Not Dead Yet Is Back For Season 2

 

In my initial review of Not Dead Yet when it premiered almost a year ago to the day was that it had the potential to be as great as Abbott Elementary clearly was after barely two seasons. Two episodes into Season 2, I can safely say that this incredible comedy has, in fact, realized that greatness and after just two episodes, shows every indication of not resting on its laurels.

The reason I am certain of this show is a classic is because even if you removed the gimmick at its center, it would still be one of the funniest shows on television. This is in part because like the astonishing Abbott Elementary and Hacks which like Not Dead Yet are centered on incredible female leads, this show has one of the best supporting casts that in a very short time has managed to fully realize the potential of the characters.

As we all know by now, Gina Rodriguez is another one of those forces of nature who commands the screen every scene she’s in. Playing Nell, the messy character still trying to find her way after the end of a messy breakup (she and her fiancé finally ended things in the Season 1 finale). Nell is still struggling for respect at her job among some of her colleagues but she is a such a lovable person that even the people who are inclined to dislike her on first glance genuinely come to respect her.

As we have seen throughout the first season, all of the characters are dealing with their own messes. Sam (Hannah Simone) is worrying that her marriage, happy after seven years, might end up being flawed because that’s when her mother’s marriage always broke up. Cricket (Angela Gibbs) who Nina met in the pilot after her husband died, has been rebuilding her life, still is as fresh as ever and is now in the process of putting herself back out there. Dennis (Josh Banday) is dealing with being the father of two adopted sons and is doting on them at what has to be considered a ridiculous pace.

But the characters who are making the biggest strides are Lexi and Edward. Lexi, played by Lauren Ash, started out as the heavy on the show, but very quickly revealed that beneath her very harsh exterior was one that has had its share of bruises. Her marriage has been falling apart for a while. Her daughter’s relationship with her has been messy. And we’ve suspected that her father, who has been allowing her to run the newspaper, has not exactly been a source of warmth. (As we have seen so far this season, this is proven in spades.) In her friendship with Sam and how she helped Dennis and his husband find their sons in a heartwarming arc last season, we’ve seen that there’s a heart there. You get the feeling so much of her picking on Nell over the last two episodes has been more out of habit than any residual loathing.

Then in the season finale she met Nell’s roommate Edward (the wonderful Rick Glassman). New viewers might be forgiven for not knowing that Edward is on the spectrum. In one of the many things I love about this show, Edward acknowledged that in the Pilot and it has only been referred to once or twice ever since. He is clearly high-functioning and everyone on the series treats him with a fair amount of respect, many of them even appreciating how he speaks with no filter. One of the best jokes of Season 1 was that the blunt disdain he had for Nell was deserved because he was clearly doing much better than she was: he has a high paying job and he had a girlfriend who he spent time with. Watching him slowly come out of his comfort zone (and with him never explaining as TV does, why this was hard) has been something I can appreciate more than most viewers can. (Personal remarks over.)

Anyone Lexi loves to demean anyone she can see with a cutting remark on first glance. When she finally met Edward at the end of Season 1, not only couldn’t she do it but he was able to match her cutting remark for cutting remark which was hysterical. In the opening of Season 2 Edward came into the office to bring Nell her lunch (in typical fashion berating her for her mess) and he and Lexi met again. They again exchanged insults with the easy repartee you see in so many love stories. It came as a shock to no one when, later that same episode, Lexi tracked down Edward, threw herself at him and the two had sex. Multiple times. Edward understandably has been seeking clarity ever since, which the usually forthright Lexi cannot give him.

And the reason is because her father has just returned to the company. Brad Garrett, much like Ray Romano, has become another one of those performers who I could not stand on their Emmy winning role on Everybody Loves Raymond but whose post-Raymond work has constantly showed a range I didn’t know he had. From his wonderful dramatic stint in Season 2 of Fargo to his memorable work in the gone too soon The Crazy Ones and a broken standup in I’m Dying Up Here, there has been an edge to Garrett’s work even in the comedy series he does these days. Now he joins Not Dead Yet as Duncan Rhodes, Lexi’s father who is a giant in finance  - and you know, real life- who is so casual about how unpleasant he has then when he comes to see Nell for her to write his obituary he genuinely doesn’t seem to comprehend how horrible his actions are. (“Remember what I did for minors in my factories,” he says and yes, he makes sure Nell gets the spelling correct on that.)

