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Small Screen Reviews: Master of None
So maybe someone here can help me. Aziz Ansari is an up-and-coming comedian. Even if you don’t know his name, you might have seen him on Parks & Recreation as the young go-getter saddled with layabout ne’er-do-well best friend and girlfriend (of sorts). He’s had a stand-up performance on Netflix, and most recently has a Netflix series called “Master of None“.
For the life of me I just don’t find him funny.
Maybe I’m missing something, or he’s just not my type of humor. “Master of None” must be full of it because I find I watch this show waiting for the laugh. And occasionally it comes. Occasionally there’s that one line that makes me guffaw … and then we’re back to boring. In fact, I had hoped to write this review long ago, after I finished all 10 episodes of season one on Netflix. However I’ve found that I am stuck on episode five. Whenever I’m looking for something to watch, I circle around it like a fish examining bait, but decide it’s not for me and opt for something better.
As any good fly fisherman knows, the best resource for a good fly is the local shop near where you plan to fish. The shop owner can almost always point out what fly will best attract what fish. Taking their advice is a good idea. Now the critics laud “Master of None” and it even won a Critics Choice Award. But it seems either they weren’t listening to the shop owner, or the shop owner was dishonest because this fish just isn’t biting.
“Master of None” is billed as a comedy. It watches the self-referential millennial Aziz as a young would-be actor finding work and dealing with life’s little obstacles. It’s standard comedy fare. Along the way, Aziz finds and discusses life lessons that are obvious to anyone save him and the people he hangs out with. Okay, now I’m being old and curmudgeonly. It’s just gets a little tiring to see him constantly amazed at the obvious. To beat my favorite Reagan quote to death, it’s not that he’s ignorant, it’s just that he knows so much that isn’t so. I guess I should could my blessings that he actually seems somewhat willing to learn.
But let’s look at Episode 1. After a near miss with a one-night stand, Aziz considers what life would be like with children. When a friend with children needs a sitter, he offers to take a leap and see what that life would be like. Spoiler alert: taking care of children is difficult. Comedy supposedly ensues. Aziz decides not having kids is the way to go. Achievement unlocked!
Episode two: Aziz and his friend are the first-generation born of immigrants. Their relationship with their parents is much like any reasonably adjusted family’s. But then they have a revelation: Our parents went through a lot to come to America! Well, yeah … that’s a little … okay, it’s a good observation, but it’s revealed as if such a thing is something they just came up with. The realization scene plays as naturally as an ’80s cartoon public service announcement. Our parents went through a lot for us. Now we know! “And knowing is half the battle,” to quote GI Joe.
I guess that’s my problem with the series as I’ve seen it so far. There’s nothing inherently unfunny about any of these storylines. I just can’t find any of these stories amusing in any way. It’s like watching mid-aught Adult Swim fare: stuff happens, it’s not funny, and the characters pause for laughter that never comes. The only difference is the lack of potty humor in “Master of None”.
I really wanted to finish this so I could tell my faithful reader (all one of you) that you don’t have to watch this show because I watched it for you, but I just can’t. There’s plenty on your Netflix queue worth seeing. I recommend reruns of The Rockford Files.
I found myself liking it, but it was tragedy rather than comedy. That might actually be a big reason why I ended up liking it.
The false modern dichotomy between “comedy” and “drama” has long frustrated me.
Of course, if you advertised a show as tragedy it would give away the ending.
Maybe that’s what I’m missing. I’m waiting for the joke that is not there.
It’s Godot’s punchline.
It’s more like (500) Days Of Summer. It’s a romantic tragedy within the narrative structure of a romantic comedy.
That oddly makes sense. May be worth seeing the rest in that light, then.
As was mentioned in the thread about Occupied, it can be a mistake to judge these 6-episode Netflix show by the first couple of episodes, because the shows are really long-form, multi-part movies. You gotta wait for the story to play out to its conclusion.
