Master of None 2.10

Buona Notte

Dev and Francesca discuss his feelings for her and her feelings in general. They dance. Dev tries kissing Francesca. She isn't ready for that and still isn't sure what she wants.

Dev's new show with Chef Jeff is getting ready to debut. Dev starts to hear stories about Chef Jeff, stories that he sexually harasses women who work for him. He first hears about it second hand but then he hears a story first hand from Lisa, who used to do make up on Clash of the Cupcakes.

Dev and Jeff go on Raven Live to promote their show. While they are on the show a story starts trending on the internet about several women who have come out accusing Chef Jeff of sexual harassment. Dev tries to distance himself from Jeff. Jeff and Dev get into an argument about the claims when Dev balks at backing up Jeff.

Dev and Francesca talk again, in person. He still doesn't understand why she isn't in love with him. He questions her spending so much time with him and not liking him enough to leave Pino. She tries to explain but she is still conflicted about her feelings. Dev says some things that hurt and she leaves.

Dev runs into Rachel on the street. She is with a bunch of friends. Dev and Rachel share a moment but it isn't a very long moment.

I am a bit puzzled about the very ending. It looks like Francesca leaves Pino or is that just a dream? I'm disappointed by this ending. It leaves me unclear as to what happened. It seems very open ended. I do not approve. I think Dev needs to get over Francesca. His expectations were unrealistic. He needs to grow up.

Not a bad episode but not a favorite either.

Master of None 2.09

Amarsi Un Po

Francesca returns to New York, with Pino, her fiance. Pino is busy doing business in NYC and elsewhere. Francesca and Dev end up hanging together quite a bit. Dev still has a thing for Francesca. She seems to be having doubts about getting married to Pino. She and Dev dance around the issue. Eventually Dev comes out and says he's falling for her but it takes a while to get to that point. Francesca isn't sure how to respond.

This is a long episode, the longest of the series to date. It is 57 minutes. Second place in the running time competition is 36 minutes. That's a huge difference. I wasn't sure when I started watching it. It grew on me as the episode unfolded. I think what I liked is that the episode doesn't take the easy way out. It doesn't opt for a trite ending.

I thought it was quite impressive the way the story was drawn out. It was painful to watch. It hurt me to see what Dev was going through. I can't see myself watching it again but that's not because it isn't a good episode. It isn't my favorite episode but it is a very well assembled piece of art.

It would be nice if there was more to Francesca. She is caught between Dev and Pino but there doesn't seem to be much to her life on screen other than her relationships with them.

Master of None 2.08

Thanksgiving

Dev and Denise have been friends since they were little. Every Thanksgiving Dev has dinner with Denise, her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother. The story of this episode is told over the course of more than 20 years. It begins in 1992. The exact year is an educated guess based on the fact that Im Cool Like Dat by Digable Planets plays over the opening credits. All subsequent years (1995, 1999, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2017) are clearly labeled.

Denise comes out to her mother about halfway through the episode, in 2006, 7 years after she came out to Dev. She brings her first date to Thanksgiving in 2015. It is a very awkward meal. Denise's relatives aren't ready to see her in the company of another woman. She brings a different date in 2016, whom no one likes, except Denise. Even Dev has problems with her date that year. The next year she is back with Michelle, her date from 2015, and it goes much better.

Catherine, Denise's mother, is played by Angela Bassett. In 1995, Catherine makes reference to the fact that Denise and Dev are 12. Starting in 2006, Dev and Denise are played by the same actors that play them in the present.

I like this episode. It isn't my favorite of the season but it seemed more down to earth and to my liking that most of the episodes that focus primarily on Dev, his insecurities, and his life. I even watched it twice. If not my absolute favorite then at the very least it is up there with 2.04 (First Date) and 2.06 (New York, I Love You) as my favorites of this season, so far.

Master of None 2.07

Door #3

Chef Jeff offers a long-term contract on Clash of the Cupcakes. Dev doesn't want to sign a long-term contract. He pitches a couple other ideas to Chef Jeff in the hopes that he can continue to work with him. Dev wonders if he is doing the right thing in turning down the long-term contract. He visits his father, who thinks he is making a big mistake.