It's wonderful watching Lexi,  who has been able to stand up to everyone in sight for the last year, sputter around like she has no idea what to do. Of course, the sadness is the fact that their relationship is very dysfunctional – and it’s worth noting that Duncan loves to show that. In the season premiere he befriends Nell and seems to take a shine to her. Nell, loving being the center of attention for once, is pushed reluctantly by Sam to help fix things between them. Nell then goes into Lexi’s office (which Duncan has co-opted) and over Brandy Duncan tells them their relationship has been pushing by him trying to make her do her best. He does so by picking someone he considers a complete and utter joke, praising them in front of her, and then making that person the center of attention to spur Lexi onward. Nell, of course, realizes that’s what happened here, something Duncan cheerfully acknowledges.

This is when we get to the gimmick behind the series: like Haley Joel Osment, Nell sees dead people. Whenever she’s assigned an obituary, she sees that person’s ghost and they have conversations about what it was like to be alive, things they got wrong and lessons that they hope to pass on to her. Nell is resigned to this (she’s far from happy about) but she’s managed to find a way to make it useful.

And it’s clear that this gimmick still is helping both Nell and the show. In last night’s episode, which took place on Valentine’s Day, Nell was facing her solitude and was trying to deal with the fact the ghosts in her life keeping making having a love life, shall we say, difficult. Case in point, after a meet cute at the café outside her paper she gets assigned her most recent obituary about a female senator who was a big advocate for woman’s rights. (They’re not subtle; her name is Diane.) Nell then goes to talk with the man – and Diane tells her he’s her son.

Her son, for the record, is actually there on business: he’s there to give quotes for his mother’s obituary. But the attraction is there and Nell says she’ll go to his art exhibition. Diane tells Nell everything she needs to know about her son but insists on coming along because she wants to see if her son and Nell can make a connection before she leaves this Earth. But when her son has disappeared, she tells Nell that she has to tell her son he’s a terrible artist and she encouraged his career only because she didn’t want to hurt him. (“You really are a politician!” an infuriated Nell shouts.)

To be fair, her son is a terrible artist. To be fair to him, he knows that and when she tells him, he says that he didn’t want to let his mom down. The moment is sweet but Nell knows that he is going through grief and whatever attraction they have can not be acted upon while he’s like that. They part with the possibility of them meeting again. I actually hope it works

Not Dead Yet has the absolutely perfect mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and often poignant moments which the best comedies are capable of. Rodriguez spent a lot of time being the tower of strength for everyone in her previous TV series Jane the Virgin so it’s wonderful to see her playing someone who is messy and just not put-together here. Just as in Jane, she is brilliantly supporting by an incredible cast of regulars and an exceptional about of guest actors for the ghosts she sees regularly. Nico Santos appeared in the first episode and such lights as Chelsea Handler are scheduled for appearances  later on. The series has already had Martin Mull, Ed Begley Jr. and Brittany Snow in cameos and all of them are in their bits. But the show always makes clear that it is far more about the living then it is the dead, which is just as important in a series that must have been a one-sentence pitch to ABC.

When the decade began the network comedy was supposedly on life support. With the immense critical acclaim for Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, and the revival of Night Court in the past two years, it has been clear that the genre has been given new life. Not Dead Yet is yet another sign that we don’t have to rely solely on reboots to come up with hysterical comedies for network TV. (Night Court’s a continuation.)  In its first season the ASTRA’s (formerly HCA) gave it four nominations including Best Broadcast Comedy and Best Actress for Gina Rodriguez. (It lost both awards to Abbott Elementary which was to be expected.) I won’t go so far as to call this show perfect, but when its firing on all cylinders, it reminds us of why we watch network comedies in the first place.

My score: 4.5 stars.