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As winter approaches, it’s best to slip into a pattern of seasonal depression and spend the bulk of your free time wearing sweatpants and surviving off of a questionable diet of frozen pizza and cookie butter ice cream. It’s only right to pay respects to the people that stoke the flames of my underachievement year after year. Thank you, Netflix, for providing me with new content; a semi-legitimate excuse more than sufficient to convince me to sit in front of my TV for ten hours without leaving my apartment last weekend. In all honesty, I fully planned on doing this anyways, but at least this way when my dad called concerned about my welfare, I didn’t have to shamefully explain why Gossip Girl keeps showing up on his recently watched queue.
I’m speaking of course of Aziz Ansari and Netflix’s new show, Master of None. It’s recent release has insured you will wholeheartedly embrace the winter, fuse with your couch, and actively destroy that summer body you earned this year through sleep deprivation. All jokes aside, this show rocks. If you have not seen it yet, close this tab and open Netflix. If you don’t have Netflix, reevaluate your terrible life and find a friend that does like the rest of us.
Master of None stars Aziz Ansari as Dev, a struggling actor in his early 30s living in New York. It features some of the more common elements of any sitcom: a love interest, recurring friends, and annoying parent relationships. Where the show separates itself is through its insights on millennial culture, ability to take on multi-sided issues, and lack of the usual predictable humor and absurdities we’ve grown accustomed to in modern sitcoms.
Master of None connects with the millennial audience on a deeper level due in part to its portrayal of the common struggles many of us face on a regular basis. Rather than simply brushing off these struggles as “first world problems,” Ansari dissects them and illustrates their legitimate nature. The show covers broad issues like the fear of monogamy, having children, and our generation’s hunger to accomplish something notable before it’s too late. It plays on the underlying humor of obsessing over finding the perfect Taco on Yelp, or sending the perfect first date text. Master of None even takes on deeper issues like the lesser discussed elements of gender disparity and racial stereotypes.
What Master of None omits is equally important to its success. While at times, the show has a tendency to feel a bit scripted, it does not rely on hack “broke millennial” humor that most comedies fall back on. Instead of watching Dev struggle to wait tables and make his rent, you watch him struggle with loneliness and finally unboxing the pasta maker that’s been sitting on top of his fridge for six months. While some scenes are a bit over the top, the show is free of absurdities like a mysteriously affordable sprawling New York City apartments, or a TV world inexplicably filled with beautiful people.
The show isn’t without its faults, but it’s off to a great start. Ansari delivers a well-rounded, funny program that encourages the viewer to make connections with their own lives. If you have ten hours to spare, which I’m sure most of you do (no offense), I highly encourage you to check it out. It’s either that or watch every episode of The Office for the fifth time through. I give Master of None 5 stars, but in all fairness, this should be taken with a grain of salt, as my last review was about a quesarito from Taco Bell. .
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Half hour eps = 5 hours, now there’s no excuse
The show was just okay. Enough to keep me watching, but bland and forgettable. It was cool he cast his real parents but they were awful and not funny
Yeah I liked it but it wasn’t as good as all the critics made it out to be.
Dev loves him some pasta.
I’ve already watched Master of None, only read this article to reaffirm my decision to have watched it.
I liked it, but I was expecting a lot better coming from Aziz. I think it could have used a little more nuance. It was just so obvious what agendas he’s trying to push in his episodes, and for the most part it was more depressing than it was funny.
It does try to hit hard on some quarter life crisis problems.
The asian friend’s acting nearly ruins the show for me. It’s so bad
Master of None is more or less a Millienial version of Louie. It’s made me laugh a lot more than I expected, but it doesn’t quite hit the emotional peaks that Louie does. I’m “only” about 6 episodes in, but I’ve enjoyed it so far and I can see myself tuning in for another season.
They really go out of their way to have such a diverse cast. And that’s something all millennials like.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show. 8 episodes in, does a great job being relatable.
Completely off topic but I’m looking to buy a leather weekender. Anyone have suggestions? Also I loved Master of None.
We’ve got, like, a million.
Will, we need forums.
I bought one of these a year ago, pretty good bag (sorry man outfitters)
https://www.combatgent.com/weekenderbag