Other things happen: Brian's father is dating two women. Dev has to give a pep talk to the Magnificent Kenny (Cedric the Entertainer), a celebrity judge on Clash of the Cupcakes. Dev finds out that Francesca is engaged.

I laughed several times during this episode but it felt a little disjointed. The part with Brian's father didn't seem to intersect with Dev's part of the episode at all.

Master of None 2.06

New York, I Love You

Dev, Denise, and Arnold are excited to see Death Castle the new movie starring Nicholas Cage, Emma Watson, and Tyrese Gibson. This episode isn't about them or the movie. As they walk past a building the story suddenly shifts and follows Eddie, a doorman. For the next 10 minutes the episode is all about Eddie as he deals with tenants and tries to juggle a thousand different tasks and keep everyone happy. Eddie's story ends as the camera follows someone else out the building and into a bodega.

At this point the focus shifts to Maya, who works in the Bodega. She is deaf and this entire portion of the episode is done silently. When she is trying to communicate with someone who doesn't know American Sign Language (ASL), there are no subtitles. Later when she is talking to others who do know ASL there are subtitles. She argues with a friend who bought the same jacket as her. She argues with Barry, her boyfriend, who isn't giving her what she needs. This segment ends when Maya and Barry get into a cab. At that point the focus shifts to Samuel, the driver of the next cab to come along.

Samuel lives with 3 or 4 other guys. They are all from an African nation. They speak French when they are talking among themselves. They go out for a night on the town. They can't get into the club they want to go to because they don't have the right look or have women with them. They get lured to another club which is dead and where a bottle of vodka will cost them $800. They hang with some women at Lucky's, a fast food joint, before heading to the movies with the women to see Death Castle. The camera pans around the theater and everyone is there: Dev, Denise, Arnold, Eddie, Maya, Barry, and Samuel.

I remember hearing about this episode before. I didn't remember too much about it other than (a) that it was one of the better episodes and (b) that it highlighted the lives of a few ordinary New Yorkers. I think this one lived up to the hype. There was only one moment that made laugh out loud but I was more than ready for a Dev-light episode.

Master of None 2.05

The Dinner Party

Dev goes out to dinner with Jeff (Bobby Cannavale), a famous chef who is also one of the producers of the show he hosts. He also goes out with Priya, one of the women he went on a date with in 2.04 (First Date). Everything goes great with Jeff, not so much with Priya. Chef Jeff invites Dev to a dinner party. He doesn't want to take Priya so he ends up taking Francesca who is in town with her boyfriend. She was last seen in 2.02 (Le Nozze) when Dev was living in Italy.

John Legend makes a brief appearance. He is one of the guests at the dinner party. He plays himself and sings a song.

Arnold and Brian come to visit Dev on the set of Clash of the Cupcakes. They want to meet the Jabbawockeez who are there to make a guest appearance on CotC.

The episode ends on a down note. He has fun at the dinner party with Francesca but she already has a boyfriend. Dev is smart enough not to try anything stupid but I definitely got the sense that he didn't want the night to end when it did or the way it did.

Not too bad but not my favorite episode. There was a definite lack of humor. I laughed a couple times but for the most part this one went for the heart rather than the funny bone.

Master of None 2.04

First Date

Dev goes on several first dates. None of them end well. The episode is put together as if it is about one first date but it keeps jumping from one first date to another. They meet at a restaurant, walk along the street, hang out at a club, and ride home in a cab together. Some of the women are shown in more than one setting, some are not, some are shown in all of them.

There weren't too many laugh out loud, funny moments but there were lots of moments that I felt I could relate to, even if I haven't been on a first date in years. I'm tempted to go on IMDB to see if any of the women show up in future episodes but I would rather wait and find out in the normal course of events. By far the best episode of the season up to this point.

Master of None 2.03

Religion

Dev's aunt, uncle, and cousin are visiting during Eid. Dev pretends to still be religious to please his parents. He pretends until he decides it is time to tell the truth and order a dish with pork in it.

