So I'm not the only whiny internet fan opining about the first few eps of season 2. Apparently, The New Yorker had some spot-on things to say-
"The sports comedy, now in its second season, is almost alarmingly unsexy, and yet it’s expertly attuned to the romantic and the sentimental, as if engineered by Pixar. You don’t discuss what the show is about but, rather, how it feels to watch it, which is comforting, or, as one headline put it, like “a warm hug of nice.”
This episode felt more grounded and like there were actual problems being actually fixed. Now, the problems are still cute, the main one is Coach Nate needing to learn to stand up for himself- in this case to a hostess at a small restaurant, and the solutions are still unrealistically sitcommy in a corporate environment- he goes to the team PR rep, who in turn, takes him to the powerful owner of the whole freaking club for practice. (Side note- Rebecca demonstrating how she psychs herself up to go talk to a room full of male football club owners is a highlight of the series- she's so hot and proper so much that when she does physical comedy, when she's silly, it's like watching a unicorn fart- AND I LOVE IT) Anyway- this casual closeness between staff shows that they're all a family, see? And even if one makes all the money and the other barely earns enough to live, they're all equal, see? Also, in a work comedy like this, any main character can only wander away for so long, before the world feels too expansive- so the other main part of the episode is Coach Lasso trying to talk Roy Kent into leaving his brand-new sports show pundit position and joining him with Coach Beard and Coach Nate as the team's coaches. There's a roll-on-the-floor funny moment when Roy helps the current captain get his mojo back at a neighborhood soccer pitch. It all goes down in a perfectly hilarious and delightful way- with Rom-Com tropes slung gleefully all over. Coach Lasso starts the episode saying he believes in 'communism....rom-communism, that is,' and because he can get away with anything, he gets away with this and ultimately pulls off his objective of bringing the family back together under one roof. So we're nearly halfway through the season and Dr. Sharon has been thus far almost completely unused and Ted hasn't broken down and the team hasn't had any major obstacles- big wins or losses- everything is just kind of throbbing static. I'm anxious to see what comes next!