He’s back! After navigating the wilds of New York City, the wry intelligence of Noel Wells, and whatever the opposite of movie stardom is, Aziz Ansari‘s Dev is spending the second season of Master of None in Italy.
Is it too much to ask that he run into Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan? Probably. Especially because the trailer for the new season of the soft-hearted Netflix comedy is filled to the brim with pool-jumping, pasta-eating adventures. The show has also figured out a way to work Lena Waithe’s Denise and Eric Wareheim’s Arnold into the mix, as well as the real standouts of last season, Dev’s parents (played by Ansari’s real-life parents Shoukath and Fatima Ansari).
Overall it feels like more of the glorious same. Dev is pinballing between interesting experiences with either enough spending money to burn through or enough solid connections to get him into the nicer villas and moped tours.
If you didn’t blink, you probably also spotted John Legend single-handedly saving jazz, Angela Bassett casting some side eye, Bobby Cannavale toasting, and Jabbawockeez jabbawockying.
The big question mark is whether Noel Wells will return (in any capacity) as Rachel. The first season kicked traditional romantic comedy storytelling in the teeth by having Dev choose his love of pasta over the potential success of a relationship with Rachel bursting with chemistry and Plan B pills. Wells was a bright beam of comic energy, so it would be a shame if she weren’t coming back, purely from a performance standpoint. As for plot, it would be damned bold to stick with the trope-busting path Dev is on. A rejection of the will-they-won’t-they joy that too often plagues otherwise great shows.
Still, there are reasons to believe that Rachel will be back. The show will only spend part of the season in Italy, and when Dev gets back to New York, the official synopsis claims he’ll have a “complex, developing relationship with someone very meaningful to him.” Could be Rachel. Could be his dad. Could be Fisher Stevens. No matter what, it could be a lot of carb-heavy fun.
What pasta will you eat while watching?
Images: Netflix
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