Grace and Frankie - Season 2

[Huss417]

Grace and Frankie Season 2 is up on Netflix for those interested. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAcRVxj7h5I

[PalJoey]

It's even better this season than last season .

[LarryD2]

I agree. Last season, the show was enjoyable but really hadn't found its footing. This season, it's firing on all cylinders.

[Huss417]

Glad to hear. Going to binge watch on this rainy day. :)

[BWF]

I binge watched Friday evening and Saturday. It was like a laugh fest., Ace quality TV ...

[EricMontreal22]

I'm mid-way through this season but...  I'm still on the fence.  There still seem to be too many lame traditional sitcom punch lines (which feel odd being said without a laugh track--not that I want a laugh track).  The husbands still are frustrating and feel more like brothers or best friends than lovers--with Sam still often seeming infantile.  Still, Jane and Lily are never less than watchable and often make their material really shine.

[PalJoey]

 

It keeps breaking my heart.

And OMG! the GUEST STARS! Swoosie Kurtz, Sam Elliott, Marsha Mason, Joe Morton, Mary Kay Place...

 

[Luscious]

Loving Season 2! Like most of the cast, it's only improving with age.

[givesmevoice]

I still don't LOVE the show, but I do love Tomlin, Fonda and June Diane Raphael. I was really excited to see Estelle Parsons show up in two episodes at the very end of the season, and I love the storyline they gave her, something that would NEVER be discussed as openly and frankly on another sitcom.

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

This show is a complete treasure.  I am sooo happy to see Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin working again.  Ms. Tomlin is comedy gold and a national treasure.  I love seeing all of the older actors getting a chance to act again and Ethan Embry isn't too hard on the eyes either...

[~FloweryFriend~]

I desperately want to find a guy like Jacob the Yam Man.

[Jordan Catalano]

I finished season 2 the other day and just loved it. Lily Tomlin deserves all the awards for her work on it this year.

[henrikegerman]

I wasn't a fan of this show through much of last season but it got consistently better and better, and the new season is even better. 

[EricMontreal22]

I think the actual writing for each episode was far stronger this season.  I still found the switch in tones, weird--I think the showrunners just don't know how to do to a serialized 30 min drama and not a sitcom.  The final episode especially felt off to me--were we meant to applaud Frankie and Grace's solidarity?  Their exes were awful, but this was Bud's party.  The character had zero storyline except showing that he loved and had concern for nearly everyone, and yet had a ruined birthday.  In the final scenes Frankie accused Coyote (and thank God we lost his side story from last year) for making her feel like she was losing her memory...  She *was*  And she had to get stoned to get her license (I admit I enjoy being stoned, and I drink a lot more than I should, but this show deals with both issues in a very weird way). 

And yet, Fonda and Tomlin make every second of their stuff work--as do some of the guest stars (I will try to say nothing at all about Sheen and Wasterston except that I didn't buy their hotel room scene, about the crazy sex they had just had, for one minute.  And it's not due to their their ages.

I think that this piece makes a lot of good points...

 With one caveat--I don't buy that the showrunners felt pressured to appeal more to a younger demo--if anything the kids (mostly for the good) were downplayed this season.  Oh, two caveats--I had many of the same issues this writer has with season 2, with season 1.  If anything I *do* think the writing was stronger in season 2--there were less awkward "let's pause after a bad punchline for a laugh track that isn't there" moments, anyway.

http://flavorwire.com/576556/grace-and-frankies-second-season-is-nearly-undone-by-the-nature-of-binge-watching

[Wilmingtom]

Eric, the switches in tone are exactly what I love and admire about this show.  I welcome laughing and weeping within a single episode.  I can't qualify it as a comedy or a drama because, to me, it is variously both.  And it hits most balls out of the park in comparison to many shows.

[EricMontreal22]

That's fair enough--I'm not sure why it feels so wrongheaded to me here whereas I love it on other shows.  I think part of it is I think they could do the serialization angle better--the pregnant daughter's husband is nowhere to be seen and not even mentioned, and then in the final episode suddenly we're meant to wonder if he's been cheating on her?  Maybe bring some hints up earlier?  Stuff like that.

I still find the finale where they ruin the son's birthday, complain that Coyote tried to make her feel senile (when he merely suggested she get her memory checked because she couldn't withold any memory from five minutes ago) etc and we were meant to cheer the ladies on bizarre, and the only time I really disliked their characters (otherwise they were usually the only reason I'd watch).  Someone on another board said out of all the new Netflix shows, it works the best as a comfort food show (and nothing wrong with that) and I could see that.