Yesterday I finally broke down and signed up for a free trial of YouTube Red. I am an avid YouTube devotee - it's where all of my "shows" are located, as I really don't watch a lot of television shows or movies in my daily life. However, I had yet to break down and purchase a YouTube Red subscription because most of the content I wanted to watch was free.
However, because this week I finally have time to relax a little, I decided to binge watch Rhett & Link's "Buddy System" Season 2 (originally released last fall) yesterday, but it's only available if you subscribe to YouTube Red. And now that I binge watched it, I can say it was definitely worth it!
The series was a huge improvement over the first series (which I watched today), and absolutely hilarious. Full of charm, humour, and impressive production quality, I highly recommend it for anyone who's a fan of Rhett and Link or curious about the concept of a YouTube series in general (as a series made for streaming distribution/the Internet, rather than Netflix or Hulu). I felt like it was a mash-up of a lot of film-making elements that show a commercialised product made by professionals in the industry, but with an independent studio-small crew feel, which I really enjoyed.
In the first season, the basic concept was a dramatised version of Rhett and Link and their adventures as they try to recover Link's phone from their mutual high school ex-girlfriend who is an infomercial queen bent on taking over their YouTube channel. Although fun, the stakes felt rather shallow so it felt like a variety of high-jinks and sketches more than an in-depth, cohesive comedy show.
However, in the second season the basic concept was a lot better in terms of comedy, stakes, and cohesive narrative. It's set in an alternate universe where Rhett and Link don't become friends in first grade, and the crazy adventures that ensue. The tone of this series felt more developed as it riffed on jokes and props and actors from the original series, but re-worked in a fun way that totally took advantage of the "Alternate Universe" plot device. Not to mention that the production quality was elevated and each individual episode longer so story lines had time to properly develop. And they certainly weren't afraid to go into some crazy and ridiculous lengths that challenged gender roles and boundaries in the best way possible with their continual expansion of hilarious side characters.
I particularly loved the variety of material they were able to do in this series - even more music videos, different animation styles, better props, actors, and general elements. My favourite episodes were definitely "To Kill a Robot" (2x01), "Virtual Rhettality" (2x05), and "A Frontier Story" (2x06).
In the first episode, which is free, Rhett and Link do a great job at establishing their characters and concepts with an interesting cliff hanger - it also sets up the right tone wonderfully for the rest of the season. In short, a perfect season opener that is much more interesting than the first season.
In the fifth episode, Rhett and Link participate in a humourous love triangle with Link's friend Vanessa, in which they play the role of mother, son, and father (respectively) in the virtual world, while in the real world Link tries to have a "normal" (if not extremely comedic) romantic relationship with Vanessa. And in the sixth episode, Rhett and Link participate in a "flashback" episode set during the mid-1800s that explain the origin of nougat. It even includes a hilarious music video set in a parody style of the "Manifest Destiny" video of "Schoolhouse Rock".
Overall, this was definitely an enjoyable show that I would highly recommend. In particular, as someone who is interested in the extent that independent series productions can go on a shoe string budget, it was really inspirational and exciting to watch all the while chuckling throughout the series.
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