Since the first episode of Netflix’s “Master of None” was released on Nov. 6, 2015, the show has already won or been nominated for countless awards. At first, the show seemed like something I wasn’t sure I could get into, and I’ll admit for a long time I had it hovering on my Netflix dashboard, as if it was waiting for me to give it a chance. I eventually did watch because, I’m sorry, I love “Parks & Recreation” as much as the next guy, but there are only so many times I can rewatch the show.
If you enjoyed Aziz Ansari’s character in “Parks & Recreation,” this shouldn’t be too hard for you to get into. At some point between the first and second episodes of “Master of None,” I somehow came up with this crazy theory that Dev Shah is really Tom Haverford, but with a new backstory which he’s used to fit into New York, to replace his Midwest persona.
But I digress, that theory is for another time.
The thing about Dev is that you start to think he’s going to stay this fun bachelor-type character in New York, but as you get further and further into even the first season, you realize the show is turning into so much more than that. Even by the end of the first episode alone, he’s realizing how late into his prime he is, and he finds he wants to settle down like any normal 30 year old—something I’m sure anyone going into their 30s anywhere is thinking about.
Eventually the show starts getting into more real-life situations. Obviously dramatized a bit for the sake of entertainment in some cases, but nevertheless, most of the characters are realistic in what they’re meant to teach. The show is about a man’s youth in essence, but has a fun, easy-going vibe so that the viewer can simply have fun watching the show.
In one episode, Dev and one of his friends, Brian, played by Kelvin Yu, are being ungrateful to their parents. The show uses flashbacks to introduce both of their parents’ lives. We see their transitions as immigrants into New York and are shown what they have been missing out on. It definitely represents a typical day of a lot of Americans, and a lot of people can relate to that portion of the episode. Another episode uses flashbacks of previous holidays Dev spends with his friend Denise, played by Condola Rashad, showing her struggle with coming out to her family, and her success in showing them how she is still who they have come to know her as, just with a preference in girls over guys.
I’m still waiting for Nov. 2018 to roll around because I am hoping they return for a third season, especially because of the evil cliffhanger that ended season two. It was perfect for some fanfiction writer out there somewhere, but I just can’t keep daydreaming on what that ending really meant. It still irks me when I remember there isn’t another episode to watch after season two, as I’d been spending all of my nights watching the show instead of sleeping.
For as much as I’m dying for the show to continue so I can keep watching, I do give Ansari kudos on being honest that there might not be one for this reason. What we do should be because we’re passionate about it, not because it’s something that brings in money and has thus become a chore. In an interview for Hollywood Reporter, he says on the idea of there being a third season, “I’d rather we not end it here… It’s just not about buying into the machine of cranking stuff out because you have to, or making stuff out of obligation and for the wrong reasons.”
So, yes, there is clearly still hope yet. But in the meantime, I’ll stick to my daydreaming while I wait for that beautiful Netflix notification to appear on my phone.