Goldberg74

That episode had so much heart. Very well done.

The animated opening credits were a nice touch.

And a little Jamie goes a long way… “God bless me, everyone.”

Decker

Sorry guys, I am just not enjoying season 2 nearly as much as season one. It’s so precious and whimsical now. And totally conflict and essentially plot-free. It seems like the only mystery every week is “Who is going to be nicest to each other this week?”.
I thought Season One was brilliant and so much fun. There are some cute jokes in Season 2 but I feel like it’s gonna give me diabetes. And everyone acts like a caricature now.
And it has almost nothing to do with professional soccer any more.

RichC2

^ I agree. I still enjoy it, but it's missing a good bit of what made it great.

dex14

Yea, you're not wrong Decker, but I'm still enjoying it.

Did you end up just watching the whole season as a binge instead of week to week? That could be one of the issues too.

Deftones

Why are you sad? Did one of the Paw Patrol dogs die or something?

Decker

I didn't watch it week to week, but I didn't binge it all at once either.
I can't possibly imagine enjoying this season more with a binge either.

Sepinwall, who I still respect more than any other critic alive still loves the show, but maybe some of his readers are beginning to feel like I do about it.
​​​​​​
Kindness was the secret sauce of Season One. But no matter how much you like it, you don't sit around eating a bowl of secret sauce.

Decker

Timber

I teared up at the Christmas episode.

I don't mind the sappiness of this show. It's kind or refreshing to me to just have a feel good show.

whotony

If you guys think this show is sappy and over the top happiness you should take a look at that Central Park animated show from Josh Gad. Jeez. I couldn’t get through three episodes before I couldn’t take it anymore.

Decker

^ I stopped after the pilot in that one. Yuck.

Dan1boy

Watched the Xmas episode last night and wifey and I both agreed it was the best one yet.

Sappiness be damned, this show is what we ALL need right now.

Deftones

Yeah I don't get the knocks on how sappy the show is. That is the tone of the show. Always has been. It is a feel good show.

Decker

That's disingenuous. Compare :
Early season 1 : Rebecca is secretly undermining Ted. Higgins is caught in the middle and unsure what to do. The locker room is fractured. The players all hassle poor put-upon Nathan. Roy, Jamie and Keely are in a love triangle. Ted's marriage is falling apart. The press and the public are always scrutinizing Ted unmercifully. Rebecca is deeply unhappy and insecure about her failed marriage.

Last episode : Everyone loves each other and gets along swimmingly. Lets sing a carol together!

Hey look, New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum makes almost the same analogy that I made last weekend :

Twitter

Deftones

Most of that was season long arcs, not singular episodes. They can't have one episode where there is minimal drama without people losing their shit? There is plenty of drama and adversity this season. Team tying matches consistently, having the sports psychologist always looking over Ted's shoulder, Jamie returning, Roy figuring out his place in the world after retiring, Ted feeling isolated from his family (this episode hit that home).

Is it on the same level as last year? No. But doesn't mean it isn't there.

dex14

I thought this week's episode was GREAT. I loved it.

Decker

I missed your response before. You said the show is the same tone as it was last season then after I give examples of how there is no conflict or story arcs of note this season, you reply that it isn't the same as last year, which was my point. It's always been a sweet show, it's just been TOO sweet this year.

Glad to hear dex felt the new episode was good. I will watch it tonight.

Goldberg74

I just finished watching it over lunch... good grief this show (like Cobra Kai) has no right to be as good as it is but it truly is.

This week's episode was FANTASTIC!

This had me rolling:



Throwing Copper

I watched the first 2 episodes and felt the way you do. So now I have 3 waiting for me I think.

I don’t really like watching one 30 min show per week. Season 1 was much stronger IMO so far.

devilshalo

I was with the various movie quotes and Beard's reaction to the last one

Interested to see where...

Goldberg74

Gotta love Rom-communism.

Decker

It was definitely cute and better than previous episodes of this season.

dex14

Deftones

That was a great episode. I saw the McElhaney/Reynolds thing yesterday and I was like wtf was that. Makes so much more sense now.

Decker

Can't believe that they yadda yadda away the whole dumping their sponsor storyline. That's disappointing and significantly decreases the stakes of that sacrifice.

Gizmo

I couldn’t get past the first few episodes of this show. It’s just not for me and I watch a lot of crap.