This creates a dilemma for both the viewer and the producer, of course. How much time should the viewer invest if they’re not grabbed by the second episode? How does the producer grab the viewers at the beginning without violating the spirit of the story they’re trying to tell? (The compromise answer if to keep the seasons short. Limiting a season to six episodes means it isn’t that much of a time investment.)
I felt the same way about Love, also on Netflix. I couldn’t stand the characters, and was ready to give up after two episodes. I was advised by a reviewer I trust to keep up with it, and I’m glad I watched to the end.
I wonder if it comes across differently for viewers younger than you who haven’t already watched a dozen shows in the 90s and 00s teaching the same timeless lessons.
If you want a real bellyful of laughs watch the last episode.
We watched the whole season. It wasn’t always funny, but I though it was a documentary on that guy’s life and the decision to be made.
Only watched part of Episode 1 and hated it. It just wasn’t funny. Not the one-night stand part, or the pharmacy scene where they buy Plan B and get some good apple juice (at least he offered to pay). My 16 year old was watching with us and he found the whole thing depressing. It was. I couldn’t watch anymore and I liked him on P&R and even more on Scrubs.
I liked it a lot, even if it wasn’t full of belly laughs. I mean, c’mon, when he took the old lady out for an adventure, that was sweet.
I really enjoy it. I’ve watched the first season a couple of times. It’s witty with good pacing and plenty of unexpected dialogue/events. It’s kind of stream of consciousness, which I always seem to like.
My favorite episode is the one that goes over their relationship over the course of a year where everything happens in their appartment. I think it’s Episode 9.
I also don’t find him funny
I like Master of None – I wasn’t expecting it to be a laugh-a-minute sort of show, and I already know Aziz is funny from his standup. I thought the series had a nice mix of situations that prompt some musings on relationships, maturity, and just being frivolous sometimes. I’ll grant you that it’s not the most profound show on the air.
The second episode about the immigrant parents’ journeys was a bit less entertaining than the others… I’m nearly tempted to say that that was a (well-intentioned) vanity project by Aziz and the other actor in that episode.
One thing I really liked – and I only noticed it after someone called it out on reddit – was an episode that began with Aziz and his tall friend walking down a hallway of mirrors and talking about the layers of reality in Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” while the “Twin Peaks” theme plays in the background very, very quietly. I was impressed by the apparent cleverness of that, with its whiff of (David) Lynch-ian themes.
I will definitely give this show another go. It’s left me flat so far, but responses have convinced me I haven’t seen enough.
^^^
This.
It’s certainly no Bojack Horseman.
I tried watching it too but found it unfunny for the same reasons – it’s like a comedy cinema verite where the humor is supposed to come from “real life.”
I haven’t seen this show, and I heard about it only because a liberal friend of mine linked to something about either Aziz or his show involving race and “Why this is important.”
I decided not to read that.
If he’s not one to wallow in race talk, I’ll be glad, but I don’t think from the discussion here that it’s my kind of show.
P.S.: Don’t you get annoyed when the Left works up racial issues involving people who are caucasian, as we consider it in America, but merely of non-European ethnicity?
A later episode I didn’t mention gets into potrayal of Asian Indian Americans (with some other ethnician adjectives I’m sure) in American media, which I found a bit amusing as considering where Ansari’s Netflix show alone disproves the hypothesis presented. Maybe it’s played for irony.
It doesn’t disprove the hypothesis as much as it illustrates how online streaming is disrupting the old media paradigm.
The subtext is that if Indian actors want better roles they need to create their own shows and sell them online because they’ll never be able to rely on old media to just hand them roles.
(One of the other actors in Master of None is also the subject of Meet The Patels, a documentary on Netflix directed by his sister.)
I see what you mean.
For example, recently one of my liberal friends was talking about the latest Ghostbusters trailer – noting that he was curious, but at the same time concerned about the sole black character being a loud, streetwise chick who can procure a cadillac, whereas all the white characters are female.
I commented that I perceive Hollywood frequently being a decade behind the nation in matters like race. His friends all disagreed saying the writing was unfortunate, but Hollywood is ahead of us.
Your statement would tend to bolster my argument.