Master of None season 3

[olliebean]

Bailed on this only 6 minutes in when absolutely nothing of any interest whatsoever had happened yet. Has anyone watched more of it and can tell me if it gets any better?

Not even sure this is the right sub-forum for it any more.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Bailed on season 2's interminable bike theif Italian holiday episode, decided that occasional Eric wareheim wasn't enough to save it now your man had sketched out all of his stand up jokes about relationships in series 1.

[Mobbd]

It's good. Almost very good. But it's not what I want.

I'm on Episode 3 now and I plan to watch the rest. But it's no comedy drama/elevated sitcom. It's not fun. It's Slow TV (done well) and slice-of-life drama (done well enough).

It's more like a spin-off than a third season. Maybe that's how it should have been marketed.

It's the same world as Master of None but it's nothing like the first two seasons. I'm fine with departures in tone/style as a show matures (think Maron and especially The League of Gentlemen) and I do applaud their taking a risk, but it's just a bummer having to see how

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Dev's life turned out

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, seeing Debbie

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basically living a white-person's pastoral dream

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and then the strife of (big spoiler this time)

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it all falling apart

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. It's just not what I want to see. I don't want stressful drama in my life at all really, let alone

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seeing comedy characters I once liked getting a dose of grim reality

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.

Lena Waithe is one hell of a screen presence. A really striking performer. I have a lot of love for her and I want to see her in more stuff - preferably something artistically legit, not MCU. Not much of a fan of Naomi Ackie personally, especially when she

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goes all shouty, sweary Cockney

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.

Where is

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Andrew Yang

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? Where are

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Dev's brilliant parents

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? Where's the

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New York fun

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? It could all be in future episodes possibly; I don't know yet.

I'll confess that, while I was enjoying the first episode up to a point, I was looking forward to episode 2 because I assumed the season layout would be an anthology, that Episode 2 would be about Arnold's 'moments in love' or Brian's or maybe Rachel's. But then it opened on the same house, and I was like "Oh. Okay. That's fine I guess." I mean, 'moments in love' (this is the season's subtitle) sounds like a series of short films, doesn't it? Not one massive 5-hour film.

It's good, honestly. But know what you're going into: a 5-hour slice-of-life drama.

[Timothy]

I agree that the marketing is quite odd. Netflix labels it Season 3 and markets it that way but the trailer itself calls it

''Master of None presents: Moments in Love''

Would have been better if Netflix marketed it the same way, because this is indeed completely different from the first two Master of None seasons.

It's great, but it's not really Master of None.

[Mobbd]

Urgh. Episode 4 seems to be about the Naomi Ackie character trying to conceive on her own.

Some good Master of None-feeling lines though. The one about the fertility doctor "being

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condescending to my vagina

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" and the part about there being

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no health insurance code for single queer women but that there is one "for an orca attack."

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Those are quite sitcommy lines in isolation, but the hour is not like that.

[peanutbutter]

Hated the first two seasons of this, to the point I took a bit too much glee in the hitpiece on Ansari; which was ultimately just outing him as not being the hyper self-aware woke bro he seemed to have convinced himself he was.

His coming to terms with the idea things are more complicated than he had been used to framing them and that he maybe shouldn't be the spokesperson for railing against toxic masculinity have left Master of None as it was originally conceived a bit dead in the water. Handing the project over and the value of the brand to Waithe (who I'm not too keen on either, but was the more interesting presence in the series for sure) and taking a more secondary role seems like a pretty smart and humble move tbh.
Can't see  myself bothering with it though. Might watch his standup special, but the fact he shot it in b&w 16mm has put me off it massively too tbh.



Looks like Alan Yang has broken off entirely between the seasons?

[Mobbd]

Debbie

Denise

[Mobbd]

Looks like Alan Yang has broken off entirely between the seasons?

I have now finished the season and I can confirm that it is Yangless. He is still credited as a producer though.

[The Mollusk]

Thanks Mobbd for the heads up about this. As soon as I saw all the episodes titled "Moments in Love" last night I knew this would be different, but having watched only the first episode I also assumed it would be an anthology season, so even though I enjoyed it I confess I'm a bit irked that it continues the same plot arc throughout.

I really like MoN, on the whole. In fact I thought season 2 was frequently glorious, just really watchable and aesthetically pleasing human interactions. They've gone fully indulgent with the "art house telly for the average binge viewer" vibe on this season though which I can't yet decide is either too much or exactly what I want to see. I guess I'll see how it goes.

[Mobbd]

Thanks Mobbd for the heads up about this. As soon as I saw all the episodes titled "Moments in Love" last night I knew this would be different, but having watched only the first episode I also assumed it would be an anthology season, so even though I enjoyed it I confess I'm a bit irked that it continues the same plot arc throughout.

I really like MoN, on the whole. In fact I thought season 2 was frequently glorious, just really watchable and aesthetically pleasing human interactions. They've gone fully indulgent with the "art house telly for the average binge viewer" vibe on this season though which I can't yet decide is either too much or exactly what I want to see. I guess I'll see how it goes.

Hey, The Mollusk. I decided to go back to the beginning and watch Season 1-2 in order. I'd seen them once before but I'd watched in a pretty noncommittal way and somehow in the wrong order. The show deserves more than that, so this time I CRUSHED the whole series in one big lovely go.

It's really enjoyable and spins out in all sorts of fun directions. Great pathos. Really funny at times. A good sense of there being genuine meaning in trivial things (something I look for in comedy). And just open-hearted and positive about life without being mawkish. "Frequently glorious" is right. Plus, I just like looking at scenes of New York.

Interestingly, when you finish the last episode of Season 2, Netflix pushes you to some other show (and not Season 3 of MoN). I am starting to feel less charitable towards Season 3 now that I see what we didn't get more of. It does feel like a loss. I'm sure they were in a difficult place with regards to how they thought people might now think of Aziz, but I think a lot of people would have welcomed another straight-up series or maybe the anthology you and I inadvertently imagined.*

*On the subject of anthology, Series 2 was veering in that direction already. There's an episode about doormen that is completely self-contained, only joining up with the main gang in the very last minutes. There's also one set largely in the past, in Dev and Dianne's childhoods through teen years. Anthology would have been a natural direction for the show to go in. Weird.

[Icehaven]

Found series 1-2 after enjoying Ansari a lot in Parks and Rec and liked them well enough without finding it amazing, but this is an absolute slog. Just finished episode 3 and I don't think I can face anymore. In nearly 2 hrs there's been about 5 minutes of anything like what made me like the show in the first place (e.g. the scene where the sperm donor comes to the house to donate) and then just interminability. I admit I watched a lot on X1.5 and it still felt slow.

[up_the_hampipe]

I went into this with low expectations. Generally like the show a lot, especially season 2, but a whole season focused on Denise's marriage, shot like an arthouse film with long sequences of very little happening, that did not appeal to me. Despite the painfully slow aspects, especially at the very beginning, I ended up enjoying it a lot. Thought the writing was a lot more authentic than usual (my main criticism with MON was that it felt very contrived sometimes) and the performances were a real step up for both actors. Wanted more Dev, obviously, but the snippets we got of his life were probably more impactful than if we saw everything. And even when you're just looking at scenery for stretches of time, every shot is so beautiful, it still works.