by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Now, this is a story all about how
The Fresh Prince script flipped, turned upside down.
And I’d like to take a minute,
Just sit right there;
I’ll tell you how I’m still a fan of a show called Bel-Air!
Last year, Season One got my praise;
Jabari Banks as Will left me in a daze!
Can’t forget Jordan L. Jones as Jazz, all cool;
This season is his junior year of school.
Season Two, I have to admit, was really good.
Will is struggling to be understood,
And some of his relationships need to be repaired.
But he’s struggling to find his place in Bel-Air.
His cousins, Hillary, Carlton, and Ash, he loves dear,
With Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil keeping him in the clear.
Will’s making the most of his time there
On the basketball team at the academy Bel-Air.
School and his love life aren’t doing so great,
But we’ll talk more about that later.
Will stares at his kingdom;
He’s the one who’s still there,
Keeping his throne, the prince of Bel-Air.
Season Two of Bel-Air picks up not long after the events of Season One, when Will (Jabari Banks) defies the Banks family to reach out to someone from his past. After these events, he takes his time, trying to figure out the next steps. He’s in a sticky situation, so there’s a lot to sort through to see how he gets through to the other side.
Will’s storyline involves a few different plot points. The first is his place on Bel-Air Academy’s basketball team. His team is really good, and he’s easily the best player, but his coach wants to give more people opportunities to play. After hearing about a chance to stand out to a local AAU basketball coach named Doc (Brooklyn McLinn), Will attempts to get his attention by hustling people through street ball. Doc is a well known AAU coach with a bit of a shady backstory, but he knows how to train kids and get them recruited for college basketball. He also has a niece, Jackie (Jazlyn Martin), who he lives with.
This leads into the next part of Will’s story: the love triangle between him, Jackie, and Lisa (Simone Joy Jones), which I’m not a huge fan of. It’s an unnecessary way to create drama in Will’s life, even though he has a lot of other things going on. I like Jackie just fine, and she’s a little more relatable to Will’s situation than Lisa is, but she doesn’t get a ton of character development, and her motivations to be with Will don’t always appear to be pure. After what happened between Will and Lisa in Season One, I’m not sure why either of them would want to get back together. Lisa does her best to be WIll’s friend in need many times this season, but it felt like this could have waited until Season Three for Will’s senior year at Bel-Air Academy.
Will’s final storyline is far more interesting because it puts him in direct competition with his cousin Carlton (Olly Sholotan). They’ve had a tepid relationship, but the beginning of Season Two has them falling into a good groove together. It isn’t until a potential scholarship comes between them, as well as a protest involving an African-American teacher being fired (which also has a surprise guest cameo that I appreciated), that they’re pitted against each other, and it shows how they handle issues involving race and equality differently.
Season Two tries to balance everything that Will has going on, but it’s just too much, which is also the biggest issue with the season as a whole. Every character has at least two storylines, and there’s just not a lot of time for everything. With so much story, some characters get the short end of the stick. This season, there’s no room for Vy (April Parker Jones), not a lot of room for Ashley (Akira Akbar), and less time for Vivian (Cassandra Freeman). The one storyline that I’m interested in most going into Season Two is Ashley, since she’s going to be going to high school and potentially have a love interest.
Of the rest of the characters, Phil (Adrian Holmes) spends a large amount of Season Two apologizing for things that happen in Season One. His career has a prominent storyline this season, including some drama from his past that I was not a fan of. Hilary (Coco Jones) has issues with her influencer house, and has to balance her love life. Geoffrey (Jimmy Akingbola) has family issues, and his past may be catching up to him. I’m interested in this storyline because I really like this version of Geoffrey. He’s not a butler, but a family partner with a checkered past.
Despite Bel-Air Season Two being overstuffed, it’s still a great family story and expertly performed by a wildly talented cast. Since there are so many storylines, at least everyone has something to do, and everything is set up for Season Three. Carlton and Will’s senior year is going to be interesting, especially after what happened in the season finale. Banks continues to prove that he’s a worthy heir to the Bel-Air crown, and the close-knit Banks family crew, despite all the drama, are a force to be reckoned with. Bel-Air is among the top shows on Peacock, its sophomore season is tremendous, and it introduces a great future.
Score: 8/10
Bel Air is currently streaming on Peacock
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Twitter, Letterboxd, and Serializd