‘Future Man’ Has Finally Figured Itself Out in Season 2

Despite its complicated time travel premise and its love of sci-fi, Hulu’s Future Man has never been characterized by ambition. While other comedies have dedicated their running lengths to taking down politics or questioning the nature of sitcoms themselves, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s series has always been the humbler, sillier dude in the room. At the end of the day, Future Man just wants to make you laugh — and with its delightful second season, that’s exactly what you’ll do.

Every part of Future Man is insane, so bear with me. The sci-fi comedy follows the life of Josh Futterman (Josh Hutcherson), a slacker janitor who’s only interested in playing his favorite video game, Biotic Wars. But after he beats it, he’s recruited by two hardened soldiers from an alternate future timeline. Turns out the Biotic Wars and the mutant bug monsters at the center of his favorite game become a reality in the future. In an attempt to find humanity’s savior, Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) sent the war simulation back in time. The only problem is their sole hope for the world’s future isn’t a highly trained warrior, but some random loser. The rest of Season 1 devolved into time traveling resets, dimensional misunderstandings, and lots of dick jokes.

Given all that, it makes sense that the first season of Future Man felt a bit disjointed. It was never clear whether the series wanted to explore the gritty realities of the apocalyptic war at its center, or dish out another orgy joke. More often than not the result was a sci-fi experiment with enough decent one liners and heart to make up for its rambling moments.

In its second season, Future Man has figured out the right balance of all its many elements. Much like Rick and Morty, the gritty specifics of the series’ sci-fi lore have now been brushed aside to make room for what this series always needed: more jokes. When a lab worker from a future timeline suggests giving Josh the codename “Jesus”, the series no longer wastes time explaining exactly what’s going on with Christianity in this universe. Instead, it just pauses enough for Josh to quip “Little risky” and moves on.

Future Man‘s slowest moments have always stemmed from complicated multiverse explanations between Josh, Tiger, and Wolf. But instead of letting these three sort through the universe they’ve permanently altered together, Future Man largely keeps its leads apart during its first episodes back. It’s a shift that allows each character to showcase their specific comedic strengths, while giving the series as a whole a subtle reset.

For Hutcherson’s leading man, that means making him react to increasingly uncomfortable traps and half-assed explanations that make no sense. Most of Season 1’s humor stemmed from Hutcherson’s effortless WTF expressions, and this new season continues to capitalize on that talent. For the militaristic, black-and-white Tiger, that means shoving her into a reality where she tries to literally fight against moral ambiguity. And for the sweet, dumb puppy Wolf it means dropping him in a position where he can’t act without hurting someone who’s innocent. They’re all miserable, and it’s lovely to watch.

Speaking of Season 2’s elevated comedy, the decision to pair Coupe’s Tiger with Haley Joel Osment’s bumbling Doctor Stu deserves a special shoutout. In Season 1, we met this kickass lady general who had the discipline and gravitas of every video game commander; but the comedic timing of Amy Brookheimer on Veep. Yet time and time again she was regulated to boring exposition duty. Pitted against Osment’s infuriatingly happy-go-lucky medical genius, Tiger shines. Between this role and starring as Silicon Valley‘s VR prodigy Keenan Feldspar, Osment has quietly been proving he’s the king of the dopes. And there are few pairings funnier than a sloppy moron failing up, and an aggressively competent badass who can’t catch a break.

Future Man Season 2 isn’t going to be the the most prestigious show you watch in 2019. In this crowded TV landscape it may not even be the most thought-provoking show you’ll see this month. But there’s one thing I can guarantee it will do: it’ll make you laugh loud and often. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

Watch Future Man on Hulu