Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dollface’ Season 2 On Hulu, The Second Season Of The Female Friendship-Centric Kat Dennings Comedy

In the first season of Hulu original Dollface, Jules (Kat Dennings) learned the true value of female friendship after being given a second chance with the BFFs she left behind (Brenda Song and Shay Mitchell) during her last long term relationship. It was a season of ups and downs, but the last time we saw our leading lady, she was finally on the path to putting her friends first and learning how to really live her life without a man at the center of it all. Almost three years after the first season premiered, the long-awaited second installment is now streaming on Hulu. 

DOLLFACE SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Jules and Madison vlog from quarantine.

The Gist: The last time we saw Jules (Kat Dennings), Madison (Brenda Song), Stella (Shay Mitchell), and Izzy (Esther Povitsky), they were making waves at a wedding in Mexico. Much to their surprise, that March 2020 event wound up being a superspreader, and when we finally reunite with our gal pals again, they’re weathering quarantine and communicating through screens. Jules and Madison have each other, Izzy’s struck up a new romance, and Stella is finishing up business school on the east coast. By Summer 2021, they’re still on the couch, and Jules and Madison can’t help but evaluate their lives as 30 quickly approaches. Despite all this on the brain, the trio reunites to pick up Stella at the airport, and Izzy informs them that her boyfriend is being honored at a 30 Under 30 party and they’re all invited.

Before they can get to partying, however, the ladies all are met with the strange reality that is returning to the workforce. Jules, expecting to be fired, is offered a promotion by her strangely zen boss Celeste (Malin Akerman), while Madison is let go from her job, and Stella attempts to navigate her new internship at a bank, which seems far too grey and corporate for her liking. It takes some rallying later on, but Jules convinces the group to go to the party, where they find themselves feeling even worse than before thanks to a blast from the past and some cruel comments from strangers about Izzy and her boyfriend. Madison, frustrated by Jules’s inability to care about herself, gives her quite the speech, and Jules realizes that she can’t keep putting off the future. She’s gotten over Jeremy, she’s learned how to be a friend again, and now, she has to learn to care about her own life. Let Season 2 begin.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Dollface might remind you of The Bold Type, Younger, Shrill, and even a bit of You’re the Worst, Sex and the City, and The Sex Lives of College Girls on occasion.

Our Take: Dollface has been a funny little show from the jump; in its first season, it surprised and delighted with its use of surrealism and Jules’s fantasies involving the Cat Lady and unsubtle metaphors for leaving behind female friendships. Even with some clunkiness and corniness, it worked, largely thanks to its standout cast. Dennings is a star. We’ve known this for some time thanks to her roles on shows like 2 Broke Girls and Wandavision, but Dollface gives her the chance to be more than the dry comic relief. She’s on a journey that feels familiar (especially to us twentysomething women, Dollface‘s very obvious target audience) and Dennings plays the ups and downs of it all with a sincerity that fits right into the wacky world of the show. Toss in a few other fun performers like Song, Mitchell, and Povitsky (God, is she funny), who all have fabulous chemistry with one another, and you’ve got something perfectly bingeable.

The cringey COVID stuff in the first episode of Season 2 might be a little eye roll-inducing, but the installment recovers so well by its conclusion that I’m willing to give it a pass. I know some people will have an issue with the show acknowledging COVID and then acting like everything is back to normal by Summer 2021, but I think we’re better off this way. I don’t need to see the current mask-covered doom and gloom; Dollface has established that it’s got a bit of a wacky fantasy component already, so it works. Even when Dollface is clunky – and perhaps fails in some of its attempts to be some kind of feminist effort – its cast saves the day, swooping in with genuinely moving heart-to-hearts, laugh-out-loud shenanigans, and memorable fashion moments. The show might keep things pretty shallow, but that doesn’t make it any less watchable and endearing.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Jules finally puts something (besides dicks) on her vision board.

Sleeper Star: She’s very obviously the leading lady, but man, does Kat Dennings make a meal out of every one of her lines. There is so much about Dollface that is middling at best, but Dennings comes through every time, delivering her dialogue with her very specific brand of humor that allows the script to sing. I laughed out loud when she said “I guess I should start putting something on my vision board besides dicks,” and was thoroughly delighted by her stealing liquor at the Prohibition-themed 30 Under 30 party: “This bar is supposed to be OPEN. Prohibit THAT!”. Dennings has long been a master of dry delivery, but Dollface gives her the opportunity to combine humor with heart, and she does both beautifully.

Most Pilot-y Line: There’s the expected exposition-y dialogue at the beginning of the episode, including COVID explanations and little character refreshers, and lines that help kick off the episode: “we spent the last part of our official youth stuck inside!”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Dollface relies heavily on the charisma of its leading ladies, but it also grows up a bit in Season 2, more self-assured but just as fluffy and fun as its first installment.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.