Is It Time To Give Up On ‘UnREAL’s Hot Mess Of A Second Season?

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It pains me to write this, but it looks like Season Two of UnREAL is officially off the rails. Last week I was optimistic that the show could muster and find its way back on course. I thought that the recent turnaround exhibited in Episode 6 was a sign that the writers were returning to what made the show great — satire over melodrama, the politics of everyday producing over the soapy romances and inane power plays of its producers. I theorized that maybe, just maybe, the return of Freddie Stroma’s Adam would give the show the balance that it had been missing all season. Boy, I was wrong.

***WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LAST WEEK’S EPISODE OF UnREAL***

As it turned out, Adam’s return to the show wasn’t a carefully orchestrated move by Quinn to usurp control by bringing a fresh twist to Everlasting (with a man conveniently able to drive a wedge between Coleman and Rachel). Instead, it was just a simple bitch move by Quinn to tempt Rachel away from Coleman. It almost worked. It kind of worked. But then, it didn’t work. And Adam, who had been a sharp and savvy three-dimensional power player last season, turned out to be as docile as a kicked golden retriever puppy. In fact, the only good thing I could find to tweet about the episode was that I liked Adam’s new zippered cardigan sweaters (not seen below).

Then came disaster. The show took a turn that was supposed to be revolutionary in its cultural sensitivity; Instead it was garishly off-key. Rachel decides to orchestrate a moment of racially-aware TV drama by calling the cops and reporting a stolen car. Joyriding in said car? The black bachelor Darius (suffering from a spinal injury that could paralyze him with a jostle), his protective cousin Romeo, the scheming Yael, and a very drunk Tiffany. When the cops pull the guys over, they don’t take Darius’s fame as an excuse and rough the quarterback up. It makes for great television until Rachel’s little conscience chimes in. She rushes to stop a disaster and instead causes one. Romeo is shot pointblank by the cop.

So what was so bad about how UnREAL handled this moment? As Vulture’s Jen Chaney put it brilliantly:

After Romeo is shot, we don’t see him again. We don’t know if he lived or died, nor do we know how Darius is affected by what happened. Instead, the focus shifts entirely to Rachel. She is the show’s protagonist, so in one sense, sure, it’s logical to explore her emotions after this incident. But by zeroing in on her to the exclusion of everything and everyone else, UnREAL is essentially doing what it’s also criticizing Rachel for doing: making a black man’s tragedy all about her.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shapiro seemed to argue rather articulately that this was not the goal of the moment. That, in fact, the show wanted to say something about Rachel’s privilege in the situation. But as it played out on screen, it only compacted the problem. It used the lives of these black men as a catalyst for Rachel’s own unraveling. They were just props to get us to her inevitable breakdown.

But UnREAL‘s problems don’t start and end with this one big whiffle of a story development. On a simplistic narrative level, this entire season has been sloppy. Characters are no longer acting…in character. Jeremy was always kind of a brooding doormat, teetering on the edge of an explosion, but he also had a conscience. Chet was…well, Jesus, what the hell is Chet doing this season? He lost weight, came back from a paleo retreat, and started spouting “male first” mumbo jumbo, but then he stole his own baby (WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT STORYLINE?) and then, out of nowhere, he stepped up and became a sensitive man in the wake of Rachel’s attack and Quinn’s personal loss. And the characters we’ve met on this season of Everlasting aren’t given nearly enough attention. It’s almost like Everlasting doesn’t matter to anyone anymore, when the brilliant behind-the-scenes drama of that fictional show was what made everyone go crazy for the UnREAL‘s first season in the first place. It was meta-storytelling at a spectacular level while this season feels like series of dramatic misfires.

I do have to give props to both Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer for at least maintaining a semblance of continuity in their characters, but Rachel’s emotional spiral is starting to resemble an actual Sharknado. Everything is sound and fury and dramatic reveals and moments of jarring violence. And can we talk about how insanely unrealistic Quinn’s romance with “Horatio Hornblower in a suit” is? They’re making out against a tree at her dad’s funeral! I know she’s dark, but she’s also moving hella fast. They’re already talking kids?!?!?

The bottom line is that the focus this season has been on big, ballsy dramatic moments instead of doubling down on moments of sincere emotion. It’s impossible to know where this direction is coming from. I’ve attended two panels where Shapiro spoke — and interviewed her myself — in the last few months. In each of them, she seems very aware that the show needs to be mindful as it’s pushing boundaries. Yet, what’s arrived onscreen feels more concerned with creating superficially shocking moments than making earnestly important moments. UnREAL needs to discover that bigger drama doesn’t mean bigger fireworks, but bigger — and more truthful – emotional reveals.

The good news is that UnREAL doesn’t have to be killed by its sophomore slump. It can reboot for Season Three. There can be a new suitor, a new cast, and new backroom politics. But if it’s time to give up on the second season, how many fans will tune in next year?

An all-new episode of UnREAL airs tonight at 10 PM on Lifetime. (And I’m still tuning in because I do love this messy show.)

[Watch UnREAL Season 2 on Lifetime]
[Watch UnREAL Season 1 on Hulu]

[Photos: Lifetime]