The Four Seasons Season 2 Review: Despite Predictability, Netflix's '80s Remake Reinvents Itself

Netflix's The Four Seasons season 2, which drops on Thursday, May 28, faces what feels like an impossible task with a graceful touch and an emotionally resonant sense of humor, even if it's sometimes predictable. Throughout the first season of The Four Seasons, created by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield, a group of friends nearing mid-life faced what felt like an insurmountable split. Kate (Fey), married to Jack (Will Forte), navigated their relationships with longtime friends Danny (Colman Domingo) and husband Claude (Marco Calvani), as their fellow friends Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) headed for divorce.

Through the twists and turns of discovering the skeletons in Nick and Anne's marriage, his relationship with Ginny (Erika Henningsen), a 32-year-old who was both bringing out Nick's youth and wreaking havoc in his familial relationships, became the focal point of his story. While on the sidelines, Kate, Jack, Danny, and Claude all faced their own issues as the series chewed on how to keep the friend group together after a disaster. The season's end, however, changed the group's perspective. What happens when Nick dies, and Ginny's left pregnant with his child? The Four Seasons season 2 has the answers.

Throughout its first season, The Four Seasons felt like it leaned too heavily into Nick, Ginny, and Anne's issues, leaving every other character dynamic on the fringed edge. While The Four Seasons season 2 doesn't avoid pitfalls, it meditates on the right questions and offers a moving set of answers.

The Four Seasons Season 2 Uses Nick's Presence As A Device, Rather Than A Roadmap

Throughout The Four Seasons season 1, Carell was such a charming, often maddening presence that I couldn't look away. It didn't matter if he was irritating me by prioritizing the wrong parts of his life or if he was making amends with a sweet, mildly coquettish smile; it was clear that he was the beating heart of the series whether you loved him or hated him. His death, which happens off-screen and brings the chaos of the season to a screeching halt, is a breathtaking punch in the gut. For viewers and characters alike, Nick's quick loss is felt heavily.

The Four Seasons season 2 doesn't choose to overlook the fact that losing Nick would not only change the relationships between each of his friends and their partners, but would change their relationships with themselves, too. Nick's loss is baked into every scene of The Four Seasons season 2, whether directly or indirectly. This could feel heavy-handed, and it may for some viewers, but I didn't mind feeling that presence reverberating beneath each of the beats. Throughout the season, whether it's because the group is honoring Nick, fighting about him, or trying to ignore his absence, Nick's very much there.

Thankfully, the series doesn't use Nick's loss as a direct roadmap. Each of Nick's friends and family members takes the loss differently – which ultimately lends itself to the wider storytelling. As each character diverges on their own journey of grief, their stories feel different, but resonate in unexpected ways.

The Four Seasons Season 2 Adds More Depth To Its Relationship Dynamics

Although the dynamics between the existing friend group, and in smaller subsections in their romantic relationships, were clear throughout The Four Seasons season 1, they find themselves fleshed out even more throughout the second season in a way that felt needed. Throughout The Four Seasons season 1, the relationship dynamics between Kate and Jack, Claude and Danny, and Anne and Nick felt clear. The dynamics between the friend group as a whole, however, didn't always feel as defined. It was understandable that with so much backstory to share and a plot to drive forward, smaller details could feel less important.

The Four Seasons' second season recognizes that it has more time, space, and ability to define what these people mean to each other, especially in the wake of such tragedy. Having lost one of their own, the group quickly feels like more of a tightly-knit unit, and the glimpses into both new dynamics – Anne and Ginny's relationship is endlessly fascinating – and existing relationships like the confusing intensity between Kate and Danny are exciting to watch unfold. While there are still some relationships that feel less-than-defined, that's expected for a group composed of, at one time, three couples.

Although there's more to dig through when it comes to each of the characters' backstories (I'm looking right at you, Kate), the depth that the series was able to add into their relationships really helped define both where the characters are in their lives now, and how they got there.

The Four Seasons Season 2 Has Its Pitfalls, But Stills Feels Refreshing & Inventive

The Four Seasons season 2 isn't without its pitfalls, but they don't define the season or the series in the slightest. Sometimes, the stories feel predictable. Despite the fact that they're being lived in by an all-star cast who have a wonderful sense of chemistry, there are moments where I was left thinking about the mechanics of the vacations we see these people taking. I wasn't taken aback by twists, but I didn't need to be. Ultimately, suspending my disbelief about the characters' PTO packages wasn't difficult in the slightest because of how rich the storytelling is throughout the season.

The Four Seasons season 2 felt like it faced an impossible task with the loss of Carell's Nick at hand. Finding the spark of that character and the chemistry he had with each of the rest of the cast members didn't necessarily feel like something the show should try to tackle with another season after its first. Thankfully, the show didn't try to tackle Nick's loss in a way that felt anything less than organic. Instead, The Four Seasons season 2 leaves its stories to warm themselves with that thick blanket of grief its characters are feeling.

Seeing a layered portrait of grief on screen, one that doesn't douse itself in sadness but doesn't pull its punches, isn't something to take for granted. Regardless of any level of predictability, The Four Seasons season 2 is refreshing in unexpected ways, reinventing itself after a major loss.

The Four Seasons season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.