Corporate

The anxiety that marks the show is here channeled toward embracing the way weirdness and stupidity seem to blanket the realities of corporate life. In finding new ways to torque these office mainstays, “Corporate” has given the rest of the Hampton DeVille team plenty of ways to transform some of that simmering rage of previous seasons into a kind of office-centered goofiness. Lance Reddick remains an episode-to-episode comedic powderkeg.

Corporate spreads its story wide enough to ensure that one character doesn’t dominate. Even though they’re all cogs in the machine to an extent, there’s just enough distinction between each of their anxieties and misgivings that it makes for a richer tapestry of dread.

Like "Silicon Valley" does in its best episodes, this is a show that acknowledges the noxious nature of office ecosystems and success ladders, and the pointlessness of working oneself out of actually living. Desk jockeys don't watch "Corporate" to soothe themselves. They do it to validate the suspicion that they're not crazy.

New episodes that match Season 1’s gonzo greatness chronicle the executive team’s efforts to invent a lucrative addiction (makeup for men) and introduce a cowgirl billionaire (Kyra Sedgwick in the guest appearance of a lifetime) who’s equal parts Ted Turner, Dolly Parton and Annie Oakley. Pessimistic takes on technology, media, identity politics, the environment and the quest for personal fulfillment are baked into each of these profit-driven nightmares.

Darkly funny and clever in its skewering of the modern workplace, Corporate offers a welcome release valve for any corporate drones who tune in.

Corporate isn't exactly escapist and with real world headlines of workplace harassment and assault, it's a lot of talk and only a little substance. Still, there's plenty of potential to build on here.

[Corporate] doesn’t do anything new for the genre, really, as it satirizes blowhards in meetings and the bells and whistles of PowerPoint. But it’s funny in an uncompromisingly nihilistic way, it never resolves into artificial sweetness, and the ensemble seems to be having a great time.