This episode was a little too on the nose. It lacked in nuance. There really wasn't anything to the episode other than the issue of religion.

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian but I was a bit disturbed by the way that eating pork was presented in this episode. It was almost like a fetish. It also made me a bit sick seeing how much Dev and Navid ate at the barbecue.

Master of None 2.02

Le Nozze

Arnold visits Dev in Italy. They go to a wedding. The bride is Arnold's ex-girlfriend. They were together for 11 years. Arnold loses his cool when he sees that the groom looks a lot like him. The episode ends with Dev returning to New York and getting a job as the host of cupcake battle TV show.

The bride was played by Ciara Renée who I last saw on the first season of Legends of Tomorrow playing Hawkwoman.

The title of the episode (according to IMDB) is a reference to an Italian movie, La Notte (1961).

Not a bad episode. There was some beautiful shots of towns and the countryside but the story itself didn't do a lot for me. The best moments were with Arnold when he was trying to work through his anger over his ex-girlfriend and her new boo.

Master of None 2.01

The Thief

Dev is studying in Modena, Italy. He is learning to make pasta. He meets Sara, a British woman, at an exclusive restaurant on his birthday. They are both there alone. She had a reservation but she arrived on the wrong day. He offers to share his table with her. They have a great time together. She invites him to come visit her.

Dev’s phone gets stolen as he is waving goodbye to Sara. He chases the thief but is unable to catch him. He doesn’t know how to contact Sara without the phone.

This episode has some nice touches to it. I liked the team of Dev and the young boy. I think that Sara will be back even though Dev doesn't seem to have anyway to find her at this point. The entire episode was filmed in black-and-white. There is a lot of subtitled Italian dialogue in this episode. It’s unclear if the whole season will be presented in this manner. I doubt that it will but I think it worked this time around.

Master of None 1.10

Finale

Dev starts having second thoughts about his life with Rachel after they go to a wedding. He tries to keep it from her but he can't and once they start talking about it things go from bad to worse. It probably didn't help that he was cut from the final cut of the movie he was supposed to be in, The Sickening. Rachel is affected by Dev's insecurity and decides to move to Tokyo. Dev decides a change is in order for himself and decides to move to Italy, to learn how to make pasta.

The way the end is played it looks like they were trying to make it look like Dev was catching a flight to Tokyo. I knew that the second season is set in Italy so I guess that part of the season finale was ruined for me.

On the whole this is not my favorite episode or series. I think I've mentioned this more than once but I'm not a big fan of Dev. He seems a little too caught up in pursuits that make me roll my eyes. In this episode he spent 45 minutes trying to decide where to eat because he wanted to make sure it was the best taco place. I had no sympathy for him when the food truck he selected was out of food by the time he got there.

When this show is good it isn't so much the main character that made it good as much as it was the scenario or situation he is dropped into. I don't think I will be watching the second season of this show. Like Rachel I think it is time for me to move on.

Master of None 1.09

Mornings

This episode is almost entirely Dev and Rachel. It all takes place inside their apartment over a period of about a year. They go from sleeping together to moving in together. They go from idyllically happy to fighting over stuff. It definitely felt more real than the Nashville episode. That one was all fun and happiness. In the end they kiss and make up. Things are looking up once again, although the description for the next episode makes me wonder about my assessment of where things stand after this episode.

I'm still not sold on this series. I don't love it. I'm not intrigued by it. This wasn't a bad episode. I think my biggest problem with the show is Aziz Ansari or Dev. I think if I liked him I would like the show as well or more than I currently do.

Master of None 1.08

Old People

Dev and Arnold visit Arnold's grandfather. Dev and Rachel visit her grandmother. Arnold gets attached to his grandfather's robotic seal companion.

I liked this episode. It has a bittersweet quality to it. I seem to prefer the episodes where Dev is not the focus.

I'm still not a fan of Dev or Aziz Ansari's acting chops. He lacks subtlety which makes him feel like more of a caricature to me.

