Emmy spotlight: ‘The Other Two’ is undeniably good TV

Debuting in 2019 on Comedy Central, “The Other Two” quickly established itself as one of TV’s most clever comedies. A biting satire of the entertainment industry that nevertheless remains accessible to those with only a vague understanding of what a manager does or why dueling articles from BuzzFeed and The Atlantic might be humorous, the show has only gotten better as it has evolved alongside its leads.

Told through the lens of two self-centered millennials (Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver) who are forced to face their life and career failings in the wake of their younger brother (Case Walker) becoming an overnight teen sensation, the Max series jams so many jokes and pop culture riffs into a single 30-minute episode that it’s often difficult to keep up. But every once in a while the show’s trademark snarkiness and jokes about PR relationships and Hollywood using mental health awareness as image repair give way to reveal that there is a sweet family comedy here too. And the show, which hails from co-creators and “Saturday Night Live” alums Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, deserves to be recognized for its unique ability to balance these seemingly disparate pieces of its identity and meld them into one scathing, hilarious and heartfelt story.

In Season 3, with Brooke’s (Yorke) and Cary’s (Tarver) careers having both taken off, the show is free to be able to find new ways to humble them and plumb their emotional depths. While their actions have always had consequences, the show has often played them for comedic effect.  Here, we see a real-world heaviness start to creep in, which plays well against the series’ takes on everything from method acting and Hollywood studios’ hollow attempts at meaningful queer representation to what happens to the ex-girlfriends of pop stars (hint: it involves moving to the woods with Ann Dowd).

While managing Chase (Walker) and their mother Pat (Molly Shannon) — the latter of whom has her own TV network and is so famous she can’t even go out to dinner or walk in the park without a security detail and hours of pre-planning — Brooke embarks on a journey of self-improvement in Season 3 as she struggles with further feelings of inadequacy in the wake of her fiancé, Lance (a scene-stealing Josh Segarra, as charming as ever), becoming a nurse during the pandemic. His altruism feels out of step with who Brooke is and what she’s doing with her life, which leads to a season-long arc that finds her making surface-level changes — like quitting a job she likes to plant trees — in an attempt to prove that she’s a good person (cue Rebecca Bunch of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”). It’s a timely storyline that plays into how we publicly engage with the world and allow our perception of what others are doing to determine and/or influence our feelings of self-worth. Yorke’s excellent performance, which is often hilariously over-the-top as required by Brooke’s antics, subtly shifts as we explore the character’s internal battle, which culminates in an emotionally devastating and relationship-ending fight with Lance midway through the season. With apologies to Tom and Shiv of “Succession,” it might be the most realistic and upsetting fight of the year, and both Yorke and Segarra give it their all.

SEE ‘The Other Two’s’ Drew Tarver on how Cary’s’ ‘losing his grip’ on being self-aware

But while Brooke’s fear of judgment has allowed her to become her own worst enemy, Cary’s decision to bail on his decade-long friendship with Curtis (Brandon Scott Jones) in pursuit of fame leaves him alone and questioning his choices. In a particularly unhinged (I say this with affection) episode that sees Cary race back home to Ohio to “win” his high school reunion after his Netflix fantasy show suddenly takes off, we bear witness to the loneliness that envelopes him in the immediate aftermath of his classmates’ fawning. Cary has gotten what he thought he wanted but yet remains unhappy. In typical “The Other Two” fashion, this quiet moment of not quite reflection is bookended by a jaunty musical number and Cary face-planting into his own used adult diaper in an out-of-order gas station bathroom. And rather than come out of the situation with any sense of self-awareness or clarity, he decides that the only thing that can fill the hole in his life now is an Academy Award, which sets him down a new path of manic, career-driven insanity that only reveals how alone he is.

Few shows can bounce between the zany highs and emotional lows so quickly and manage to tell a coherent, funny and rewarding story, but “The Other Show” nails it at every opportunity in Season 3 as Brooke and Cary struggle to find fulfillment in the wake of seemingly achieving their dreams. But while Yorke’s and Tarver’s go-for-broke performances anchor the show, “The Other Two” is not lacking in memorable supporting performances either. Segarra has long been the show’s not-so-secret weapon, imbuing Lance with a sense of childlike wonder while still serving as a grounding presence for Brooke and, on occasion, the rest of the Dubeks, but the climactic fight in the fifth episode, in which Lance’s easygoing persona finally gives way to frustration and anger over Brooke’s inability to communicate and self-centeredness, reminds us he’s human too. And while it ends with the couple breaking up, the scene cements Lance — who understands Brooke like no one else and has supported her every step up the way whether she has noticed or not — as a necessary piece of the puzzle.

Elsewhere, the show benefits from two comedy veterans in Shannon and Ken Marino. As Pat, Shannon nails the show’s punchlines with ease, but it’s when she deviates from the norm that she’s arguably the most effective. A midseason outing that sees Pat don prosthetics so she can leave the house without her security detail reveals just how alienating her success has been, but a trip to Ohio to drop in on her old life leaves her just as unsatisfied, as she discovers she’s no longer the woman she used to be. Meanwhile, Marino’s Streeter is both a constant source of the show’s trademark cringe comedy — he’s never above crossing the line for the ones he loves (see: suggesting chloroforming people during Brooke’s telethon) — and a loving, stabilizing presence (taking Brooke in after her breakup with Lance).

It’s ultimately this duality that makes “The Other Two” one of the best shows on TV right now. For every absurd thing that Brooke and Cary do, for every time the show brilliantly skewers the entertainment industry, there’s a sweet, emotional family moment to balance the scales and ground the story. The series’ writing staff deftly handles this, all while building and layering jokes that are funny at the time but end up paying off in much bigger ways down the road. It’s something the show has excelled at from the start, and it’s a shame the people involved have yet to receive the Emmy recognition they deserve for successfully wrangling these many different pieces and making them an enjoyable whole. 

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