainly to be a villain to Will. This isn’t essentially dangerous in principle, but it surely was by no means pure in execution. When the collection determined that it was simply going to largely neglect about this, it was a bit clunky, although the shift couldn’t have come a second sooner. The place Season 2 begins to come across a number of the identical issues comes all the way down to how Carlton will regress as a personality solely when the narrative wants him to. As his fellow college students all come collectively to arrange at their faculty, Carlton appears to be getting in a brand new course than he has prior — that’s, till he isn’t, and we’re nearly again at sq. one once more. For all of the methods his character has supposedly grown since we first met him, there’s an odd insistence on conserving him caught up up to now. This may explode into the current in an abrupt vogue, making it exhausting to really feel like there’s really any improvement of his character going down; as an alternative, he’s diminished to being an empty impetus for battle to fill time.
That’s the place the strain on the coronary heart of Bel-Air turns into most obvious. At instances, it’s a sitcom in a structural sense, with every character going via their very own subplots. Misplaced from this are all of the jokes that made the unique alive and joyous. The way in which that is all shot conveys that it’s meant to be very critical stuff at the same time as it’s usually visually flat. The larger drawback is that it’s exhausting to take Bel-Air as severely because it clearly desires to be taken. References to actual points come throughout as being probably attention-grabbing just for the present to then largely sidestep them for extra superficial storylines. It isn’t as simply dismissible as being lip service, however it’s not a lot better than that. There may very well be loads of room to replace the fabric for our current second and provide extra centered observations consequently, however Season 2 is way too unfocused with none significantly insightful payoffs to every new path it goes down.
There are the selections dealing with Will that may very well be compelling, as he finds himself at a crossroads in his life, however there isn’t a robust basis underpinning all of it. Uncle Phil, whose heat was a central a part of the sitcom, feels chilly right here. He brings in his personal separate storylines, however this solely ensures that there’s an emotional distance that’s exhausting to shake. A part of this may very well be comprehensible in that Bel-Air is nearly all the things taking place simple, however that turns into tougher to swallow when there’s little that’s really substantive. The hearts of the forged are all in it, with Freeman specifically the actual driving power in key moments, however the present itself does them no favors as they have to battle to carry one thing extra to the story. Even after they discover it, all the things is just too fleeting and compelled.
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If something, Season 2 is enjoying all the things a bit safer this time. Whereas a lot of the primary season didn’t work, no less than it was taking some greater swings. The echoes of that proceed to be felt right here, however they now ring much more hole. Although the latter half of the season is being arrange as containing some extra important narrative parts to construct round, they’re telegraphed in cliffhanger teases on the finish of episodes which might be extra tiresome than something. There may be little price getting invested in — particularly when, as seen with Carlton, characters can simply be diminished all the way down to the broad strokes we already know and by no means develop a lot past that. It isn’t that he must be “likable,” as loads of exhibits could be about deeply unsympathetic characters, however there should be some larger complexity to him. The present is clearly greedy at this, however any second of larger depth is dashed as quickly because it begins to bump in opposition to the tepid confines of the story. When all of it comes all the way down to it, Bel-Air Season 2 goes via the motions of the household dynamics with out something sufficiently dynamic about it as a complete.
Ranking: C-
Bel-Air Season 2 premieres February 23 on Peacock, with new episodes releasing weekly.