Master of None 1.07

Ladies and Gentlemen

Rachel and Denise try to teach Dev about some of the stuff they have to put up with as women, stuff that he doesn't know anything about. He helps Denise get some guy who is masturbating on the subway arrested, which makes him a bit of a hero for one night. The next day he loses acting gig on the commercial he was hired to do because the director took his advice and decided to replace him with a woman.

This felt very message heavy, which isn't to say that there wasn't some good humor. I especially liked the part where Arnold goes with Rachel to help her pick up a couch.

Master of None 1.06

Nashville

Dev invites Rachel to go with him to Nashville. She says yes.It is only their second date and the first one was months (?) before, in 1.01 (Plan B). They kind of sort of had another date but she was dating someone else at the time and it was more like they just hung out together in 1.03 (Hot Ticket). They were a little too cute together in this episode for me. It didn't get real or feel real until Dev screwed up, they missed their flight back to NYC, and had wait 5 hours for the next flight.

This is the sort of episode that makes me go meh. It didn't really excite me or make me laugh or draw me in. It just was. Maybe it is an in-between-er.

Master of None 1.05

The Other Man

Dev meets a Nina (Claire Danes) at a party. She is DTF and has a super swanky apartment. Dev can't believe his luck, until he sees pictures of her with a man. She admits that she is married. She tries to talking him into staying. He doesn't but she gives him her phone number.

Dev helps Colin (Colin Salmon) with some ideas for a screenplay about a man who turns into a car. This part was played deadpan and was very amusing. Nothing serious here at all.

Dev dtays away from Nina until one day Mark, her husband, cuts in front of him at an ice cream shop. He has sex with Nina. Everything seems cool at first but the second time they go for it Mark comes home unexpectedly. This was played a little too silly to be taken seriously, at all. I kept expecting the other shoe to drop, but it didn't.

Not my favorite episode but not a bad one either. Lots of little laughs.

Master of None 1.04

Indians on TV

Dev confronts a network executive after he accidentally is sent an e-mail with a racist joke about Indians. It isn't so much the joke that bothers Dev as much as it is the fact that the executive balked at the idea of casting two Indian men on one show.

Danielle Brooks makes an appearance playing Shannon, Dev's agent. I know her from Orange is the New Black, where she plays Taystee. According to IMDB this is her only appearance in this season but she will be back in the second season. It took me a minute to figure out where I knew her from.

This is my favorite episode so far. It did a great job of addressing a serious issue and mixing in some humor, Loved the little incidental humor, especially Asush earnestly working out in the background while Dev and Ravi were trying to decide what to do next.

Master of None 1.03

Hot Ticket

Dev goes on a date with someone he barely knows. At first he thinks that she won't show. When she does he's excited until he finds out what she is really like. The episode ends with him hanging out with Rachel, the gal he was in bed with at the beginning of 1.01. That goes well but ends on a bittersweet note.

I'm still not a big fan of Dev. Maybe he is supposed to be the lovable loser. I did like the turn the show took in the second half. That turn has me interested in watching more, in hopes for more in that vein.

Master of None 1.02

Parents

Dev and his friend Brian don't understand their parents. They commiserate over the fact that they don't understand their parents and that their parents aren't supportive of their successes. They decide to take their parents out to dinner, hoping to get them to tell some stories. The meals starts off somber but by the end of the meal everyone had such a good time that their parents want to do it again the next night.

I liked this episode a lot more than the last one. Having said that I still don't like Dev all that much. He seemed to spend a lot of his time complaining about his parents in this episode. Maybe this is the creators holding a mirror up to society. Maybe I'm supposed to be somewhat critical of him. Maybe he will evolve and become more likable by the end of the season. I think I will continue to watch but I still don't love the show.

Master of None 1.01

Plan B

Dev meditates on the possibility of being a parent after (a) the condom breaks in the middle of sex with a woman he just met and (b) he spends some time with friends who have little kids.

Overall I would say this show was okay. It had its moments. I especially liked the daydream sequences where Dev imagined what it would be like to have kids. In one instance it seems ideally great and in the other abysmally bad. I will probably watch a few more episodes but based on this episode alone I am not a fan of the show.