Season Review: Dead Pixels Season Two

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Nicky, Meg, and Usman might have been playing Kingdom Scrolls for years, but they’re not about to stop now! As season two brings, an expansion pack has just been released for the MMOG that adds a bunch of new quests, content, and surprises.

Unfortunately, the new stuff kind of sucks, causing Meg to reexamine her life and start getting out and about more often. She even manages to get a boyfriend! Nicky gets in on the relationship stuff as well, even if his starts off being solely online in the game. But by the end of things, everyone is right back where they started and newly single… even Alison!

Our Take:

Dead Pixels has never been the biggest or most popular show, but its first season was pretty fun regardless. With a charming cast and some genuinely amusing moments of poking fun at online gaming culture, the show is able to offer plenty of entertainment—even though the season was only six episodes in length. While season two clocks in at the same short length, it also builds up the series in new ways, expanding the cast of characters while keeping the focus on the idiots we love.

One of the main storylines in the first season was Meg and Nicky’s blossoming relationship. It ended up crashing and burning by the end of the finale, but I was curious to see where the show would take things from there. And it turns out, the answer is more touchy feely business. Oh, not at first, though—the first few episodes of season two are dedicated to getting things back to normal for the most part. Nicky, Meg, and Usman are all escaping from reality by playing Kingdom Scrolls while Alison is the quote unquote ‘normal’ one living her life in the real world.

But then things begin to shift. Meg’s story arc throughout the season finds her becoming disillusioned with Kingdom Scrolls and looking for a new way to channel her free time. She ends up getting promoted at work (several times), almost going on a hike with Alison, and somehow turning the boiler repairman into her new boyfriend. Seeing Meg ascend to new heights is a lot of fun, especially when contrasted with Alison. She’s always been the yin to Meg’s yang, but this this season sees her lose some of her saintly glow. While it might seem like Alison’s got all her eggs in the basket, her arc in season two finds her slowly losing her ideal world, most of which comes in the form of her boyfriend. What starts as a romantic meeting overseas turns into a deadbeat guy who wants her to watch his kids while he’s out cheating on her. By the end of the season, Alison joins Nicky and Meg on the couch to play a lively game of Kingdom Scrolls. It’s not the outcome I pictured, and that made it all the more satisfying to see.

Apart from the relationship arcs that Meg, Nicky, and Alison all go through in one way or another, the rest of the show stays fairly consistent to how it was in season one. There are new creases and shadings, but the show still relies on making fun of things like loot boxes and limited time content drops most of the time. Usman is still his ‘love to hate’ self, and things go to new heights this season as his wife has a baby and he goes to therapy. Russel isn’t around as much it seemed—I’m fine with that since I was never big on him anyway, but his lack of presence here in favor of new side characters like Meg’s boyfriend and Nicky’s girlfriend could be a letdown for some.

All in all, Dead Pixels kept its identity intact during season two while also exploring some new territory and diving deeper into what makes the main cast tick. There’s loads of laughs in each episode, plus time spent seeing how Meg and Nicky react to trying to maintain relationships. It’s hinted that they may be the only ones who can stand each other in the end, but the finishing shot with all three of the flatmates bonding over Kingdom Scrolls to deal with their troubles is a perfect encapsulation of the series so far. The cast have expressed interest in another season, though it seems a bit unlikely at this point. But if season two really is the final boss, I won’t be mad.