Judging by our TV shows, there are approximately two different ways to look at the world. The first, exemplified by prestige-y, tragicomic series like Succession and Search Party, is a deeply cynical one, where characters are expected to treat their friends and families like resources to exploit or obstacles to overcome, and any appeal to one’s better nature is treated like a strategic misstep. The other perspective, which can be found in upbeat comedies like Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest, is much more optimistic. Times can be tough, yes, and people are surely flawed, but much to Larry David’s chagrin, there is always room for both hugging and learning.

The Other Two – the one time Comedy Central series recently revived on HBO Max – tries to find a middle ground between these two outlooks on life. Its central characters are fundamentally good people who would never sink to the depths of a Logan Roy or a Dory Sief to get what they want, but that doesn’t mean they also aren’t also shameless strivers unafraid to ride the coattails of their more successful relatives. While the series is primarily a joke delivery machine, it’s also an exploration of the tension between fulfilling your obligation to your loved ones and doing what’s necessary to improve your own life and career. The stakes may not reach that of a multi-billion dollar corporate merger or a murder cover up, but they’re taxing nonetheless.

Season two begins with Brooke (Heléne Yorke) and Carey Dubek (Drew Tarver) – the titular siblings of teen pop sensation Chase Dreams (Case Walker) – on the upswing. Brooke is now co-managing both her musician brother and daytime talk show host mother Pat (Molly Shannon) alongside the psychotically devoted Streeter Peters (Ken Marino) while, Carey, who begins the series as a struggling actor, is slowly ingratiating himself in the entertainment world by hosting frothy, lightweight web series and trying to enjoy his new life with Jess (Gideon Glick), his first serious boyfriend.

It’s an upgrade from where they started the show, but both are still dissatisfied. Brooke slowly finds that a manager’s lifestyle is not as glamorous as their clients’ (turns out there are far more conference calls about what to name a Chex Mix-sponsored web series), and Carey wants to act, not host, and isn’t so sure that he’s ready for a committed, long-term relationship either. Much like the first season, most of the humor of The Other Two’s second installment is generated from Brooke and Carey’s quest for status and relevance. The show may not be directly about social media, but it is about the mindset that social media gives us – Brooke and Carey don’t just want success, they want everyone else to know that they’re successful. They want to be noticed. 

The most interesting arc is Carey’s – of all the characters, he’s still the one furthest from his goal and, as someone who only came out as gay later in life, still not entirely comfortable with himself or his sexuality. He also tries to maintain an air of dignity while living the incredibly undignified life of a minor celebrity, a condition that’s mined for the most laughs when he has to play the comedic straight man in inane situations like trying to cover up a nude photo leak or filming cameos to pay his rent. Brooke’s foibles tack a bit more broadly – she’s successful but lonely, and tries to leverage her position into a more satisfying sex life and, when that fails, tries to platonically reconnect with her himbo ex-boyfriend, Lance (Josh Segarra). Yorke is perfect as a would be Millenial girlboss who’s actually a slacker at heart, and the writing in season two is much kinder to her than it was in season one, where it sometimes tried to paint her as a hypocrite who only pivoted to being “young, smart, progressive” when it became fashionable to do so. Instead, she’s the closest thing the show has as an anchor to reality – when a trio of young women try to “cancel” her at a women’s issues panel for unfollowing them on social media and forgetting their names, she delivers a kind of lover of humanity, loather of humans argument that seems to act as the series’ thesis, telling them “I think all three of you should have equal pay. I think all three of you should have access to safe and legal abortions…but that doesn’t mean you don’t also suck.”

Brooke is probably able to come to this conclusion because on some level, both she and Carey also suck, both in the sense that they can be needy and prickly, and in the sense that they’re shamelessly leeching off of their brother and mother’s fame to advance their own careers. To Carey and Brooke (and presumably the coastal elites that make up HBO Max’s target audience), Pat and Chase are rubes. Carey and Brooke love them, but they also look down on them as hyper-earnest, naive Midwesterners whose popular appeal is inexplicable to their jaded, city-dwelling sensibilities. But Pat and Chase are also the show’s only true victims. Chase only wants to sing, but he has a terrible voice, which causes Streeter and Brooke to try and push him to fashion and voice acting instead. Pat is a fine talk show host, but she’s subject to a grueling schedule that deprives her of both sleep and privacy, spending nearly all of her free time with a series of clingy sweepstakes winners. Brooke and Carey are blind to Chase and Pat’s plight because it doesn’t advance their careers to give them what they want – they’re only valuable to them, in practical terms, if they’re rich and famous, which leads Brooke and Carey to neglect their emotional needs. It’s not that they’re uncaring or willfully ignorant of these struggles, it’s that they’re so preoccupied with their own lives to notice.

The question of whether or not this makes them bad people, and whether or not these relationships can be sustained bubbles over in the last episode, the only one in the series told from Chase and Pat’s perspective instead of Brooke and Carey’s. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that, when presented with an opportunity to put their careers on hold for the good of their family, the two characters make very different decisions. The reveal of who chose what is then used as fodder for one of the only good COVID-19 jokes that’s ever been written, but it’s also a little heartbreaking knowing someone felt like they had to put themselves before their family. But given the opportunity for an equivalent amount of fame and fortune, would we make a different choice? That’s the burning question, between all of the jokes, that elevates The Other Two to more than just a raunchy sitcom.

The first two seasons of The Other Two are streaming on HBO Max, with season three premiering in 2022.