Special's final season is better off since it's "freed of the higher concept that defined the first season"

Variety

The second and final season of Ryan O'Connell's Netflix comedy gets to be what it wants to be: "a hangout show starring a gay man with a disability living his life as a gay man with a disability," says Caroline Framke. "Freed of the higher concept that defined the first season, the second season of Special is exactly that show, and all the better for it," says Framke. "or as many thousands of TV shows are there seem to be these days, selling a TV show is still and always a game of connections, luck and a buzzy enough hook to keep a room of suits interested. If you can’t sum up a show in a single smart sentence — bonus points if it ends with a twist — then it probably doesn’t stand a chance of making it all the way to the screen. Sometimes, a show will have such a solid idea of where it’s going that it never has to deviate too far from its initial path. More often, though, shows start shedding the premise that once defined them so they can settle into their own developing voices. This holds especially true for comedies, which can live and die by the elusive magic of cast chemistry. It was frustrating to watch and enjoy the first season of Special and realize that it only barely had enough time to untangle its own premise, because by the end of it, its characters were more than smart and defined enough to carry the show on their own."