Netflix Hits a Homerun with Season 2 of their Witty and Poignant “The Kominsky Method”
Ryan Vandergriff
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Other Content
The return of the Netflix show The Kominsky Method was greeted with a warm and resounding round of applause at my household this past October 25 as we prepared to welcome back acting coach Sandy Kominsky (Michael Douglas in some of his best work in years) and his crusty but fun sidekick and agent Norman Newlander (the brilliantly understated Alan Arkin).
“So, like, what’s the big deal about this show and what the hell does the title even mean,” a befuddled friend recently questioned of me about the Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning slice of life dramedy. I pondered this question and went full on Encyclopedia Brown by laying out what the story of The Kominsky Method is about.
“It’s about…Well, you know when you reach a certain age in life and, er, uhm…” I began and then trailed off as I suddenly realized that I didn’t quite know how to describe this oddball slice of life story about an acting coach and his longtime agent and friend who tackle the Happy Golden Years of their respective lives and then look up and about them only to realize that perhaps things aren’t quite so happy or even golden as perhaps they had at one time envisioned them to be. Then again, reading the last few lines of my review of what is arguably one of the best ongoing shows on streaming or network television, maybe I have a better handle on what the show is really about than what I originally gave myself credit for. Because The Kominsky Method as envisioned by series creator and chief writer Chuck Lorre (Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men) is about all of the above and simultaneously none of my pontifications at all. For this is, above and beyond everything else, a smart show. Which isn’t to say that a viewer just dropping into the proceedings needs a Lost-styled score card to keep up with it all; rather, it’s a show that deals cleverly with a trail we’ll all be walking someday if we’re only lucky enough: Ageism, losing loved ones, reconnecting with past loves, the agonies of the prostrate, losing faith and then rediscovering it are all ingredients in this thirty minute dish and, despite ye olde reviewer’s quick rattling of maladies the two key characters in the show undergo, The Kominsky Method is first and foremost a comedy, perhaps subversively so. We feel we have no right to laugh at death or family estrangement, yet episode after episode we laugh uproariously alongside Douglas and Arkin. An important point to make: The jokes are never at the expense of the characters and we are never laughing at them per se, but rather alongside them and with them. We see aspects and elements of ourselves in these two veterans and it is revealing as season two unfolds just what a fine line it really is between a laugh and a good cry.
Sandy Kominsky is our real access point into the world of the show and Michael Douglas strikes a perfect balance between the inane and the insane as he goes about the business of running an acting class even as he frets about such things as his daughter dating a much older man, the trials and tribulations of dating past a certain age and the sneaky ways in which our bodies begin to break down much like that first junker car we all owned when we were sixteen. Working on a level I’ve not seen of him since Wonder Boys, Douglas makes Sandy likeable and relatable. I’d like to think there’s a little of Sandy’s sturm und drang in all of us. Of course, only a thorough physical will tell (Chuck Barris with the gong, please).
Sandy’s other half is the irrefutable Alan Arkin who brings the right amount of chutzpah to the part of widower Norman Newlander who winds up living up to his last name. With the passing of his beloved wife, visitations from her concerned ghost, a daughter who is now out of her umpteenth rehab and seems to finally be getting her life in order and the blossoming of a new romance with the bedazzling Jane Seymour (in a role that should seriously cultivate some Emmy and Golden Globe buzz), Norman is absolutely exploring uncharted territory; a new land, if you will. Arkin is a highly respected craftsman in the world of acting and he’s no stranger to meaty roles in such classics as Glengarry Glen Ross, so coming into the show it’s no surprise that he has the chops to pull this character off. What is surprising is the level of notes he constantly hits on an episode by episode basis, delightfully surprising this jaded watcher of film and television. Here is an actor who is only getting warmed up and his excitement at playing this part is palpable and winning.
Not to be overlooked is series creator and writer Chuck Lorre who, if he had anything to prove before this show hit the airwaves, has nothing to prove now. His talent in writing funny quips in shows such as Two and a Half Men was all merely prelude to the deep and beautiful writing he delivers with astonishing aplomb one episode after another. He’s one of the few writers who knows how to tug at the heartstrings even as he tickles the old funny bones.
Season 2 of The Kominsky Method is a Gold Star winner all of the way and should be on everyone’s Must Watch List.
Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
