Rating: 4.5/5 stars

That is the question everyone who watched the season one finale of “Vice Principals” is wondering. Of course, viewers will not find out the answer to this question in the season’s premiere, despite high suspicions of former principal of North Jackson High, Belinda Brown (Kimberly Herbert Gregory, “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World”), being the culprit. The series, however, does pick up where things left off at the end of season one.

This show, starring Danny McBride (“Alien: Covenant”) as Vice Principal Neil Gamby and Walton Goggins (“Three Christs”) as Vice Principal Lee Russell, is an underrated double threat. Not only is there a consistent flow of awkward and wacky situations resulting in many knee slaps for viewers, but also suspense and mystery in finding out who is responsible for putting a bullet into Gamby and changing North Jackson forever.

Some of the major changes faced by North Jackson due to “the incident” include metal detectors and a name change from Warriors to Tigers. Perhaps the biggest change is that the principal’s job is now in the hands of Gamby’s literal partner in crime, Lee Russell (Walton Goggins, “The Hateful Eight”).

Russell also hired a new vice principal named Nash (Dale Dickey, “Claws”) who, despite being a woman, looks strikingly similar to Gamby. This episode does its job flawlessly while bringing the audience up to speed on what is new and reintroducing the dynamics between familiar characters.

One of these dynamics includes the “will they, won’t they” relationship tension between Gamby and the cute yet timid Amanda Snodgrass (Georgia King, “Raised by Wolves”). In the case of who shot Gamby, viewers do not get an answer to that question in this episode, but again, it is a nice tease of what is possibly coming. Another returning dynamic that provides a reliable laugh or two is the one between Gamby and his ex-wife Gale (Busy Philipps, “The Sackett Sisters”) and her new husband Ray (Shea Whigham, “Death Note”).

The show definitely gets a good boost of comedic value with Gale and Ray welcoming Gamby into their home to recover mentally and physically from his gunshot wound, which includes him taking full advantage of a stair chair. When it comes down to what makes this episode and the entire series run so smoothly, it is hard to argue against the performance McBride puts forth in his role.

From Gamby’s failed payback attempt on Belinda Brown to his handling of the insubordinate student with a boombox in the cafeteria, his hostile attitude provides laughs that make this series what it is. A high point of the episode that captures everything the show stands for was Gamby being overdramatically welcomed back upon returning to North Jackson.

This included an a cappella version of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” as well as a very inspirational speech from Gamby on his experience: “A very funny thing about when you get shot is that you have trouble sleeping. You wake up screaming covered in sweat, scared, angry…”

Overall, this episode gets the season off to strong start in flying colors. As mentioned before, it is an underrated series, but arguably one of the best HBO has to offer, which is saying something.

Photo: HBO via YouTube.com