Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons Returns for a Second Season

The second season of The Four Seasons, the Netflix series co-created by Tina Fey, Tracey Wigfield, and Lang Fisher, is now available to stream [1]. Following the death of Nick, a character who spent the first season pursuing a younger woman, the remaining group of friends must navigate their own evolving lives and the unsettling realization that their own "third acts" are underway [1].

Key takeaways

• The second season continues the show's structure of dedicating two episodes to each season of the year, with the characters traveling to different locations [1].
• The emotional core of the new season shifts to the friendship between Kate, played by Tina Fey, and Danny, played by Colman Domingo [1].
• The series examines the limitations of middle age, focusing on characters who are forced to confront the finality of their decisions and the passage of time [1].
• Unlike the first season, which focused on the contrast between different relationship dynamics, the new episodes explore how the characters rearrange their lives after a significant loss [1].

Navigating the Challenges of Middle Age

In the show’s second season, the characters find their lives unsettled as they revisit fundamental questions about their futures, including where they will live and whether they should pursue parenthood [1]. While the first season highlighted the friction between different relationship models—such as the long-term marriage of Kate and Jack versus the child-free life of Danny and Claude—the new episodes emphasize the camaraderie between the characters [1]. Fey and her co-creators utilize the four-hour runtime to ensure each character is explored in various combinations, avoiding the urge to rush through difficult conversations in favor of a more deliberate, joke-dense style [1].

The series also provides a more nuanced look at characters who were previously used as narrative foils. For example, Nick’s ex-wife, Anne, and his widowed girlfriend, Ginny, begin to find common ground while navigating the challenges of raising a child [1]. This development allows the show to move beyond the caricature of middle age, acknowledging the physical and emotional realities of the stage of life where, as one character notes, even simple movements can lead to back pain [1].

Why it matters

The Four Seasons distinguishes itself by refusing to suggest that joy disappears after one’s 50s, even as it acknowledges that life becomes more complicated when individuals realize their remaining opportunities are finite [1]. By focusing on the weight of the choices the characters have made—and those they have not—the show offers a portrait of love and friendship that suggests the later stages of life can be as meaningful as the beginning [1]. As the characters grapple with the sense that their lives are nearing a conclusion, the series maintains a balance between humor and the sobering reality of aging, ultimately suggesting that what people choose to do with their time matters more than the paths they left behind [1].