‘Betty’ Season 2 Turns A Skater Girl Romp Into A Self-Absorbed Slog [Review]

The first season of “Betty,” HBO’s half-hour comedy spin-off from Crystal Moselle’s feature “Skate Kitchen,” had a point. It followed a pack of skateboarding Gen Z women as they navigated young adulthood and female sexuality in the #MeToo era. The show occasionally meandered but ultimately made a charming, worthwhile debut.

The same cannot be said for the second season. With all of the first season’s social commentary stripped away, “Betty” has now become a banal, painfully self-absorbed slog through petty problems. Janay (Dede Lovelace) struggles to organize an indoor skating rink at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in New York City. Indigo (Ajani Russell) becomes a sugar baby because she thinks she’s too good to work at Key Food.Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) gets manipulated by a clothing brand. Honeybear (Moonbear) refuses to communicate with her polyamory-curious girlfriend. Kirt (Nina Moran) tries to teach the skater bros how to be better boyfriends, in an attempt to help womankind.

READ MORE: ‘Betty’: Crystal Moselle Discusses Reuniting With ‘Skate Kitchen’ Actors For HBO’s New Series [Interview]

The stakes are pretty low. Which is weird, since the show makes a half-hearted attempt to acknowledge that it takes place in mid-to-late 2020 in New York City, where — despite a lull between spikes — residents were still dying daily from the coronavirus and Black Lives Matter protests marched on. Masks are worn haphazardly, if at all, and characters touch strangers and go to parties and sit-down restaurants without a second thought. Black Lives Matter signs dot the walls and windows, but none of the show’s three Black ensemble members really grapples with her position in America.

“I don’t know if it’s Breonna Taylor or COVID…” Indigo muses, trying to explain her mental state. Unfortunately, that one-line reckoning doesn’t arrive until the season’s final episode.

READ MORE: ‘Betty’: Season Two: Rachelle Vinberg & Ajani Russell Talk Skating In Masks & Collaboration [Interview]

Ultimately, season two of “Betty” raises numerous issues without actually saying anything about them at all. We don’t know how these women feel about them, much less the complex choices they make. Indigo becomes a sex worker with zero consideration for what it might mean to ask other men to commodify her body. At the same time, Camille is struggling as a sponsorship deal threatens to exploit her femininity. Though the two women even go on a sugar baby “date” together, they never talk about their comparable situations. It’s a jarring departure from season one, where all of these young women found their voices and used them to support each other.

Series creator and director Crystal Moselle maintains a steady hand throughout, and this season offers some impressive set pieces. The cast is clearly more comfortable in front of a camera. But what “Betty” has gained in formal quality does not even begin to make up for its loss of narrative. [D]