Dan Goor and Luke Tredici are scathing in their criticism of the modern American rat race, which, to Craig’s point, does tend to reward those most willing to manipulate, cheat and harm others. But its heart ultimately lies with Jillian. This situation is worth freaking out about. And few current series are better, or funnier, at freaking out about it than this one. .... Laughs are rooted in observations sharp as diamonds, and almost as painful to swallow.

Killing It Season 2 is a vast improvement over its previous season and one of the strongest sophomore seasons in television this year. Its sharp satire on American capitalism is rounded out with a precise focus on character relationships and morality. It may have lost the snakes, but this underrated comedy found its fangs.

Season 2 makes noticeable improvements in tying everything closer together, but the series is still climbing toward its peak.

But if Killing It eases back a bit on the notion that we are all destined to be crushed into fine powder by capitalism’s boot heel, it becomes easier to laugh with in the process. The new season feels more inventive and weird in the many problems that befall Craig and the others. And it does even better work with guest stars this time around.

This isn’t one of those moody, barely-a-comedy dramedies; it’s gut-bustingly, grotesquely funny. It’s also well plotted for such a broad comedy, though at times it feels as if it were trying to shove too much story into eight episodes, two fewer than the first season.

While the pacing is still inconsistent, the second season of Killing It continues to mine the chemistry between Robinson and O’Doherty as well as how tough it is these days to come from nothing and achieve success.