The second season of Unstable addresses most of the concerns that you might have gotten while watching the first season. How is Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) holding his CEO position without doing almost nothing (work-related) most of the time? Well, he is demoted in one of the episodes of this season. Anna (Sian Clifford) exerts herself to save Ellis from obstacles. To boost his ego, she even writes a death threat letter. Anna deserves someone better, someone who recognizes her efforts, just like in her fan fiction. Enter Peter (Lamorne Morris), the boss of a bio-battery manufacturing company who shows genuine concern towards Anna. He asks her about her day and health and, at one point, offers her his help. Jackson (John Owen Lowe) kissed Luna (Rachel Marsh) in the previous season, but nothing substantial comes out of that moment in this second season. Jackson and Luna don't get into a relationship, and the show mentions this fact in a way that suggests it's playfully winking at us and telling us that it knows it's leaving things undeveloped. This sense of "I know what you are thinking" can also be found in some of the characters' dialogues when they talk about how the company named Dragon is nothing but a madhouse or how the father-son drama sucks out all the oxygen.
Call it, um, "self-reflection," "self-criticism," or whatever, it doesn't do much to improve the quality of this second season, given the father-son drama is still the weakest aspect of Unstable - it sucks out all the oxygen. Jackson tries to remove himself from Ellis's shadow. Ellis treats Jackson like a puppet. This is what mostly occurs here, and even though things change a bit towards the end, you cannot say with confidence that you will get this slightly new Ellis in the next season. That's because there comes a scene in Season 2 where Ellis sincerely tells Anna that, moving forward, he will acknowledge and appreciate her efforts. But later, during the final moments of the last episode, he once again ends up ignoring Anna's contributions. This is why I am almost sure that if Unstable does end up getting renewed for Season 3, we will fully return to Ellis, the attention seeker/puppet master. The father-son dynamic has sufficient meat, yet it remains the least interesting part of this series.
Even with so many narrative beats (most of them repetitive), arcs, and screen time, Ellis and Jackson fail to grab your attention. The Lowe duo is OK in front of the camera, but they are overshadowed by the rest of the cast members, who have a more attractive, colorful presence. Iris Apatow's Georgia seems to have been given the brief "make mischief," and she runs with it. There is a twinkle in her eyes when she thinks about pranking other employees. Whenever Anna and Georgia talk to each other, you feel as if electric currents are passing through the screen (Anna is Georgia's stepmother). In fact, the Anna-Georgia scenes are much better than the Ellis-Jackson scenes. It's disappointing then what Unstable does with Georgia by turning her into a lovesick puppy. Clifford is excellent as a CFO who prevents everything from collapsing. Her muscles look tight, so her body movements appear rigid. But when someone compliments her, her muscles seem to relax automatically. When Marsh's Luna becomes angry, she reminds you of that image of a cute cat holding a knife. There is a sweetness in the sisterly bond she shares with her colleague Ruby (Emma Ferreira), and when this relationship turns sour, Luna starts behaving like...a lunatic. All these other characters, including Ellis's biggest fan, Malcolm (Aaron Branch), draw you in. In fact, Fred Armisen's Leslie gets the funniest line in this series when he asks a simple question during a polygraph test to determine if Peter is a suitable choice for a tech event.
To give credit where it's due, Unstable Season 2, thankfully, doesn't convert Peter into a power-hungry backstabbing villain. The characters converse in a nice, informal tone that generates pleasant rhythms. The lines are sufficiently witty, and the show passes like a gentle breeze. Most people see big corporate companies as places where employees work hard to build or support their boss's project/dream. Unstable almost works like this. This Lowe family sitcom is held together by the talents and the appealing screen presence of other actors/side characters who keep you watching.
Final Score – [6/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times