American Vandalâ season 2 review
By Chandler Walter, Contributor
5/5
To say this season was shitty would somehow be both true and incredibly false.
American Vandal, the Netflix original series which satirizes real crime dramas like Making a Murderer, recently released its sophomore season, and itâs first important to note that the central crime(s) have been taken up a serious notch.
This season is entirely full of shitâin the most literal sense. The main culprit is an online entity known only as the Turd Burglar, who has been taking credit for a number of poop-related crimes that have been occurring at the prestigious private school, St. Bernadine. While avoiding any major spoilers (which would seriously ruin a show like this one), I will say that the entire plot of the series is set off by the first and most devastating of all the poop crimes: The Brownout.
The Brownout is the name given to a lunchtime disaster that found 40 St. Bernadine students unknowingly ingest laxatives. Making matters worse, the school was not equipped to handle so many people needing to use the washroom all at once.
âMost of us just shit our pants right in front of everyone,â one female student recalls in the seasonâs trailer.
Much like season one, the plot revolves around exonerating a convicted student believed to be innocent by our investigative journalist/protagonist, Peter Maldonaldo, and his partner in solving crime, Sam Ecklund.
This time the stakes are upped, however, as a number of poop-related crimes are committed following the inciting Brownout. While one student, Kevin McClain, has actually admitted to being the elusive Turd Burglar, much of the evidence uncovered by Peter and Sam proves otherwise.
To say I enjoyed season two of American Vandal would be an understatement. I binge-watched the entire season in one Sunday afternoon/evening, then watched nearly the entire thing through again with my girlfriend. The subtle clues, believable red herrings, and hilarious side plots are enough to keep a viewerâs attention glued and may even have you wanting your own corkboard and strings to keep track of all the moving pieces.
American Vandal once again masterfully mixes two genres of TV that you hardly see anywhere elseâcriminal mystery and humourâand creates something truly unique⌠for the second time around, I should add.
The characters are believable, the dialogue between actors sounds surprisingly honest, and the showâs take on how social media impacts modern teenagersâ lives, personas, and yes, bullying strikes incredibly true.
Iâm already counting down the days (and weeks and months, though hopefully not years) until season three comes out. Given how well the second one did, Iâm sure that Netflix will keep the boys on the case.
