The Other Two

The comedy has some of the smartest satirizations and possibly the firmest grasp of the zeitgeist of any TV show airing today. ... There is almost an entire episode of Cary’s audition attempts this season, and it is riveting. Given the opportunity, I’d watch another 30 minutes of it.

The second season balances the two siblings’ moments of genuine sentimentality with off-kilter humor, as they grapple with professional opportunities. Regardless of how successful Brooke and Cary are in these new endeavors, The Other Two season two is a resounding win for Kelly and Schneider.

All you really need to know about the second season is that it was absolutely worth the wait.

The many storylines work well, but the best joy of “The Other Two,” which is from former “Saturday Night Live” writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, continues to be the small but everpresent bits of satire.

The series is acutely keen satire with a pantomathic cultural IQ, dropping references to the most-online personalities (from Logan Paul to Tomi Lahren), the indignity of post-internet fame (“Burger King is ripping him apart,” Cary says, wincing, after Chase’s botched performance is lampooned by the brand on Twitter), and the strange composure of Generation Z amid all this absurdity.

The comedy is smart about its focus and targets. ... Comedy Central’s new show keeps itself timely by not relying on clichés to sell the absurdity of the situation. Instead, it relies on the wit of its writers to prove why this show, out of all shows, can handle it.

[In] fleeting moments, the series reveals qualities in Brooke and Cary which amount to more than mere generational punchlines. Mostly, though, The Other Two is determined to define the siblings by their age bracket, and amounts to yet another portrait of underachieving, navel-gazing ‘80s babies.