REVIEW: ‘The Four Seasons’ Season 2 Is Surprisingly Necessary

My immediate reaction to The Four Seasons Season 2 announcement on Netflix was, “Why?” Why did we need a second season of a series that ended so well? Why did Netflix feel the need to tack on more? And the answer the second season of The Four Seasons gives you is that the characters are utterly fantastic. 

The Four Seasons Season 1 was one of the best series Netflix released in 2025. A sharp look at adult friendship, marriage, and how we handle the bad feelings we experience with the people we love, the series was a godsend.

The series was created by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield, and was based on Alan Alda‘s film of the same name. At the end of the first season, the friends were gripped with the tragic loss of their friend Nick (Steve Carell). From worrying about the friend group breaking up thanks to Nick and Anne’s divorce (Kerri Kenney) to a group trying to hold each other together after his death.

Netflix’s The Four Seasons Season 2 was a surprise, but is it worth it?

Whether platonic or romantic, emotions in relationships aren’t linear, and the bonds we make shift over time, and it’s the messiness that makes it worth it. Now, in The Four Seasons Season 2, Kate (Tina Fey), Jack (Will Forte), Anne, Danny (Colman Domingo), Claude (Marco Calvani), and Ginny (Erika Henningsen) are all coming off a hard year, but their tradition of taking trips together is still going strong. 

Instead of pushing Ginny out of the group, they’ve taken her in. Well, in The Four Seasons Season 2, Anne has taken Ginny in. Now a single mother, Ginny is living with Anne as the two raise Nick’s kid.

Becoming more dependent on each other, the beginning of the second season starts with the group of friends at the beach as they journey from the familiar comforts of the Jersey shore, only to transition to upstate New York and finally end up spending Christmas in Italy.

The series maintains its warmth and sharp comedic wit in this sophomore season, with each relationship becoming more complex as personal blind spots surface and dynamics shift. With grief in one hand and new life in the other, the group moves through the more seasons of their lives and their long-term relationships, with each other, with others, and with what they believe they want. 

Love is central to Netflix’s The Four Seasons Season 2, and so are the misunderstandings, sacrifices, guilt, anxiety, care, and everything else the human heart feels. This season, Anne realizes that she has kept her life on hold after Nick’s passing, and realizes that she should have chosen her own path long before. Anne throws herself into Ginny’s life and raising Eugene, but in doing so, she forgets who she used to be, who she was when she met Nick. 

As much as Anne’s part of the series is about self-discovery after her divorce and the death of her husband, every other member of the friend group also goes through growing pains. For Danny and Claude, they reflect on the choice they made not to have children. While contention between them grows, shifting blame between each other, the husbands have to accept their lives, but more importantly, Danny has to appreciate the sacrifices that Claude made for him. 

Danny and Claude remain The Four Seasons’s strongest couple.

The complexity in their marriage is never easy for either of them to explore. Danny is quick to make decisions and set in his ways, and Claude acquiesces to Danny’s requests, choosing love over comfort time and time again. While it was clear in the first season, The Four Seasons Season 2 expands on the couple’s lack of communication but also builds new bridges as they unpack their past and keep moving forward together. 

Claude gave up children, he gave up his home in Italy, and he did it all because of his love for his husband. And while Claude has done all of this with a smile on his face, the anger he feels from moments of feeling underappreciated isn’t something he can fully hide. But as Claude begins to speak about what he needs, Danny listens. 

One of the most beautiful moments of the second season of the series comes when Danny acknowledges how much Claude has given up for him and how, throughout their relationship, Claude has asked for nothing. The two love each other deeply and hold each other tightly, but their love isn’t portrayed as impeccable.

Instead, it’s the messiness and the selfishness that show themselves that make their marriage feel real. It makes their love relatable far beyond the chemistry that the two men have on screen. 

But as Danny finds the best way to prioritize Claude, he also has to put his friendship with Kate in the backseat. The only problem is that Kate isn’t ready for that. When it comes to Kate and Jack, their marriage hasn’t been the same since Nick’s death. While Jack is pushing away his grief, Kate is being consumed by it, with no outlet for her emotions.

She bottles it up, choosing to hold the darkness in rather than share it with her husband. The main problem is, though, that she’s forcing Jack to hold it in, too. For her, she needs to keep it together because she can see the cracks in Jack’s facade. Kate is making assumptions about their life, and in the process, she’s tearing them apart.

Jack and Kate showcase the importance of trusting your spouse in The Four Seasons Season 2.

At the same time, Jack is doing what Kate wants, deepening the rift between them to the point that they begin to lead entirely separate lives. The problem is, though, that maintaining his marriage is second to processing his grief.

Or rather, processing his grief takes a physical form because he can’t let himself feel the negative emotions that Kate refuses to make room for. Nick was Jack’s best friend. And without him, Jack has no one to talk to. So instead, Jack throws himself into training for a marathon, sports, anything he can do with his body.

With their marriage hanging by a thread for the majority of Season 2, Jack and Kate clearly love each other, but they’re unable to bridge the gap between them. As the rift deepens, finding a way back to each other is uncomfortable to watch as the two poke and prod, and insecurities begin to rise. The Four Seasons Season 2’s perspective on love is essential to its success, and Jack and Kate capture that.

To love someone, you have to share the dark thoughts and trust that the other person can hold you steady. You have to acknowledge the sacrifices someone else makes and understand your own selfishness. But more importantly, and what we see through Anne, you also can’t forget who you are. 

A surprise sophomore season, The Four Seasons Season 2 is shockingly necessary. The season develops every emotional beat that began in the first season and showcases how grief changes people and how important it is to communicate and listen.

Where the first season brushed against the messiness of love (both platonic and romantic), the second season digs into it. The characters of The Four Seasons continue to resonate, offering audiences a look at adult friendships, marriage, and the harder parts of choosing to be with the person you love every day. 

The Four Seasons Season 2 is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.

The Four Seasons Season 1