That Girl Lay Lay season 2 review: Relies on the same-old comedy routine

In That Girl Lay Lay season 2, Sadie and Lay Lay indulge in new adventures and face the creator of Sadie’s affirmation app. The second season is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

Sadie worries about Marky, who is still freaking out ever since learning about Lay Lay’s secret. She is afraid he will tell their parents about Lay Lay.

When Marky learns that Sadie is hiding who Lay Lay is from their parents, he uses this secret to his advantage. He makes Lay Lay and Sadie work for him.

Lay Lay faces a glitch when she is forced to overwork. She loses her conversational abilities and soon goes back to being a regular AI that has limited interaction features. Though Marky brings her back and apologizes to her, a bigger threat to Lay Lay is yet to come.

Ilana, the creator of Sadie’s affirmation app, comes looking for Sadie, claiming that her app is failing. She plans to update it and save it one last time, and if it fails again, she will be forced to shut it down.

Ilana’s plans may endanger Lay Lay’s existence as she will disappear along with the app, and Sadie, on the other hand, will lose her only best friend.

Performances

The acting performances are downright awful and, at times, forced. It’s not the fault of the actors involved in the series. It’s the terrible script that demands them to deliver shallow and over-the-top performances.

That Girl Lay Lay, as Lay Lay, is certainly a strong lead, but her dialogue and the way she is carrying herself don’t make her look cool at all, at least in the show.

One can notice a big difference between the Lay Lay portrayed in the show and the real-life Lay Lay that appears at the end of the episodes. Lay Lay’s character can become lovable if she is served a better script.

Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, as Sadie, plays a great supporting character that delivers what is demanded, but even her character is ruined by terrible dance sequences. One can’t even laugh at the dance moves given to her and take her seriously right after that.

Towards the end, the viewers can notice Lay Lay and Green getting comfortable with their characters. Once they do settle in, that’s when the magic works. Luckily, a few of the episodes do allow them to better themselves, especially in an episode where their characters switch places.

Elijah M. Cooper, as Cobo, and Archer Vattano, as Scoot, are two unsung heroes who, unlike most of the cast members, are natural with their roles. They make the most of their characters’ traits and have good comic timing.

Positives

That Girl Lay Lay is an easy-going show that, with its target audience being kids, doesn’t go deep with its plots. The story arcs in the second season are also plain, simple, and easy to understand.

The show also seems to have worked on itself during its run. The first half of the second season is barely watchable, but the second half is packed with more interesting stories and better performances.

Negative

That Girl Lay Lay will struggle to work if it continues to rely on the same old comedy routine many sitcoms, especially Disney and Nickelodeon sitcoms, have used for a very long time.

This routine involves a joke being thrown at a person, who initially denies the criticism and then admits it with a funnier claim. It’s a very basic sitcom routine that is backed with laughing tracks.

This routine can still work, but not if the show gives the same kind of jokes and comebacks to every other character. This comes to a point where you can guess what a particular character is going to say. You can even predict how they are going to react to every other dialogue.

The show doesn’t work on the emotional aspect either. The life lessons that are a part of the plots aren’t built well. Sometimes, it feels like these lessons are placed randomly in an episode.

Lastly, the final two episodes seem to have been placed in an incorrect order, and it might be a technical issue. These two episodes don’t feel like a finale at all. They are fillers. The eleventh episode, ‘The App Comes Back’, is more like a finale to the second season.

Verdict

That Girl Lay Lay is an unfunny, formulaic show, but it feels like the creators have tried to improve it by the end of the second season. If one can go through the first half, they will stay for the finale.

The show has the right target audience, and on rare occasions, it will give you a few laughs and hilarious sequences.

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Also Read: That Girl Lay Lay season 2 ending explained: Does Lay Lay get shut down?