Some Fast Thoughts On Season 2 Of Fuller House

Fuller House is a show that serves as a gender-swapped follow-up to the late 1980's and early 1990's ABC sitcom Full House.  The latter of the two shows just named was met with critical acclaim and had many fans, however the former has been met with mostly mixed reviews.

I'm not here today to chronicle the entire second season for you, as there are articles that do that, rather I'm just here to share some fast thoughts both good and bad on Season 2 of this show.  I must admit that I'm already getting very excited for Season 3 at the time of writing this post, and I'm hoping it manages to make it out sometime this year.  We probably won't see it until the Fall since production just started this week, and I'm hoping they (writers and cast) make it worth the wait. 

Season 2 was not as hard for me to get into as Season 1 was, evidenced by the fact I just blogged about Season 1 last week.  For me, this alone showed huge signs of improvement in storyline quality, acting, and continuity in the plot.  This doesn't mean it was still top-grade television though - the season does have it's flaws, some of which are very evident if you watch multiple episodes at a time (I watched the season in 4 days at a pace of 2-4 episodes per day). 

Let's turn to the good and the bad shall we....?

The Good

• Less Overacting: Season 1 of Fuller House suffered from some of the actors playing their characters way over the top, and I cringed at times when both Max (Elias Harger) and Fernando (Juan Pablo di Pace) were on screen.  Whether it was screaming lines (Max) or hamming things up way too much (Fernando) there was always something a little off-kilter about the acting. While both of these characters were toned down this season (and had some neat little moments together), it appears that now the awkwardness has transferred over to Jackson (Michael Campion).  Campion, who entered adolescence sometime between the seasons (which they of course transferred to Jackson), is now as awkward of a teenager as ever, similar to me when I was around that age, and it detracts from the show in the first few episodes.  Taking that away from consideration though it's still nice to see Harger and Di Pace improving. 
• Better Plotlines: The season had some more continuity in the plot compared to last season, most evidenced in the plotline of Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) meeting Kimmy's brother Jimmy Gibbler (Adam Hagenbuch), who plays his character similar to what you'd see on Two And A Half Men but without the crude jokes. The two fall in love almost instantly (because everyone on the show does that now), and go through some ups and downs over the course of the season, from which we get a nice character development moment for Stephanie in Episode 12.  It's a plotline worth exploring.  We also focus in less on some other plotlines that seemed blown out of proportion in Season 1, like how Fernando and Kimmy both ran straight from sneaking around together to wanting to get remarried in Season 1 to just not moving along anywhere in that area in Season 2, which is a nice change of pace.  The DJ-Matt-Steve love triangle also fades to the background for a while.  Plotlines that shouldn't have run rampant in the season prior to this one yet still did manage to fade to the background in Season 2 and not cause much of a disturbance to the better quality.
• More Adult Humor: As a freshman in college, I'm not so much into the kids humor that appears on the show, rather I tend to side more with the adults when it concerns the humor department. That's why I'm glad that this season contains more adult humor than what the season prior had to offer.  Lines like "Oh great my balls are here" from Danny and Jimmy's response to Stephanie telling him she can't conceive ("Aw man, and I found out I can't get pregnant either"), are classic lines that will stick with me for a long time to come.
• No Cliffhanger: I always prefer when season finales don't end with cliffhangers, because there always is that odd chance that the show gets cancelled.  While not as great as the Season 1 finale (Love Is In The Air), "Happy New Year Baby" runs together as a coherent episode although it's slow at times, and the end is definitely worth watching (the last scene) when Jesse and Becky introduce their new baby.  It's a touching moment that focuses primarily on the cast of Full House versus the current cast (who if I'm recalling correctly were nowhere to be seen) and it's a touching way to end the season.
• Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen's Absence Is Handled Better: I much appreciated the dialed back approach of having Jesse quickly say into the camera during grace at Thanksgiving, "Come sometime it'll be fun" to absent daughter Michelle, versus the prolonged glare from the old series' cast in the Pilot. 

The Bad

• A Larger Focus On The Art Of Dance: Look, I get it that some of the people in the cast know how to dance, and that Soni Nicole Bringas is a rising star in this area.  Still though, is watching the cast dance around all the time that necessary.  In this season, the three main females go on the stage with New Kids On The Block, Ramona and Kimmy get on stage for The Nutcracker, and Ramona tries to get hired by a dance coach.  I wish we'd stop focusing in one single area of a character's interests here and explore some other areas.
• The Writers Are Trying To Make Teenage Slang Great Again: Teenage slang is something I don't miss from my time in high school, which is why it's slightly annoying to watch actors run around tossing out words like "bae" repeatedly through an episode.  This is one of those, drop it before it's too late things.  If they want to make this a family show that appeals to all ages why have it in there?
• Once Again, What Is Love?: Love is a stumbling block for the Fuller House writers.  While I've already established that I'm in full understanding that it's not real life, I do wish they'd put more focus in other areas of the "Hey I might like you" storylines that these characters go through instead of just jumping right to "Hey we have great chemistry let's kiss and be in love".  To me that's not natural at all.  We even see characters who've barely met each other (Max & Rose) falling in love within five minutes of meeting each other, and the feeling's mutual.  We also have Ramona and neighborhood troublemaker Bobby Popko (Issak Presley), who go back and forth throughout the season, and in my humble opinion there is no reason for those two to want to be together, especially considering the circumstances surrounding them (Popko broke Ramona's heart twice).  Yet in the finale BAM they're considering a New Year's kiss, just like that, without any consideration to past events.  It doesn't make sense.  On a side note, Popko kinda looks like a future gangster..... maybe it's just the hat that makes me think that?  The IMDB boards are always flurrying with demands for an episode based around substance abuse, maybe Popko is the kid to use for that one versus Jackson or Ramona....? 
• That Darn Laugh Track: I should not feel like I'm watching a football game whenever something that the writers/producers/cast think is funny passes by on screen. 

Fuller House is (at it's best) a family comedy that is sure to delight both fans of the original series and new ones just checking it out for the first time.  At it's worst though, the season features too much laugh track, snap decisions on major things in life, and those moments that make you cringe.  Perhaps Season 3 will continue to improve?

The Best Episodes Of Season 2

Welcome Back (Ep. 1)

Doggy Daddy (Ep. 5)

Fuller Thanksgiving (Ep. 6)

A Tangled Web (Ep. 8)

Glazed & Confused (Ep. 9)

Nutcrackers (Ep. 12)

The Mediocre Episodes Of Season 2

Mom Interference (Ep. 2)

Ramona's Not So Epic First Kiss (Ep. 3)

DJ & Kimmy's High School Reunion (Ep. 11)

Happy New Year Baby (Ep. 13)

The Worst Episodes Of Season 2

Curse Of Tanner Manor (Ep. 4)

Girl Talk (Ep. 7)

New Kids In The House (Ep. 10)