Girls5eva evolves in Season 2 without watering down its goofy humor and eccentric songs

The A.V. Club

"The plot of Girls5eva can seem like an extended 30 Rock gag: A ’90s one-hit-wonder girl group reunites decades later for another shot at fame," says Saloni Gajjar. "It’s a testament to series creator Meredith Scardino that she’s able to flesh out what is seemingly an elevator pitch and deliver a capital H hysterical musical-comedy. Girls5eva has a million-jokes-per-minute vibe that’s similar to Scardino’s work on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (and obviously co-producers Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s writing on 30 Rock). In fact, season one was so heavily dependent on that rapid-fire joke delivery that it sometimes neglected little things like meaningful character development. Thankfully, season two, avoiding any form of a sophomore slump, is a solid attempt to rectify this.

ALSO:

• Girls5eva is committed to telling jokes amid so many "post-haha" acclaimed comedies like Atlanta and Barry: "Under creator-showrunner Meredith Scardino (who previously worked on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with Tina Fey, an executive producer here), Girls5eva digs back into everything that made season one such an amusing watch," says Roxana Hadadi. "Per Fey’s brand, that means endless pop-culture references and digs, Jeff Richmond’s winking compositions, and an exploration of what it means to be a woman cresting 40, all delivered at a rapid-fire clip that makes each half-hour episode breeze by. Two of Girls5eva’s greatest strengths are its discipline regarding the sitcom format — compact drama on an episodic basis but slow transformation on a longer timeline — and its belief that comedies need jokes, and those undergird this successful second season."
• Girls5eva hasn't changes in all the best ways: "The sophomore season spends slightly less energy skewering the rank misogyny of the recent-ish past, perhaps because there are so many other shows to take up that mantle now," says Angie Han. "But it’s shrewd about the specific challenges and joys of life for women in their 40s. For example, in the 'joys' category: sweatpants that have become sheer in the back from so much time spent sitting on the couch watching Business Throne with your spouse."
• Though all of the Girls5eva women are fantastic, Renée Elise Goldsberry continues to be just one spectacularly big, bright, hilarious cut above: "Because that is, of course, Wickie," says Allison Keene. "But while Girls5eva does go big with its humor and takes its beats from sitcoms to a point, it also allows its characters to quietly grow—which is the real crux of Season 2. Finding new, adult roles for themselves in this girl group is part of that (along with the joy of success on their own terms), but it’s also about their growth as people. And yet, the show never makes that feel forced or lame; how could it, when the culmination of their efforts is the song 'Big Pussy Energy'? (B-P-E!)"
• Renée Elise Goldsberry reveals the most rewarding part of playing Wickie: "The freedom of letting so many bad instincts fly without having to swallow them," she says. "There’s a part of everybody that wants to push to be in the center of a picture. I very much enjoy letting Wickie be as big and as styled and as unapologetically ambitious as she is. Some of the differences in her personality are good for me."