FUBAR Season 2 TV Review: Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Netflix’s spy comedy series

Plot: Luke Brunner is a veteran CIA operative who, up until recently, was on the verge of retirement. After his last mission in saving another operative – who just so happened to be his daughter – he’s back and face to face with new villains. This one is an old flame from Luke’s past who threatens to destroy the world…if she doesn’t destroy his life first.

Review: Two years ago, the first season of FUBAR debuted to middling reviews, mine included. Fans seemed to enjoy seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger back in comedy mode while delivering some action alongside the jokes. Still, the effort was another generic offering that fell far below the bar of Arnold’s better efforts. With Netflix cancelling The Recruit while renewing The Night Agent, the streaming platform’s focus on quality over star power may bode poorly for FUBAR, which has not changed much since season one. With the whole cast back, including newly minted Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro alongside Fortune Feimster and new addition Carrie-Ann Moss, FUBAR is still a mediocre mix of flat one-liners meant to evoke nostalgia for Schwarzenegger’s heyday, alongside a bland spy escapade that is a rehash of what we saw in the first season.

In the first season of FUBAR, Luke Brunner (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) discovered that they were both covert agents for the CIA. Teamed up to stop the powerful arms dealer Boro Polonia (Gabriel Luna), the father-daughter duo were joined by Barry (Milan Carter), Luke’s longtime tech wiz, and Roo (Fortune Feimster) and Aldon (Travis Van Winkle), a pair of CIA operatives on Luke’s team. Luke and Emma butted heads throughout the first season before finally finding a mutual respect and way to work together as they stopped Boro, but not before he revealed the identities and locations of the Brunner family and his team. Forced into protective custody, the group also included Carter (Jay Baruchel), Emma’s former boyfriend, and Donnie (Andy Buckley), the now ex-fiance of Luke’s ex-wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio).

Picking up a few months later, the second season opens with Luke and his circle forced to live together under one roof. The struggle of not being able to leave is hitting home, giving everyone cabin fever, especially Carter and Donnie, who must deal with being close to their now exes. Psychologist Dr. Pfeffer (Scott Thompson) stops by to offer therapeutic support, but the struggle is reaching its peak. Luke and Tally have rekindled their relationship while Emma sneaks out of the house to stretch her legs. When their director contacts them, Dot (Barbara Eve Harris), who reveals a new threat connected to Boro releasing their identities to rival countries and criminal syndicates, Luke and Emma must lead their team to stop a new global threat in the form of the mysterious Dante Cress. Along the way, they run up against a rogue MI-6 agent, Theodore Chips (Guy Burnet), and Luke’s former lover, Greta (Carrie-Ann Moss), who forms a love triangle between the recently reunited Luke and Tally.

Through all eight episodes of FUBAR, nothing has changed from the formula introduced in season one. The series still looks like it was shot on a sitcom budget with poor CGI and generic location shooting meant to be far-flung locales around the globe. More often than not, the characters are forced into overly choreographed action sequences in which the 77-year-old Schwarzenegger does minimal work outside of expository dialogue sandwiched between references to his numerous catchphrases over the years. Some of the callbacks are clever and others are groan-inducing. Carrie-Ann Moss seems to have the most fun playing a femme fatale who still has the hots for Luke, even though her German accent is fleeting and inconsistent. As with the first season, the action does not make FUBAR enjoyable, as the highlights tend to be the interplay between the characters. The moments where the ensemble is stuck together in the house are the most fun in the series, mainly when they include Andy Buckley and Jay Baruchel.

The action is rote and repetitive, the opposite of what creator Nick Santora brought to his hit series Reacher. Santora penned the premiere of season two, with the rest of the episodes scripted by a combination of eight other writers. Phil Abraham, known for directing Mad Men and The Sopranos, helmed half this season with Jeff T. Thomas and M.J. Bassett on the other four. The visual look of FUBAR reduces the quality of the series, as it never feels cinematic enough for the material. Much of the episodes boast a character asking a pretty obvious question for another to answer, so the audience understands why things are happening. The wooden dialogue and eerily similar set design of bunkers, offices, and meeting spaces all feel recycled from network television spy series like Chuck, still, without the charm or originality the cast deserves. Schwarzenegger and Barbaro have good chemistry when they are allowed to have fun with it, but that is unfortunately rare this season.

The star power that Arnold Schwarzegger brings to any project he is in makes it worth checking out, and FUBAR is still better than the cheap dreck that Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis were relegated to over the last twenty years. Still, it should and could be so much better. There is a fun concept buried in this series that deserves a chance to shine, and that would take a higher budget and better writers than what we have here. I chuckled here and there through the second season of FUBAR, but more due to Fortune Feimster’s delivery than anything else. Like season one, FUBAR will be a streaming hit right out of the gate and be easily forgotten. I would not be sad to see this be the end of the road for FUBAR, but I will remain hopeful that if a season three comes our way, it will softly reboot itself into a better show.

FUBAR season two premieres on June 12th on Netflix.

FUBAR

AVERAGE

6

The post FUBAR Season 2 TV Review: Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Netflix’s spy comedy series appeared first on JoBlo.