Flight of the Conchords - Season 2

The second and most likely final season of Flight of the Conchords, chronicling Bret and Jemaine's attempt to make it big in America, somehow felt different from the first, although I can't nail down quite why. In a lot of ways, it's ten more episodes of the same fusion of comedy and musical interludes. Just something about it changed, not for good or bad though. The songs aren't as strong, which makes sense since a lot of the great ones from the first season were from their live act that they performed for years before getting the show, and everything this time had to be made up with the normal writing process. In that way, you can maybe see why things felt different, as songs were written to fit the topic of the episode instead of the other way around. The level of quality isn't as high, but there are some gems, like the multiple versions of the song about hurt feelings.

The rest of the show doesn't really suffer though. Bret and Jemaine still have a great interplay that's pretty unique in the comedy of today, but the highlight of the season is probably the continually increasing craziness of their friends Mel and Dave, played by Kristen Schaal and Arj Barker. They were funny before, but as the depths of Mel's insane stalker obsession with the band and Dave's complete lack of connection with reality are revealed, it's truly a wonder to behold. Murray's still the wonderfully ignorant band manager, and his escalating distaste for his assisstant Greg is another good element. I can't tell if the increased focus on regular side characters over new people and wacky situations is part of what makes it feel off from the first season. I still enjoyed it quite a lot, but it's just not quite the same, and they didn't have anything like the Coco story arc. Still, the last episode is a wonderfully meta conclusion to the series, one that I respect its creators and stars for ending before it grew tiresome to them.