Apparently Mike White cited The Love Boat and Fantasy Island as inspirations for the show so you’re not wrong! I admit I am enjoying Season 2. I don’t see any drop off in quality.
Good point about the characters, I can't remember their names either. As for some of the feedback online I thought referring to junior as an "incel" was pretty idiotic. I guess it was do to his "nice guys often finish last" comment, but the thing about that is that's often true (especially in the universe of this show!)
However, this does bring up one thing that I do think makes WL great: it's willing to take The Culture Wars head on without ever picking a side. Was the college students plot in Season 1 a brutal take down of "social justice" politics (as Andrew Sullivan claimed https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/emerging-cracks-in-the-woke-elite-a85)...or an example of the super privileged behaving badly and getting away with it? The answers are ambiguous, which makes it interesting because one thing about the Culture Wars is people are always demanding you pick a side.
I think Season 1 was about class politics, Season 2 is about sexual politics. Maybe you prefer one discussion over another - the set up is largely the same in both seasons.
Apparently Mike White cited The Love Boat and Fantasy Island as inspirations for the show so you’re not wrong! I admit I am enjoying Season 2. I don’t see any drop off in quality.
Good point about the characters, I can't remember their names either. As for some of the feedback online I thought referring to junior as an "incel" was pretty idiotic. I guess it was do to his "nice guys often finish last" comment, but the thing about that is that's often true (especially in the universe of this show!)
However, this does bring up one thing that I do think makes WL great: it's willing to take The Culture Wars head on without ever picking a side. Was the college students plot in Season 1 a brutal take down of "social justice" politics (as Andrew Sullivan claimed https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/emerging-cracks-in-the-woke-elite-a85)...or an example of the super privileged behaving badly and getting away with it? The answers are ambiguous, which makes it interesting because one thing about the Culture Wars is people are always demanding you pick a side.
I think Season 1 was about class politics, Season 2 is about sexual politics. Maybe you prefer one discussion over another - the set up is largely the same in both seasons.