‘Crashing’ Season 2 Is An Appealing Blend Of Jokes, Spirituality, And Cringe Comedy

Pete Holmes’ Crashing was one of my favorite comedies of 2017. It didn’t make it onto my personal top ten, but it was right there in the next tier of shows. Executive produced by Judd Apatow and loosely based on Holmes’ life, the freshman season of the HBO series followed a fictional version of Pete as he bounced from couch to couch gamely attempting to break into the unpredictable and often roguish world of stand-up comedy. Emotionally and financially bankrupt after discovering his wife (Lauren Lapkus) was having an affair, Season 1 dealt with Pete pursuing his dream job with guileless abandon. He wasn’t the smartest or funniest guy in the room, but he had an abundance of heart, dammit!

With its rookie season in its rearview mirror, Crashing digs a bit deeper in Season 2. Premiering Sunday night on HBO, the new season revolves around a spiritually shipwrecked Holmes struggling to reconcile his old religious beliefs with his new life. Pete’s crisis of faith manifests itself in a number of ways. The first six episodes of the eight-episode sophomore season spend more time exploring Pete’s growth as a person than his strides as a comedian, resulting in debates about atheism as well as a slew of immensely cringe-worthy comedic moments. Holmes’ mix of stark sincerity and inexperience leads to viscerally awkward encounters with Whitney Cummings and John Mulaney — the latter of whom appears delighted to have the opportunity to razz his real life pal on HBO — as well as one of the most embarrassing post one-night stand scenes in recent memory.

Season 2 of Crashing is a deft blend of humor and heart. Many Season 1 favorites return and are predictably terrific (Lauren Lapkus and George Basil come to mind), and comedian Bill Burr makes a fun foil for Pete during Episode 3. But the second season standouts are the returning Artie Lange and Season 1 writer turned Season 2 star Jamie Lee, who portrays Pete’s love interest and fellow comedian Ali Reissen. While the first four episodes of the new season are entertaining, Episode 5 — which follows Pete and Ali touring New York’s thriving alt comedy scene — and Episode 6 — a heady offering that explores Artie’s issues with addiction — are exceptional television episodes.

The theme of the season is Pete’s quest to find a balance between the past and the future while trying to make sense of the present. Like many of us, he’s desperately trying to capture the personal and vocational stability that’s eluded him, but his character can occasionally be a bit too grating. Sometimes his naïveté is endearing; other times he seems like an insane person whose complete lack of any and all social awareness overwhelms the scene. Maybe that’s life? Maybe we’re all just some combination of the two and all we can hope for is that the people we love believe the percentage skews in our favor.

Regardless, Crashing works because there’s just something so inherently cozy about watching a person trying to piece together the A through L so they can eventually get to Z.

Crashing is a good show that occasionally has moments of greatness. When the calendar turns from 2018 to 2019, I imagine it will once again be one of my favorite comedies of the year. Anyway, that’s my time. You guys have been a great audience. Please keep it going and put your hands together for our next writer, Jade Budowski!

Crashing returns for Season 2 on Sunday, January 14th at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on HBO.

Where to stream Crashing