Critics Weigh In on 'The Four Seasons' Season 2: Mixed Reactions to Netflix's Latest Episodes

'The Four Seasons' has returned to Netflix. The acclaimed series dropped its second season on Thursday, May 28, with all eight installments ready for immediate viewing.

The new season follows the core ensemble—Kate (Tina Fey), Jack (Will Forte), Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), Danny (Colman Domingo), Claude (Marco Calvani), and Ginny (Erika Henningsen)—as they navigate life after a difficult year. The group maintains their cherished vacation tradition, this time venturing from the Jersey shore and upstate New York to Italy, where they're joined by a new addition to their circle. The season explores themes of grief, loss, and moving forward as personal vulnerabilities emerge and the friends process the death of a beloved member of their group.

The critical response to Season 2 has been decidedly mixed, with reviewers highlighting both the strengths and shortcomings of the new episodes.

Collider awarded the season a 6 out of 10, noting that while uneven, it benefits from "the cast's chemistry and its exploration of grief, depression, and moving forward."

Screen Rant gave it a 7 out of 10, calling it "refreshing in unexpected ways, reinventing itself after a major loss."

The Daily Beast praised it as "a TV winner about, and for, grown-ups of an older (if not yet over-the-hill) age."

The Guardian offered its highest marks with a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, describing "a dark and difficult world in which good men smash up vintage snack shacks, regrets must be lived with, sacrifices made, childhood traumas kept buried, and people who love each other want completely different things."

IndieWire gave the season a C grade, observing that "The Four Seasons is broaching the darker territory it typically only feigns toward. But it doesn't last. The series is built to sustain those conversations, but it doesn't evolve enough to allow space for them to land."

The AV Club assigned a B rating, writing that "Buying into The Four Seasons' second season requires forgoing logic; expect the more dramatic scenes to sap some of the show's charms. There are enough one-liners in Fey's characteristically scathing style to keep the ship afloat, but in this case, it's mainly the banter between the core ensemble that makes the journey(s) worth it."

RogerEbert.com highlighted the cast's appeal, stating: "We can laugh at the vagaries of getting older without positing that they're the only thing there is. And getting to do that with Kenney-Silver, Fey, and Domingo is a real joy, delivering on the promise of this series in its second outing. Some things really do get better with age."

Variety noted that while "the acting remains solid," the season lacks the charm of its predecessor outside of specific episodes, writing that "aside from the summer and winter episodes, Season 2 simply doesn't have the whimsy of its predecessor."

USA Today commended the show's approach to its subject matter: "There are few series on TV that deal with this period of adulthood—not quite young, not quite old—with such nuance."