Man. Here's a show I'm glad existed, I'm glad happened, and I'm glad I watched it, but I really can't figure out if I even liked it very much. I felt similarly about Eastbound & Down - no, okay, I definitely liked Eastbound & Down for the most part, but it was never really clear to me if Kenny Powers was an asshole I was rooting for or an asshole I was rooting against. Double that sentiment and you've got my reaction to Vice Principals, a show whose two protagonists are miserable, terrible "left behind" white men of sorts, just angry all the time, feeling entitled to something the world never gave them, failures as husbands, unpopular and reviled at work. Are these guys supposed to have our sympathy, or just our unending scorn? Surely it's complicated - and, like I said, I'm glad this show existed and I'm glad I watched it - but for the life of me I can't figure out how I feel about it. I think I liked the first season more than the second, and I think the show was totally inconsistent in its pathos and its humor, but ultimately I have no idea what it said or did or tried to be, if that makes sense. There was a take I read last summer, during the first of what were only two planned seasons, that called Vice Principals a perfect encapsulation of Trump's suburban America, and obviously that take has influenced me enough that I consider this a show about angry entitled white men, but to say that the show intentionally tapped into those vibes - especially when it was filmed before Trump became a serious candidate, let alone the President - is giving it way too much credit, no?
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