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The second – and final – season of Netflix Original American Vandal was released in September this year following its successful first season, which amassed a cult-like online following. The show is a mockumentary, filmed and presented as a serious pursuit and ’Creators’ Peter (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam (Griffin Gluck) are cited in the show’s opening credits despite them being fictional creations. The show is fully committed to its self-referential arc, even explaining the intimacies of their Netflix deal – and the big budget that comes with it.
The first season explored the expulsion of a student, who was blamed for the crime of vandalising teachers’ cars with graffiti of male genitalia This focus gave the show an opportunity to explore, in equal parts, humour and humanity. The second season’s act of vandalism was on a larger scale, but less personal to the documentarians. As they head to a new school, their goal is to explore a mysterious perpetrator of ‘The Brown Out’ – which can only be described as a mass excretion – following everyone in school drinking contaminated lemonade at lunch time ‘The Brown Out’ itself is depicted through phone recordings and Snapchat Stories. The sequence is depicted with the same terror and chaos as that of footage from school shootings: it is self documented, shaky and posted online for the world to see in real time.
The second season as a whole is an exploration of the digital age. These ideas are explored as much through the makers of this ‘documentary’ as it is through those being filmed. We know so little about our main character, rarely seeing his face at all, yet we are to trust his perspective. It leads its audiences to greater questions of viewing culture and the creators of content.
The tone of season two was different to that of the first, in part because as we get to know the new characters and suspects as Peter and Sam do. They have no previous knowledge of the people they are going to meet and investigate, unlike in season one, which followed their classmates. However, the question of Peter’s reliability as narrator is an important one throughout. In season one, we saw Peter and Sam argue, as well as getting insight into their personal lives in a high school setting. Here Peter and Sam, especially Peter, exist merely as the documentarians, speaking with ultimate authority. Unlike in season one,we are no longer privy to Peter’s inner biases; it is up to the viewer to assume whether or not they remain.
The character of DeMarcus (Melvin Gregg) is one of particular interest this season, representing popularity and those with privilege exoticising the underprivileged. Issues of celebrity, class, race and code switching are most notably are explored through his character. We also witness issues of personal autonomy and loneliness. The season‘s climax ends with the show in a place one could hardly anticipate. Though I am inclined to say that I enjoyed the first season more, American Vandal’s second season was a fresh take on its predecessor. It had higher stakes, more complexities, and – despite being less humorous – the heart of the show was never lost, and even sometimes found in places I didn’t expect.
