‘The Other Two’ season 3 review:  TV’s sharpest satire hits new heights with its most surreal take on the entertainment industry yet

The Bluths, The Johnsons, the Pritchetts and the Dunphys, the Arnolds, and the Roses. What do these families all have in common? Not only have they delivered some of the most memorable, Emmy-winning comedies on television, they also prove that families navigating the misadventures of a chaotic world make for outrageous, yet honest, and therefore unforgettable and brilliant storytelling. Which makes adding the Dubeks to this list an obvious next step: a family consisting of the matriarch, Pat (Molly Shannon), her boyfriend, Streeter (Ken Marino), and her three children, Brooke (Heléne Yorke), Cary (Drew Tarver), and Chase (Case Walker), as they navigate the farcical affairs of the entertainment industry. Making a triumphant return for its third season, premiering on HBO Max this Thursday, May 4, The Other Two injects its distinctive flair for the dramatic and sarcastic into an endless cache of relatable yet ridiculous scenarios for the first seven flawless episodes available to stream. Shows that are both bingeable and rewatchable feel like a rarity even among an endless number of streaming platforms and networks, however The Other Two again proves to be one of the best comedies on television for its non-stop humor that still provides a candid perspective of family values, managing work-life balance, and pop culture.

After multiple COVID-19-related filming and writing delays, the show’s creators and previous Saturday Night Live head writers, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, distill many pesky, haunting elements from the ‘pandemie’ over the past three years and turn them into surefire comedy. One satisfyingly extended bit deals with Chase’s second album being released during the January 6th insurrection. Another finds Cary waiting on a Zoom audition with another actor who, like this WFH disaster, makes a tragic operating error that turns secondhand embarrassment into a hilarious, steamy sketch. However, the strongest remnant that lends itself to a season-long character dilemma for Brooke is Lance (Josh Segarra), her now fiancé, quitting his job as a fashion designer to follow his heart and become a nurse. Even Pitzy Pile – Kate Berlant, who gave a grandiose single scene performance as Cary’s ex-agent (“I’m gagging for you…”), and Damian Davis – return as healthcare heroes. Remember banging those pots outside your window for “the real heroes”? Well, Chris and Sarah sure do! 

Heléne Yorke showcases her skillful talent as an early standout and focal point this season as her character confronts the morality of working in a toxic industry. With seemingly everyone around her suddenly inspired to do good, she finds it harder to justify the seemingly fruitless duties of being a talent manager and questions if she should “choose a life of meaning…where [she] can make a difference.” But the catch is: once you leave, you literally become invisible to anyone in the industry; an ingenious tactic to illustrate an unspoken truth about working in Hollywood. Moreover, this is an obvious drawback that terrifies Brooke and leads her blinding narcissism to scream into the void at a cocktail party, “What else could make me see you as a person?” Lance is a wonderful foil for her especially at this crossroads because he has always been a grounded place of reason. He gives her the space to mature and be her own person, but he’s also brutally honest with her when she doesn’t, or fails to see that she cannot reciprocate. So her journey of self-discovery that has her working for a tree-planting organization then later flying in space (the sixth episode really is titled “Brooke, And We Are Not Joking, Goes to Space”) climaxes with a turning point referencing a similar line during Yorke’s previous, legendary role as Glinda in the “Wicked” musical. Her theater background feels instrumental in how she can take bold risks and why she is hilariously and emotionally featured in so many reaction shots.

