TV #52 of 2021:
Master of None, season 3
Returning to this series four years after its latest run gives the producers a chance to reinvent the narrative — and distance it from co-creator and original star Aziz Ansari, still under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations — and to their credit, they’ve seized that opportunity. This does feel like a brand-new show, a spinoff subtitled “Master of None Presents: Moments in Love” that focuses on formerly minor character Denise and her fracturing marriage. It’s an interesting change in direction, and the portrayal of a queer, black journey to pregnancy is a definite rarity for television. There are a lot of scenes and conversations, especially in the penultimate episode, whose kind I can honestly report having never before seen depicted in fiction.
With that being said, this season is not particularly fun to watch. Or all that funny, despite the program’s history as a comedy and actress Lena Waithe’s own background in that domain. The jokes do land, but they are few and far between compared to the usual misadventures with Dev. And there are so many lingering artsy shots, as though keeping the camera steady for long extra seconds or even minutes at a time (often on something totally mundane) will make some profound contribution to the meaning of the story. But it really doesn’t! For the most part, it just turns a serious drama that I’m already not wholly feeling into a frustrating exercise in tedium. The better elements in this experiment get inextricably bogged down in all that, to their unfortunate detriment.
[Content warning for miscarriage.]
★★☆☆☆
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