Running Point had a successful first season due to not only the funny lead performance of Kate Hudson, but an ensemble that became a well-oiled laugh machine very quickly. The second season sees Justin Theroux become a regular and big names such as Ray Romano, Ken Marino, and Blake Anderson step in with recurring roles.
RUNNING POINT SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “Where were we?” says the voice of Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson), president of the Los Angeles Waves. We see the last scene of Season 1: She walks into her office and sees her older brother Cam (Justin Theroux), the team’s former president, sitting at her desk and saying, “I’m back.”
The Gist: Cam was unexpectedly released early from rehab, where he was supposed to be for a year. He tells Isla that he’s not here to take back his job as team president, but would like to stick around in some capacity, perhaps as a consultant. Given how pumped their brothers Ness (Scott MacArthur), Sandy (Drew Tarver) and Jackie (Fabrizio Guido) are to see Cam back, Isla reluctantly brings him back and gives him the office of her buddy and chief of staff, Ali Lee (Brenda Song).
Things seem to be going smoothly during the offseason, including Isla’s relationship with her fiancé, Lev Levenson (Max Greenfield). They even have a wedding date. But she can’t get the team’s departed coach, Jay Brown (Jay Ellis) out of her very intense dreams.
Speaking of the search for a new coach, Cam thinks they can land the hottest college coach in the nation, and he secretly thinks that will help him come all the way back from his crack-fueled downfall. Cam, Ness and Sandy are all pumped to hire the coach, but after his interview, Isla feels uneasy with the idea that he’s going to change their entire offense and defense, and do it in a way that will wear down the team’s star, Marcus Winfield (Toby Sandeman).
She decides to pursue for Waves assistant coach Norm Stinson (Ray Romano), Jay Brown’s mentor who has a successful resume but hasn’t coached in a number of years. When Norm comes in, the interview is a disaster, including his refusal to talk about why his last year as a head coach didn’t go well. He also takes all of the conference room snacks.
But he leaves a journal with notes about the team behind, and Isla likes what she sees in it, so she goes all the way to a Peet’s Coffee in Anaheim to talk to Norm, and finds out that his wife died during that last year of coaching, and he’s been isolating himself ever since. She goes out on a limb and hires him as head coach.
In the meantime, Ali asks for a raise and feels that her friend Isla is starting to take her for granted. Point guard Travis Bugg (Chet Hanks) brings his new girlfriend, former child actor Zoé Debay (Aliyah Turne), to practice, but she and former D-League recruit Dyson Gibbs (Uche Agada) hit it off.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Running Point, created by Elaine Ko, Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen, feels like a cross between The Mindy Project, Clipped, and Ted Lasso.
Our Take: In the second season of Running Point, Isla is still trying to prove herself, even after the Waves’ turnaround under her watch, but this time it’s going out on a limb to bring Norm in as coach. That feels like it’ll be one of the bigger story arcs of the season, and the presence of Romano has us looking forward to that arc.
We read that Robert Townsend was originally supposed to play Norm, and that would have also been fun, but a completely different dynamic from what Romano brings. Norm is a bit of a sad sack, but a brilliant one; he knows his way around a playbook and despite his unassuming manner, he may be the best thing for the Waves. But the scene where he explains to Isla why his coaching career took a sharp downturn showed both sides of recent-vintage Romano: Funny and self-deprecating, but also handling dramatic moments with ease.
The show has always been an ensemble with Hudson being the first among equals, but it feels more like that this season, probably because the characters are well-established. We know Ness is a goof, Sydney is dorkier than he wants to be and Cam is arrogant. We definitely like the fact that Theroux is now a regular this season, and we want to see Cam push Isla, putting her in the position to stick her neck out like she did with hiring Norm.
The team dynamic is still up in the air. We get the feeling that the Bugg-Zoé-Dyson thing will come to a head and affect the team’s performance. But the only players we get much time with are Bugg, Dyson and Marcus; we’d like to see a few more members of the Waves get some story time, too.
Performance Worth Watching: Like we said, Ray Romano was a heck of a get for Kaling, Stassen and company. It’s like having a ten-time all-star as the team’s sixth man coming off the bench.
Sex And Skin: Some passion is seen in Isla’s sexy dreams about Jay. We’re curious to see how long that continues.
Parting Shot: After Dyson decides to hold out, all of the brothers come into Isla’s office to discuss the emergency, and Ali, who was in there to follow up on her raise request, again feels like she’s being neglected.
Sleeper Star: We hope Brenda Song gets some quality screen time as Ali fights for her raise and to be recognized for the job she does to keep Isla’s operation running. Blake Anderson also shows up as Cam’s sober companion Leroy, who seems to have a steady supply of drugs available.
Most Pilot-y Line: When sports talk loudmouth Sean Murphy (Jon Glaser) asks if Isla got Norm at a garage sale for half off, Isla yells at her TV, “He doesn’t have a garage; he lives in a condo, you idiot!”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Running Point settles into a nice comedic groove in its second season, with an ensemble that works well together and new additions to the cast that fit in pretty well.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
