Right, but you know who I really meant by “season 1 regular” don’t you?
Of course I do. You meant Dev’s dad, played by Ansari’s real-life father Shoukath Ansari, and yes, he returns with even more charmingly bonkers line readings and even more good-humored, “this is a bit beneath my dignity but I’m game” energy than in season 1.
Result. Any other carry-overs?
Food. This season is even more obsessed with food than the first, and even features Dev making tentative inroads into including his love of eating in his career. There’s not a single episode that doesn’t feature food, and Dev making an orgasmic noise/face over it. Whether it’s the dating episode (another highlight), the ones where he dines with his celebrity chef friend, or the successive turkeys pulled out of the oven during the Thanksgiving story. And given that it starts in Italy with Dev learning how to make pasta…
Food. Travel. Italy. Self-examination. The search for connection. The life of a performer. This sounds like…
I know, like they should plot a crossover universe with “The Trip.” But “Master Of None” is much less caustic than the Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon show, and though it has a certain melancholy to it, it’s far more optimistic than embittered. And this season Ansari gets to give vent to other cultural fascinations, too: the black-and-white opening episode which takes place in Modena, Italy, sets up the Italian neo-realism theme that recurs through the season.
Sounds pretentious.
I know, but it’s far too self-aware for that. And whatever you think of the episode (and it’s one of the less successful experiments, IMO), there’s such an honest interest in food, filmmaking and culture (alongside tech, dating rituals, spoiler culture and other modern fascinations) throughout the show, that riffing on Fellini or Antonioni or De Sica doesn’t feel like overreach. It feels like part of Ansari’s ongoing gentle self-creation project, which is exactly what makes his show, unassuming though it is, feel so relatable.
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You’re going to have to explain that some more.
Right. The Italian neo-realist flourishes, the food obsession, the abiding curiosity that the show has in the histories, outlooks and backgrounds of Dev’s socially, ethnically and culturally diverse circle of acquaintances — they all feel like part of a soulful attempt on his part to work out who he is by understanding others, to know his place in the world by visiting other places and to know his own culture by exposing himself to everyone else’s.
Now you sound pretentious.
Well, I’ll try again. Maybe the heart of the show is the conundrum of Dev living a comfortable, privileged New York life and therefore having the luxury of self-determination. I think the responsibility of that privilege can weigh especially heavily on second-generation immigrants, who know their parents had it so much harder than they do, who can feel overwhelmed with the sheer level of opportunity and possibility that they have in comparison all while also having all sorts of recurrent questions about just where it is that they “belong.”
I’ve just clocked your surname. You’re the child of an immigrant, aren’t you?
Yes, and I have no idea if I am relating or projecting.
Either way, it sounds like you really like the show.
I do. If I’m forced to grade the season all as one I’m probably at a highly recommended [B+], but bear in mind there are at least two episodes in there that are hard [A]s.
So you’ll be first in line for Season 3?
If there is one. Ansari has hinted that he’s feeling a little spent after this and may take a hiatus. But I think I recall him saying something similar when season 1 ended (hence the reinvigorating Italy trip), so maybe he’ll feel differently in a while.
Meantime, at least you get to see the back of Tiny.
Actually, we’re going for sushi. I think there’s a bit of a spark.