Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Loot’ Season 2 On Apple TV+, Where Maya Rudolph Is A Billionaire Trying To Make Her Mark

Loot premiered in 2022 to generally good reviews; it was a show that has a lot of comedic talent on both sides of the camera, including its star, the multitalented Maya Rudolph. But we just had a nagging feeling when watching the show’s first season that, while it was OK, it could be a lot better. That feeling carries over to its second season.

LOOT SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A man holding a camera rings a doorbell, and Molly Wells (Maya Rudolph), wearing a flowing white robe-dress, answers.

The Gist: Molly is filming a walkthrough of her “little beach cabana” that she “downsized” to recently. Despite her efforts to seem down-to-earth and humble, she shows David Chang cooking for her in her “hidden kitchen” and Tony Hawk teaching her how to shred, though she doesn’t even have her feet on her skateboard. When the video goes public, the crew at the Wells Foundation read through the negative comments. Her cousin Howard (Ron Funches) finds the only positive one: “Meet Jewish singles in your area.”

Sofia Salinas (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), the executive director of the foundation, thinks this is just a bump, as Molly has vowed to give away all of her money, which totals about $120 billion. But when she tries to get down to work, Arthur (Nat Faxon), the foundation’s accountant, walks into the meeting wearing a horrible leather bracelet, and that’s all anyone else in the room — Molly, Howard, Molly’s assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster), Rhonda (Meagen Fay) and Ainsley (Stephanie Styles) — can talk about. Nicholas can’t even look at it without getting physically ill.

Since their sojourn in Corsica, when some personal time between Molly and Arthur was interrupted by Molly’s ex-husband John Novak (Adam Scott), Arthur has been trying to loosen up a bit. At the same time, John has been putting on a full-court press to get Molly back, flooding her office with flowers and vowing that the two of them are better together than apart. Molly, for her part, wants to be defined by what she does with her riches, rather than just being a billionaire’s wife — or even his ex-wife.

When the city pulls out of the foundation’s signature project, Molly needs to find a place to put her money fast, before she loses credibility over her promise. Sofia suggests contacting a tech bro who has created an algorithm that makes the most efficient use of charity money; Molly even invites him to her “beach cabana.” She comes close to giving him her money, when something happens that makes her reconsider. But she soon comes up with an idea that even Sofia can get behind.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we cited before Loot‘s first season, the show is pure workplace comedy, similar to Parks And Recreation, a show that co-creator Matt Hubbard wrote for. It’s also similar to American Auto.

Our Take: Just like we said before the show’s first season, Loot is a pleasant-enough workplace comedy, and the first episode had a few funny moments. The ensemble has a year under its belt, so the stories and humor are going to be more character-driven than they likely were in the first season.

Already, we’re seeing the will-they-won’t-they between Molly and Arthur advance into that close-friendship territory a lot of these storylines go before the characters get together. And there’s some potential funny moments when we see that Howard has secretly moved into Molly’s guest house after his breakup with Tanya (Amber Chardae Robinson).

But for the most part, Loot continues to be one of those shows that should be funnier than it is, given the talent on both sides of the camera (Alan Yang created the series with Hubbard). There’s nothing really new about any of the characters, including Molly, who is that genially clueless leader that we’ve seen in a ton of workplace comedies, butting heads with Rodriguez’s more practical Sofia, a character type that’s more than familiar to comedy fans.

The way shows like Loot can transcend the tropes that we generally see in workplace comedies is to make the characters people we give a crap about, and develop relationships between them that show growth and change. We do see that developing in Season 2. But the lines these characters say also have to be really funny, which is something we’re not seeing.

Again, it feels like the talents of Rudolph, Rodriguez, Faxon and Funches are underutilized; they all have the ability to make their characters into something more dynamic while keeping them relatable, but for some reason or another, the writing underplays all of their characters. We wish we knew why, but it just makes for a show that’s pleasant and amusing but little else.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: In a meeting with the staff, Molly finds out that her ex John is going to start a space-travel program; she gets a text from him saying, “You said you wanted space. I’m giving it to you.” Molly shouts, “Motherfu–” and the screen goes black.

Sleeper Star: O-T Fagbenle is going to guest star as a love interest for the all-business Sofia, which should goose Rodriguez’s character a bit.

Most Pilot-y Line: After the foundation posts Molly’s video announcing her new initiative, “Space for Everyone,” one of the comments says, “Also, those titties are sitting!”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Our mild recommendation for Loot continues from its first season to its second. The relationships between the characters are growing, which is great, but the show is just not as funny as it should be, and that’s always disappointing.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.