It seems that after struggling to do anything with the new status quo that it put in place at the start of the season, FUBAR has just given up the ghost trying to think of original ways to write its way out of narrative restrictions it put on itself and simply just go back to doing exactly what it did throughout its first season. There are pros and cons to this of course and the main one that stands out to me is a worrying precedent that no matter what varied concepts the writers will come up with (assuming they come up with any at all), the show will simply just revert back exactly to type anyway. This of course means that FUBAR has dammed itself into ultimately either becoming predictable or nothing it does will ever stick in the long term.
This seems like quite a stern and gloomy way to start a review about the goofiest spy show on television right now, so I guess I’d better chuck out some pros – but first a quick episode synopsis…
When last we left Luke Brunner’s gaggle of dysfunctional spies and wayward family members, they were straining to thwart Luke’s old flame from dropping a satellite on one of the four power plants needed to shut down America for good. However, things being what they are, both Luke and his daughter Emma are stuck in a tank at a nearby Space Force Base while they have a stand off with Anerican soldiers and Barry has found himself strapped in a space shuttle being remotely controlled by Aldon and Roo as it rockets out of the earth’s atmosphere.
The plan is to use the shuttle to nudge the satellite off course, but their calculations have to be strictly bang on or disaster will occur in any number of ways – however, suspiciously, Tina comes to the rescue with altered calculations that she couldn’t possibly know which finally gives the team the lead they need to take her in. However, it wouldn’t be FUBAR if her arrest was simple and while Tina and Barry celebrate his safe return with some amorous Thor/Wonder Woman cosplay (don’t ask), Emma and Luke come barging in and arrest her after a brawl.
With Tina’s arrest as a Russian mole out of the way and a computer virus taking out the power plant that was just saved, the CIA brass suddenly turn their attention to Barry to make sure he’s clean, but while Roo sits in to advise the distraught tech guy, other issues plague the group. Getting info from recently freed weapons dealer the Dane, Luke and Emma find themselves in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean trying to halt Greta’s next power plant assault. Meanwhile, Aldon, Carter, Chips and Hamsteak race to stop a homesick Tally going to her Granddaughter’s birthday as it will probably bring assassins out of hiding – but in true FUBAR tradition, all three threads are going to get a lot worse before they get better…
Thankfully, one thing that does seem to be getting better is FUBAR itself as it’s managed to pull itself up by it’s gunbelt and got back on track as an extremely disposable action farce. I said this in my last review, but I’m fully aware that three stars for such unoriginal, goofy rambling is a bit generous, but I truly believe that by this point I’m not rating FUBAR compared to other shows such as The Last Of Us, Stranger Things or whatever Marvel show Disney+ is putting out this week; I’m rating it solely against itself. Sure, that might not make a whole lot of sense and the fact that the show has resorted back to being virtually identical to season 1 surely can’t be considered a win in the storytelling column, but for all it’s issues, at least the damn thing is back to being watchable for the most part.
Strangely enough for a show that seems to be entirely hinged on Schwarzenegger’s glittering movie career (cue James Cameron jokes this episode), the character I’ve most been impressed by this season is Melissa Barbaro’s Emma who, alongside her turn in Top Gun: Maverick, is building up some considerable action chops herself. Convincing either throwing hands or throwing down moves on a dance floor, this episode gives her perhaps her most prestigious honor yet – sitting in a tank with Arnie while smoking one of his giant cigars. It’s the sort of deranged daddy/daughter image the show should be running on and later on, Barbaro gets to do her thing even harder when, after giving chase to a cosplaying Tina, she gets into a spirited fight in a playground as she takes her former team mate down by choking her out with the chain of a swing as horrified kids look on. Chomping a cigar with the Austrian Oak and then putting the beat down on Wonder Woman? Talk about making a statement.
Elsewhere we find FUBAR continuing to play its “greatest” hits by bringing back Adam Pally’s Dane much like it did with Tom Arnold’s Norm last episode. While he doesn’t have much to do except apologise for his good natured Canadian wife’s imperceptible outbursts (a legitimately neat running joke) and riding shotgun in a submersible, Pally’s always kinda fun to be around. It’s also a good thing that thr show has finally pulled the trigger on Tina being a double agent as it truly felt like a subplot that was seriously going nowhere. But better yet, it gives Barry to something to play with after the show belatedly only brought him off the bench last episode and repaid him by blasting him off into space. Hell, even Tally and Carter look like they’re both dangerously close to actually having something to do after the former breaks the perimeter and storms out to celebrate her grandkids birthday. Of course, while I don’t really care that much about Tally, it finally gives the show the excuse to team up all three of Emma’s suitors in the form of ex-fiance Carter, fellow agent Aldon and lunatic henchman, Chips in a group that should have been exploited ages ago.
Not only is FUBAR season 2 setting up the storylines it should have been cultivating from the start, it’s humour seems to be getting a little sharper too with the description of the down-and-out Donnie as looking like a late stage Saddam Hussain being particularly on point. Of course the action is still a frenzied mass of overlit CGI and overly convenient exposition and even though thecshow is supposed to be bright and campy, I’m amazed some of the characters can barely move with all the plot armour they’re swaddled with.
Of course, complaining about plot armour midway through the second season of a show that’s positively reveled in it is fairly childish and you can literally see how the main plot is going to unfold like a turbo powered clairvoyant (want to bet the entire season hinges on the last of the four power plants), but the fact that I’m actually starting to vibe with the show after such a spotty start has to count for something, right?
Maybe FUBAR stands for Finally Understands Bellylaughs Are Required.
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