Dollface Season 2 Review: There are as many approaches to dealing with the pandemic as there are people attempting to do so. There are no exceptions when it comes to television programming. Certain shows brought the issues to the forefront: Grey’s Anatomy and This Is Us rushed in with their typical melodramatic zeal, while Superstore put its world-weary big-box store employees on the front lines.
Others entirely sidestepped the pandemic issue, either because it didn’t mesh with the show’s already specific setting (Riverdale can’t put on a musical in quarantine, c’mon) or because they were able to throw in a fast line stating that the outbreak had already passed.
It’s no wonder, then, that Hulu’s Dollface, like And Just Like That, Mr. Mayor, and You before it, jumps to the opposite side of the epidemic in season 2 of the show.
Dollface is a show that thrives on a social scene, following Jules (Kat Dennings), who has successfully reconnected with her college pals after a breakup made her realize she had abandoned them for a man. And, after a brief period of lockdown and Zoom calls to kick off the new season, the four closest friends are reunited in person and hitting (if you can believe it) a gigantic 30 Under 30 party in Los Angeles.
All About Dollface Season 2
Dollface can’t keep up with omicron’s now, which is understandable. Whether the series went all-in on pandemic plotlines or not, they’ve nearly always felt out of touch with life under COVID-19. They couldn’t keep up with memes or the day-to-day decisions we have to make in the face of routine hanging, let alone the novel varieties and looming grief of coronavirus. There’s always the feeling that television shows are reflecting another reality to the one we’re in.
It’s strange to see the second season of Jordan Weiss’ series deal with themes about organizing European holidays or going to bars without a mask, but such things seemed not only plausible but almost usual when it was recorded in the summer of 2021.
Jules and the crew, like everyone else entering the next phase of the pandemic, are evaluating where they are in life and what feels like a good step toward self-actualization. Of course, there’s the fear that comes with taking the next step, whether it’s Brenda Strong’s Madison being laid off from her high-powered work, Shay Mitchell’s Stella navigating a new professional level, or Izzie (Esther Povitsky) with the lover she fears is out of her league.
Even in a post-vaccine world, the full swing of their lives feels strange, but their suffering is far more interesting than if it were only about Jules and Madison approaching their 30th birthdays and wondering how to make life better. Dollface manages to convey the ups and downs of the pandemic, which makes us all squirrely improvement projectors.
That manifests itself in large swings in our perceptions of what we want our lives to be like. “Our styles should start reflecting whatever new routes we wish to take in our lives,” Madison says, asking her friends to clean out their wardrobes. That, and I recently got a load of new stuff I need to put away.”
Weiss and the Dollface authors are able to capture the essence of the present while still providing a bit of frothy fun in the world in this way. Traveling through their peaks and valleys is more of a (mostly) controlled glide than a gritty friction exercise. Dollface is prone to let the force of friendship transcend almost any obstacle. However, it’s wise that relationships are both necessary for survival and something that must be worked on.
Dollface Season 2 is a touch more of a normal comedy than season 1, thanks in part to love plotlines crammed in amid all the friendship this season; the effect is something where resolves come a little too readily. Simultaneously, Jules’ magical realism, which he uses to filter reality, becomes more naturally incorporated into both the program and the persona.
Whatever flaws there were in Doll’s face’s matrix, when it’s finished, it feels like it went by too quickly. It was good to stopover in the beautiful, post-pandemic world of Dollface fellowship after nearly two years of virtual hangouts and improvement projects (home, self, craft, houseplant, and more). Finally, there seemed to be hope for a post-pandemic world.
