By MARK
O’CALLAGHAN
Co-Arts Editor
True crime documentaries aren’t something new but Netflix’s model help revitalized them. They make documentaries that have engaging mysteries attached to them which encourages viewers the binge the docuseries immediately instead of waiting a week for one episode. It all started with “Making a Murderer” and soon, “Evil Genius,” “The Keepers” and “The Staircase” became big hits for the platform. Last year, a satire of docuseries called “American Vandal” took the internet by storm with its juvenile story and humor that also included some hard-hitting topics. Now they’re back with season two and it’s a great follow up.
Season two still has the two high school documenters, Peter and Sam, who success from their original docuseries (the first season) leads them to a new case. A rich private school in Washington are experiencing a prankster called “The Turd Burglar” that commits acts that involve fecal matter and taunts the community. Now Peter and Sam must figure who’s behind the juvenile pranks before it’s too late.
If you couldn’t tell by the summary, this season involves a lot of poop jokes. Similar to how last season involved a lot of jokes about penises because that was the center of the mystery. Yet these jokes aren’t one note at all as the creators take full advantage of this. They find every way to squeeze in a pun without getting the humor to be unbearable. To top it off, it’s deadpan silliness that’s not winking to the camera but trying to tell a compelling mystery. Even without the fecal jokes, the writing and acting are still on the point that will leave you laughing so hard that you’ll need to pause to catch your breath.
Besides the humor, the mystery of who is “The Turd Burglar” makes this show such an easy binge. Each episode deepens the mystery and uncovers not only the culprit but the community at large. This private school seems so relatable because it’s like high schools that we’ve gone through. Social cliques and the hierarchy that judges not only in the halls but online.
Social media and exposure play a big part this season. The prankster uses Instagram to convey its message and get the biggest audience it could. Then there are the classmates that use social media to become popular or to fit in. Yet some students get harassed or constantly bullied because of something that leaked online that will stick for a long time.
While this show is still a comedy, it does have an impressive mix of emotions. There’s an element of tragedy and sadness during some scenes that can tug on your heartstrings and make you think for a minute. Then they’ll follow it up with an impressive joke that keeps the laughs going. Using humor is an effective way to get the point across as it makes some of the more serious moments that much poignant and funny scenes even more great.
The best part about this season is the short time to binge this. The whole season takes about four hours with eight densely packed great episodes that last 30 minutes. With great deadpan humor that combines silly jokes about poop and fantastic dramatic moments, do yourself a favor and immediately binge all of season two.