Cary, who has been even more hypnotized by his five minutes of fame, is going through a similar struggle. Now that his feature film debut, Night Nurse, is finally premiering, he is desperate to book his next gig. Over-promoting the film on social media becomes his newest toxic trait, which he pays for when he desperately agrees to rate Brooklyn burrito joints on a scale from one to five nurses. He also becomes more anxious because his new boyfriend, Lucas (Fin Argus), who takes method acting so seriously that he even puts Jeremy Strong to shame, effortlessly accepts gig after gig; playing a virgin, a closeted character, a person with HIV in a wild sendup of “Angels in America” (“we don’t know what it is!”), pushing their path to sex farther and farther out. So Cary jumps at the chance to voice Disney’s first ever openly queer character, even though his knowledge of LGBTQ history ironically starts and ends with James Franco being in a movie about Harvey Milk. His ego gets so bloated that acting in the next big thing becomes a competition, even against his overly forgiving close friend and The Gay Minute host, Curtis Paltrow (Brandon Scott Jones). Tarver excels at displaying the versatility of a hustling actor, with his spot-on facial expressions prompting uncontrollable laughter. He also gets to flaunt a fit body in Cary’s horniest season yet, both for humor and sex appeal. 

As for Pat, played by the authentic SNL superstar Molly Shannon, she may have scaled back on zany talk show catchphrases after her public meltdown last season, but now she is even more powerful and owns her own Oprah-sized television network (catch new episodes of Drape Disasters with Maria Menounos every weekday). Her exponential rise to fame has provided for her new mansion, fully stocked with any tweetable product and complete with an oversized security detail, but also fans and agents who constantly bombard her during any public appearance. So, in being trapped in her maze of a mansion for her protection, she is quickly overcome with amusing, mischievous plots to escape to see her family and regain any sense of normalcy. She is so removed from reality that donning prosthetics to ride the disgusting subway and be served by a mean bartender makes for an exciting day. Another epiphany strikes when Simu Liu and her try to have a normal dinner at Applebee’s, which quickly escalates into a fever dream that lets Shannon show off her equally adept dramatic acting chops, too.

This still leaves Streeter in a precarious situation, feeling alienated from the woman he loves. But where the show shines is in melding the absurd with the sincere, which encapsulates his character perfectly this season. In “Brooke Drives an Armpit Across America,” Streeter is shown creepily standing in for Chase during a photoshoot, exposing his belly button tattoo in all its glory. In another beat, he backs Brooke up as they drive the photo of Chase’s titular pit and they end up genuinely bonding. They share multiple comical-turned-endearing scenes afterward when he comforts her with fatherly affection she hasn’t had for years. These warmhearted moments highlight the stability that family and unconditional love brings, despite the chaos of their uncertain lives.

What also makes the show a complete knockout is that while it’s made for any audience, anyone in the entertainment industry – or wants to feel like they are – will absolutely feel seen: from actors and PR managers (Cary being told what to say and having to smile his way through an interview, despite the film production being plagued by constant delays) to barely legal talent (vampire-like fangs extending from multiple industry professionals’ smiles as they react to Chase saying he’s 18-years old) and different crew members (Cary making Pleasantville-level waves by wanting to improvise on a 9 to 5 television job instead of sticking to the script or when an ADR editor follows him around the city to record extra dialogue due to an abrupt post deadline). Many of these scenes are joined by a stellar guest cast list appearing as themselves, adding another layer to the show’s meta references to how the industry manages and depicts the power of celebrity, like: The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien, The White Lotus’s cheeky Lukas Gage, Kiernan Shipka, Marvel’s Simu Liu, and more. Ann Dowd also appears in an eerie yet witty gag that takes from her previous cult-like roles to help Chase navigate fan reactions to a new relationship.

The Other Two has consistently been an exceptional show, but an even more concentrated devotion to the characters this season proves that Chris and Sarah have plenty of necessary story left to be told. They brilliantly target a niche storyline, portraying a clever commentary on fame and success that exposes the inner workings of this country’s most celebrated industry, supported by LGBTQ characters and actors that still allow a wide audience to feel like a fellow insider. The laughs are non-stop, the drama is richly empathetic, and the end of every episode will have you wishing there were still thirty more minutes left to devour. The Dubeks prove yet again that they deserve their time in the spotlight and are all undoubtedly ready for their close-up.

Grade: A

The first two episodes of The Other Two premiere on May 4 on HBO Max with two new episodes weekly.

Photo: Greg Endries/HBO Max