30 Rock (Season 2)

By the end of its rocky first season, 30 Rock had become a razor sharp comedy with a lot of potential. It was up to its second season to show just how good this show could get, and wow, did it absolutely live up.

Season 2 of 30 Rock is fairly episodic, for the most part. There is a simple arc about Jack Donaghy's attempts to become the head of General Electric, but it doesn't really become the focus of the season until the last few episodes, which a great dramatic arc about Jack losing his job. There are also a few other threads about Liz's relationship troubles and Tracy's attempts at making more money, but they don't come up that often. Otherwise, Season 2 is entirely comedy-driven, which means that it must rely on the strengths of its episodes. 

Thankfully, this season has a lot of excellent and hilarious comedic episodes right from the incredibly meta premiere. Even more, the main cast gets many more changes to truly flex their comedic muscles, especially Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin. The strong writing from the latter half of Season 1 is even better this time around, with rapid-fire jokes that pretty much all hit. The fast pace of the comedy means that you're bound to miss a clever joke or funny running gag the first time around, which makes the whole season immensely rewatchable.

There really isn't much else to say about this season as there isn't much else to talk about in terms of plot or character. Season 2 rides on the sheer consistent quality of its episodes, and since there are a lot of outstanding gems this season, I thought the best way to emphasize just how great this season was would be to list some of the absolute greatest and most notable episodes:

SeinfeldVision: This was the type of meta humor I wanted to see from the first season. The whole premise is about Jack's latest scheme of digitally inserting Jerry Seinfeld into other TV shows, which leads to much hilarity when the real Jerry Seinfeld ends up finding out. It also works as a great premiere as Liz spends the episode dealing with her breakup from the first season's finale.

Rosemary's Baby: Alec Baldwin's comedic ability is showcased in one of the funniest scenes in the whole series, as Jack Donaghy acts out Tracy's family during a therapy session. Even more, Carrie Fisher guest stars and causes a lot of funny moments of her own.

Ludachristmas: I love how cynical this Christmas episode is. Jack's mother Colleen was a great character in her first appearance, but seeing her tear apart Liz's family is just incredibly funny. The subplot about the writer's room is great as well, culminating in everyone just about the knock down the Rockerfeller Plaza Christmas tree.

MILF Island: Another brilliantly meta episode that is built around a fake reality TV show, which juxtaposes itself from the dramatic events at 30 Rock Plaza, as Jack tries to figure out who badmouthed him in the paper. The sheer bizareness of the titular series is made even better as it overdramatizes otherwise average events, such as Pete's attempts at getting food from a vending machine.

Succession: Devon Banks returns, which is great since he was one of the funniest guest stars from Season 1. After a season that was fairly light on plot, this episode is surprisingly dramatic as Jack not only loses his chance at being head of GE, but loses his job as well.

Cooter: With this season being written during the writer's strike, it's surprising how well they nailed the season finale. Every character gets something to do here, between Jack's job at DC, Liz's pregnancy scare, Kenneth's olympic run, and Tracy's hilarious attempts at making a porn game. The titular Cooter is a solid foil for Jack, and the episode ends with a surprising amount of hooks for the next season that left me excited to see what happens in Season 3.

Overall, Season 2 of 30 Rock is easily one of the funniest seasons I've seen in a TV show. Despite being light on plot, the acting, writing, and consistently hilarious comedy makes it feel like 30 Rock has finally reached its potential.

5/5 Stars