Vice Principals: Season 2

I'd love for just once in my life to watch a show and once seeing it's ending scene, to not be bummed out and having an existential fit cause I don't know what to watch next.

Every damn time. Even with a comedy series! Bastards. Anyway, onto the review. Vice Principals wraps up simultaneously in a very nice and happy way but also with an undercurrent of just depression. And I don't think that's just me. After a pretty spectacular finale with the last season, Gamby has finally recovered from being shot and is returning to North Jackson now playing second fiddle to Russell. Now me personally, if Walton Goggins was my boss I wouldn't give a shit but Gamby wants to stick to the original plan they created. So the season actually follows more on the personal family side of these guys than their actual school shenanigans, which I quite honestly loved more than I thought I would. Once again giving equal time to both characters, Russell has marriage problems leading to a pretty crushing ending to one episode while Gamby is trying to spend more time with his daughter while simultaneously conducting his own investigation into his shooting. It's still very compelling but in a different way. Yes Gamby is a dick but you still nevertheless want him to find out who did it, and yes Russell is a very egotistical fella but you don't want to see his marriage go to hell in a handbasket. If they genuinely tried these story elements in the first season, I don't think it would have worked even half as good as it does here because you've spent so much time with them on one front where you do fully see who they really and truly are. Without that, it would kinda seem to be an average and run of the mill show. But both seasons are great and it does come down to personal preference as to which is superior, I loved the first season more but the love is undoubtedly here for season two. I was testing my own detective skills in this season and while the show sort of strings along a few suspects if you think logically on just pure observations of characters you can easily decipher who did it. It certainly doesn't take a damn thing away from the finale though, it's a wild and just shocking end to it all before you get the resolution. I couldn't believe a few instances and this show always had my full attention but I was hanging on every word at the last episode. Again the entire supporting cast returns, and any dang excuse to see my total cutie pie Ashley Spillers is fffffricking good enough for me! Now the big question is if this season is objectively better than the first but with a mini-series, whether split in half or not, is incredibly hard to rate as a whole. The second season gets a 9/10. But the whole show as one single entity gets 4 stars, 9/10, a high recommendation and tons of love and appreciation from me. And I think it's highway robbery that you can buy the whole series for like, I don't even think $15 in stores, everytime I saw it the price was about 13 or 14 bucks. That's a steal for the story and fun in this show! So by all means check it out, I'm sorry it was only two reviews this week but circumstances have arisen and it will be tricky to get back to a full schedule. It's nothing bad, just...bear with me for a bit. Until next time!

Vice Principals: Season 1

Is this our first mini-series on this show? I don't know, it's a miracle I remember my own anniversary on this show.

Vice Principals is a show that I did actually watch while it was new...kinda. More specifically, I occasionally missed some episodes while watching it on HBO a few years back cause I had more of a life. Insert joke here. And I got a free trial just to see what HBO Max had to offer and I decided to check this series out again, and here we are. It's pretty good! I will flat out tell you the reason I watched this series was because of Walton Goggins as one of the main leads, I caught him on Justified now and then and easily could tell he was a trip so I was ready and willing to see what he brought to a primarily comedic show. The story revolves around two vice principals, Neal and Lee, of a high school who after seeing principal Bill Murray retire (yes he has a name but stop lying to yourself, you will call him Bill Murray) start to vie for power but quickly get brushed over when the new principal is elected and what follows is nothing short of an education in dark side 101. I'm serious, my geeky ass brain was just screaming this is how the Sith operate, not through feats of power but manipulation, underhanded moves, subterfuge, and carefully calculated destruction. It's both hilariously outrageous and yet undoubtedly disturbing to see how far two people will go for a position that really don't mean that much in the grand scheme of things. Neal Gamby is a complete raging cock and honestly a bit of a tool, and there isn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Danny McBride wasn't the one in mind when they wrote the part. I've seen bits of him in Eastbound And Down and he seems to play the exact same character, a very full of himself, socially inept, and complete braying jackass but hey the man can play the part and props must be given. While Walton Goggins plays Lee Russell, simultaneously a sycophant in public but a dastardly and cunniving almost mastermind in private, but holy great balls of fire is this guy hysterical. I just look at him with his bow tie, wild hair, and questionable attire, and I am just rolling on the floor. He delivers every ounce of the performance I wanted from him and more, it's nothing less than astounding. But even the supporting cast is great, able to pull of the show's humor but to add just a dash of the real world elements. It's such an interesting take on a show, because you essentially are following and may be possibly rooting for the bad guys! They're not completely horrible, again they have elements where they fit in the real world, they are just people who have families and lives outside of their shared plan. It's not afraid to have a serious moment when the time calls for it, and again I appreciate that. I think this is a terrific show, and you can knock out the first season in about 4 and a half hours, it's not that long and the second season is the same length so if you're dedicated enough you can watch the whole thing in a day and still have time to do other stuff and I do believe it's worth the time. It really only has one aspect which I just think does not work, which is the romance. Neal gets a crush on one of the teachers and while I have seen more awkward conversations, the romance angle the show is trying to work falls flat on it's face. Hard. I never bought it for a second. But it's very much a side story and while it has time dedicated to it never once did it ruin my enjoyment of the show. So I still award 4 stars, I give it a 8.5/10, this is a great show and really some shows deserve more fans. Season 2 coming next time.