The Undead, Serbian vile, Nazi Lobsters and an ancient taskforce against the supernatural are all stories we hear about on a day to day basis, (are they not?) but when watching Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet‘s second season, they make so much more sense than that entire paragraph I just wrote. Check out the trailer!
We welcome back the Hammonds, Sheila (Drew Barrymore), Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Abby (Liv Hewson). Along with the quippy and smart friend Eric (Skyler Gisondo), the fast and fresh first season seems like it ended only yesterday. Do things slow down for the Hammonds and co in this new season? Absolutely not! Does it lose any of its charm? Nope, it may lose a little of its shock value though, as we become quite accustomed to necks being torn out and fingers falling off, but that doesn’t mean that Santa Clarita falls off the funny scales that made its freshman season so successful.
I don’t want to go into too many spoilers here as the show works so well when coming into it completely fresh and free of 1000 tv-spots and trailers (it’s why I love Netflix, because they usually lack them), but let’s put one hilarious scene into perspective that drives the emphasis of how ridiculously great this show can be.
Picture some white supremacists that have become the target of some much needed and widely available food source for Sheila, how do you get the said Nazi’s to enter a newly created kill room? Entice them with some fabricated World War 2 trinkets for sale and place an ad that states “10% off for white people!” Preparing for the kill and an easy meal, they wait for the arrival as someone is drawn to the bait, only two Nazi’s turn up, not just the one they had planned and one of which is in a wheelchair! Cue moral dilemma, “can we kill someone in a wheelchair Joel?” Says Sheila, unsure they want to lose even more moral high ground, Sheila then states something along the lines of “but if we don’t kill them just because they’re in a wheelchair, isn’t that segregation? We can’t discriminate, right?”.
It’s this humorous situation the writers love dumping us in every single episode and it’s done so fucking well, its so hard not to love it. It takes me back to some of the very best of creator Victor Fresno’s work on My Name Is Earl. Even when we know it’s wrong and when they know it’s wrong, there’s always something else to shift our focus too.
With series two, the focus shifts all over the shop, dealing with finding the source of the original outbreak and even more undead showing up along the way, living their own lives, and trying to be good parents to their child Abby, despite the shit she’s been through.
Some of the returning characters this season include Nathan Fillion (in a surprisingly great way) and Ramona (Romona Young) the not so enthusiastic pharmacy worker!
Barrymore’s cute innocence shines through the very best of the show, even when she’s chewing through some rough skin and Timothy Olyphant’s sharp, quick and blunt foul mouth is brilliant, as his reaction to all this insanity hits the mark almost all the time!
Our very own Aussie Liv Hewson as Abby just grows and evolves as the show moves speedily onwards, trying to balance the life of her parents with that of her school life and the fondness growing stronger towards Gisondos Eric is a joy to behold and both these kids are still incredible.
The only real downside of the show is its insistence with staying within the confines of Santa Clarita, maybe it’s a budgeting thing? I know the show is based in and around Santa Clarita and it’s called Santa Clarita Diet, but this entire fiasco just seems brim enough for some adventuring for answers outside of such a small town. Hopefully, moving forward we get to see it grow a little out side of its comfort zone. As I said in my season one review, bring on another season, I’m hungry enough for it, you will be too.
The first two seasons of Santa Clarita Diet are now streaming on Netflix.
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