It all seemed like “Ozark” would be the only show with an impressive second season. Satirizing many of the true-crime documentary series that Netflix has commissioned over the years, “American Vandal,” created by Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, seemed like a good idea for a sketch. “American Vandal” is an entirely fictionalized docu-series that follows around high schoolers investigating the case of a vandal who spray-painted male genitalia over 27 different teachers’ cars. The first season debuted and revealed that not only could it treat this subject matter seriously, but it could also be much funnier and more clever than originally thought. The series threw in a few curveballs about corruption within the public school system, including how students and teachers perceive and treat each other.
Season two follows series “creators” Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) as they investigate an entirely new mystery in an entirely different setting. This time around, a mysterious social media force known only as “The Turd Burgler” causes every student in the neighboring Catholic school, St. Bernadine, to have massive cases of diarrhea due to lemonade spiked with a powerful laxative. Now, in unknown territory and a whole new cast of characters (and full funding by Netflix), Peter and Sam are determined to find out: who is The Turd Burgler?
One of the things that stands out about this season right off the bat is Peter referencing how their previous season, which of course allowed for them to clear Dylan Maxwell’s (Jimmy Tatro, “22 Jump Street”) name, was picked up and funded by Netflix. This is an immediate sign that the show is sticking with this tone. It worked so well for the show the first time around, and now, the creators are running with it. As stated with the previous season, this is a new, fresh and innovative way of telling a story, since it is able to seamlessly tie together humor that would normally be considered raunchy in an R-rated comedy with the darkest black commentary on what really goes on in a high school setting.
With the Catholic school as the backdrop this time around (rather than a public school), it does not change much in terms of the setting as one would think, but it does provide for a fantastic new set of characters. Due to its documentary nature, the only two returning characters from the first season are Peter and Sam, and the actors both continue to crush and destroy as the two up-and-coming documentarians.
In terms of new cast members, there are a few standouts. The creators do a seriously intrinsic and scarily good job with picking actors who act like regular kids, but the two that immediately come to mind are Kevin McClain (Travis Tope, “Men, Women and Children”) and DeMarcus Tillman (Melvin Gregg, “UnREAL”). Kevin is the primary suspect. He is a quiet and extremely awkward introvert who is obsessed with different strains of tea and the star of several Fruit Ninja Snapchat videos/memes, and he has his own DJ/Bar-Mitzvah gig. DeMarcus, on the other hand, is the total opposite. He is a star basketball player and easily the most popular kid in school, to the point where he gets away with literally anything and gets along with everyone by calling them nicknames related to their various weaknesses and flaws.
The high point of this series, however, is an argument that has been getting a lot of eyes on it in the last year, specifically with film, and that is its commentary on social media. Without spoiling anything, the entire twist of who The Turd Burgler is and why he/she did it is all related to various social media and online cyber bullying, and it does it in a fresh, unique, scarily factual (and, above all else, subtle and realistic) way. It helps make this not only a show people should watch, but need to watch. Social media and its continued presence in both our lives and the media is growing, and whether that be for better and for worse, it is shows like these that talk about the issue in a way that does not feel boring or preachy and in a way that helps keep the discussion alive.
Having something up and running that is well-loved and critically adored is becoming a feat that many are finding easy at first, but difficult to maintain afterward, especially in the television world. When you have something that manages to knock it out of the park on round two so hard that it ends up being better than the original, that is an impressive feat to say the least. Kudos, “American Vandal” season two, hats off to you.
Image from Netflix via YouTube.com.
