Critic Reviews

Between the thoughtfulness with which the series tells the story of Wrexham’s everyday supporters, the light touch it takes when incorporating the club’s players and staff, and the winking ribbing it weaves through all the “Ryan and Rob” bits as an exercise to keep them from coming off as too self-serious or driven by ego, Welcome to Wrexham has set itself up to turn in one of the more engaging, down-to-earth, funny sports stories in recent memory.

It probably helps to be a sports fan and it probably helps to like the two protagonists in the first place, but it’s also true that none of that is necessary. When the adornments are stripped, only the telling of the story remains, and I’m not sure there’s another show out there, fiction or non, that tells it better.

The beauty is, it works wonderfully. ... There’s nothing cynical about the show, but nor is this a gawpy real-life Ted Lasso with clockwork tearjerker scenes. And somehow, this direct, honest approach makes the whole production more affecting than it might otherwise be.

The resulting first season of this docuseries does not disappoint. Even if you know nothing about soccer or British club sport, if you like a good underdog story, this one will play its way right into your heart.

In short, Welcome to Wrexham remains a brilliant watch, and the remarkable story of what McElhenney and Reynolds have done with the club hasn’t lost any of its luster. There are pitfalls galore here, but they sidestep them with great artistic agility, and the allure of this strange, compelling experiment resonates more than ever before.

The result is one of the most fascinating, endearing, sometimes hilarious and eminently watchable docuseries of the year.

The overall vibe, though, is fun, with the show doing an excellent job explaining the frustratingly complex English league system with zippy diagrams and pithy U.S.-to-U.K.-to-Welsh translations here and there.

Season 2 of Welcome to Wrexham has lost none of its heart and continues to embrace what made it so great in the first place: authenticity and highlighting the community and people of Wrexham.

“Welcome to Wrexham” smartly doesn’t spend all of its time focusing on the starry duo; McElhenney and Reynolds are only part of this winning documentary series that shines brightest when the people of Wrexham take the spotlight.

There are a lot of elements that make Welcome To Wrexham a fascinating watch, namely how two Hollywood superstars are going to come into a small Welsh town and try to turn around its football team without making like they’re saviors.