Extraordinary: TV’s Best-Kept Superhero Secret Is Even Better in Season 2

Hulu’s offbeat superhero comedy Extraordinary is the best show you probably aren’t watching. The British import, which mixes frequently raunchy humor with complex character development and a nuanced exploration of the challenges of young adulthood, is hilarious, painfully honest, and genuinely heartfelt by turns. But, and perhaps most importantly, it never forgets that the promise of extraordinary abilities isn’t the real reason superhero stories are so compelling, and behaves accordingly. In this world, special abilities matter only in so far as they tell us something important about the characters who have them—or don’t, in this case—and it’s those all-too-human stories that make this series shine. 

Set in a world where everyone gains a superpower when they turn 18, the story follows Jen Regan (Máiréad Tyers), a twenty-something underachiever who has yet to manifest any sort of special ability at all. Frustrated and embarrassed by this very obvious lack, Jen spends most of the series’ first season trying to find a way to afford a visit to a special clinic meant to help those struggling to access their abilities. In its second, Jen begins treatment at the Discovery center, determined to get the superpower she’s craved for so long. But, unsurprisingly, Jen’s Season 2 journey has much more to do with her emotional growth than any potential power she might or might not possess by the end of it. And, as a result, Extraordinary is better than ever in its second season, as a relatable, genuinely charming exploration of the challenges and triumphs of young adulthood that confidently expands both its world and our understanding of its characters in complex and unexpected ways. 

Season 2 essentially takes everything that’s great about Extraordinary’s first season and turns it up a notch, using our established knowledge of its characters to deepen relationships, broaden our understanding of the world they live in, and provide context to what can often seem like ridiculous or self-destructive choices. The series feels broader and richer than ever before, from its more nuanced emotional stakes to the sheer number of supporting characters onscreen. 

As Season 2 begins, Jen embarks on her treatment plan at the powers clinic and it’s essentially an extensive therapy session. Her new coach George (Julian Barrett) helps her journey into her mind (literally) to try and suss out the various emotional roadblocks that could be preventing her abilities from coming to the surface. Looking like nothing so much as a library by way of Hoarders, the volumes of Jen’s psyche contain everything from extensive recountings of the lies she’s told to the many and varied things that scare her (intimacy, snakes erupting from the toilet while she’s using it) and her complicated feelings about her dad’s death. 

As she attempts to work through her various personal issues, Jen must also navigate the complexities of her new romantic relationship with former-cat-turned-roommate-now-boyfriend Jizzlord (Luke Rollason). Figuring out how to date someone who’s still remembering what life as a human is like is difficult enough on its own, but the revelation that, in his former life, he also had a wife and child he doesn’t remember adds another, even more challenging layer to their still developing bond. It probably doesn’t surprise anyone that potential step-motherhood wasn’t exactly on Jen’s bingo card for things she wanted to accomplish in her twenties, though, to her credit, she does make an effort for young Alfie. She also becomes competitively obsessed with Nora (Rosa Robson), Jizzlord’s telepathic ex, who seems to have her life together in all the ways that Jen herself does not. 

While Jen’s squad of friends played an important role in the series’ first season, they largely served as extensions of her story and most of their arcs were connected to their various roles in her life. But in Season 2, the show leans even further into its ensemble feel, giving each of its major supporting players significant arcs of their own and the opportunity for genuine growth on their own terms. The break-up between Jen’s BFF Carrie (Sofia Oxenham) and her boyfriend Kash (Balil Hasna) sees both players working to figure out who they are without the other, and how to co-exist as roommates rather than lovers. 

For Carrie, this means channeling a variety of dead people to advise her on how to be an independent woman—Oxenham has never been better and that’s saying a lot—while Kash tries to do responsible things like get a job and contribute to the household finances. Awkward negotiations between the two about everything from dating other people to the establishment of new roommate rules are both funny and painfully realistic, yet Extraordinary smartly never makes either character into the proverbial bad guy in their relationship. Sometimes, love doesn’t last forever, but that doesn’t mean your story with one another is over, and the show deftly shifts Kash and Carrie’s relationship into new territory that allows both to change and evolve on their own terms. 

But it is Jizzlord who undergoes the most satisfying individual journey in Extraordinary’s second season. In the series’ first outing, the fact of his existence—his amnesia, his awkward misunderstandings of basic human interpersonal skills, his ability to turn into a cat—is largely played for laughs. In Season 2, Jizzlord becomes a fully realized character in his own right as he’s forced to confront the man he once was and the life he used to live, all while questioning whether this new version of himself is ready for things like fatherhood, a genuine relationship, or basic adult responsibilities. And Rollason, whose performance was a Season 1 highlight, absolutely makes the most of the meatier material he’s given. And it is Jizzlord’s romance with Jen (which, let’s be real, should not work at all) that ultimately becomes one of the key emotional linchpins around which the rest of the series turns.

But while the eight-episode second season (all of which were available for review) displays plenty of signs of growth and maturity, narratively speaking, don’t worry—Extraordinary’s trademark brash humor remains as offbeat, raunchy, and genuinely funny as ever. Dirty-mouthed and generally dirty-minded, the show’s painful honesty often lends even its most juvenile jokes a sharp and biting edge, and its tendency to undercut even the most ridiculous moments with unexpected pathos is disarmingly effective. But Extraordinary’s greatest superpower remains what it has always been: its heart. And in a pop culture landscape full of paint-by-numbers superhero stories, that actually counts for a whole lot. 

Extraordinary Season 2 premieres March 6th on Hulu.

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB.

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