I’d had another David Tennant project ready to review, but series 2 of Staged just arrived on Hulu, so we’re swinging back around to that show. The premiere is pretty wild, and I don’t quite know what to expect going forward! (Season premise spoilers.)
We open on David and Michael appearing virtually on a chat show, promoting, not their play, but their TV show Staged. The series has been well-received, and the public is eager for more. Even as David and Michael make preparations for more of a return to “normal” life, they weigh the pros and cons of either making a second season or starring in an American remake.
As you can see, we’ve gone through the looking glass, meta-wise. I had a good handle on a TV show about David Tennant and Michael Sheen playing fictionalized versions of themselves rehearsing for a play during lockdown, but now that the same TV show is about (still-fictionalized) David Tennant and Michael Sheen making a TV show about playing fictionalized versions of themselves rehearsing for a play during lockdown? Boy howdy! I can’t promise that I’ll be able to keep track of how many layers of fiction we’re sifting through here, but I definitely know I’m going to have a good time.
Despite the shift in focus, it’s still the same old Staged in many ways. This episode continues the show’s tradition of neatly capturing These Times in Which We Live, but we’re further down the line now, so we’re looking at a new aggravation of quarantine: thinking “normalcy” is on the horizon, only to have it be snatched away. As Michael and David separately, cheerfully, make travel plans, you can practically hear the “ruh-roh!” in the background. We’re also treated to a couple of choice guest stars, who I won’t spoil here, but both are a lot of fun.
The humor is up to its usual tricks, albeit even more meta. It’s weird but entertaining to watch the “real” David and Michael talking about the show in an interview, playing up their “characters” in their banter, while of course their actual back-and-forths with one another over Zoom are 100% really like that. They’re still neurotic and insecure, they still vacillate between ribbing each other mercilessly and shooting the breeze over absolutely nothing, and they’re still somehow kinda-sorta over each other while at the same time maintaining an “us against the world” dynamic. Here, they discuss the merits of America (Michael’s American-accent repertoire includes “both Dakotas,”) speculate as to their level of international fame, and agonize over the phrase “half-hour Celtic reach-around.”
Even though I wish our real-world circumstances didn’t so easily lend themselves to a second season of Staged, I do appreciate having it, since we’re stuck here anyway. It’s just a nice way to spend half an hour, and Tennant is as delightful as ever spitballing with Sheen. In this episode, I especially love David insecurely worrying over whether or not he’s funny, and there’s a really fun tag at the end of him and Michael doing their best Dramatic Voiceover Guy voices.
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