April has been an insane month for new shows. Between the likes of Euphoria, Beef, Margot’s Got Money Troubles, and The Boys, I could burn my entire word count just listing out all the new emotional heavy-hitters. But amidst all of the prestige TV, I still find myself craving a certain kind of watch that production companies struggle to serve me: a solid feel-good comedy. An easy watch that’s loaded with random but satisfying celeb cameos and playful pop-culture references that can make me forget the world is on fire for at least 30 minutes. It might sound simple to satisfy, but a sitcom that checks all these boxes and doesn’t date back to the ‘90s is surprisingly hard to get right. Which is exactly why getting a season two of the hit show Running Point feels like such a win for the modern comedic novelty right now.
After jumping into the new season this past weekend, the Gordon family mantra—“Gordons never lose”—still rings true when it comes to the show’s quick-witted humor and ability to let me sink into the couch without a care for anything happening outside Waves headquarters. The world might be continuously on fire, but this season is able to dampen the flames just enough to be able to enjoy Isla Gordon and her brothers’ riff about player contracts through the blazes. Read on for this opinionated fan’s full review of Running Point Season 2, breaking down my favorite celeb cameos, the points that I wish landed a bit better, and the refreshing cultural relevance the show continues to nail. Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.
What is Running Point Season 2 about?
Picking up pretty much exactly where we left off in Season 1—Cam spawning like an uninvited ghost-of-annoyance-past, saying villainously, “I’m BACKKK,” Running Point wastes no time throwing you back into its chaos. And this time, Cam’s not just being annoying for sport and viewer laughs. No, Cam is scheming, plotting, and quietly planning to reclaim his role as President of the Waves, and undercut Isla in the process.
Meanwhile, Isla, her ride-or-die best friend Ali, and the rest of the Gordon brothers are all chasing redemption after losing out on the championship at the end of Season 1. Off the court, Isla is no stranger to conflict either. Isla and Lev are (maybeeee?) planning a wedding, and the Waves players are tangled up in their own relationship drama that Isla has to, for some reason, mediate to keep the players’ heads in the game. Leaving her stuck holding it all together while also trying to literally hold two phones and a coffee in one hand without dropping them into an ice bath.
If what pulled you into the debut of this show was that mix of humor, feminist undercurrents, and messy romantic and workplace dynamics, Season 2’s plot happily stays in that lane (if it ain’t broke…). But how effectively those themes and subplots intersect to form a truly standout comedy—the kind Season 1 hinted it could become—is up for further negotiation. Let’s dig in for my full review.
My review of Running Point Season 2
The cultural parallels are there, but they don’t fully land
Running Point’s original debut arrived at a time when the women-in-sports discourse started to become especially prominent. It grounded the conversation with a level of humor and vulnerability that made it not only a stand-out sports sitcom but a culturally pertinent one. This season, the show continues to build on that reputation. Largely on the strength of Kate Hudson’s insanely good performance as Isla Gordon, who navigates these pressure points with entertaining comedic relief.
And while for the most part, Running Point Season 2 continues to be able to pull its weight in thematic relevance, I also couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated watching a hustling, mostly likable character like Isla, and see the story keep circling questions like “can she hold it all together? And will she fail?”—as if those aren’t the same overexhausted expectations women are already being asked to meet in real life. And yes, that’s clearly the point of the show. But where Season 2 trips a bit is that it doesn’t always push that idea as far, or as clearly, as it could have.
The pressure we put on Isla is there, but how it makes Isla feel is still buried beneath the show’s surface. Instead, it feels like a lot of these core ideas around the differences between women who fail vs. men are able to surface for only a brief moment, and then recede into Isla’s next urgent task before they can dig roots into the show’s morality. We do get to see moments where Isla questions her choices (small spoilers ahead), like when she tries to get the Waves dancers’ better contract benefits (hello DCC parallel), or potentially sacrifice her brother’s jobs to get a deal done, but those moments don’t linger long enough to actually shift how we understand Isla or her worldview before snapping back to another mess she has to clean up.
This raises a bigger question: Is Isla’s confident, ‘I got this’ composure meant to highlight how powerful women are? Or is she just written to clean up the messes of the risky, scheming men around her? If there’s a deeper feminist commentary there, I do wish the show gave us more space to understand what it might be. If you’re a woman in the workforce, there is an admirable strength to watching Isla Gordon give really good pep talks and command a room with moxie, but I also think strength isn’t always just about seeing someone hold it all together. It’s about acknowledging what it really feels like to do that. It feels good to watch Isla Gordon do anything, especially in a fabulous suede-skirt set and boots, but the reminders of why she’s doing it sometimes lose their impact overall this season.
The celebrity cameos are brilliant
If there’s one thing I love about a well-supported comedy with endless Hollywood contacts, it’s a totally unexpected, but weirdly perfect, celebrity cameo. And with Mindy Kaling behind the show’s creation, there’s no doubt that the rolodex runs deep. So when Ray Romano suddenly shows up as a potential new coach, you bet I was thrown back in my seat at how perfect it was to see this man’s face in the Waves conference room with a run-down notebook and scrappy sweatshirt.
“Running Point proves they are still playing offense when it comes to nailing that sweet spot of sharp, feel-good comedy—all thanks to our charismatic good/bad heroine, Isla Gordon.”
There is such a magical sweet spot to a satisfying celebrity cameo, and this one in particular really got me as an avid Everybody Loves Raymond-watcher in my adolescence. Seeing Ray’s sitcom charm weave seamlessly into Running Point’s feel-good atmosphere was so satisfying. And watching his platonic chemistry play out with Isla was truly one of the most entertaining parts of the whole season. My husband and I laughed so annoyingly loudly at their conversations that my in-laws, hearing us in the other room, came in and asked, “What’s wrong?” My only complaint was that I wish we got more of this dynamic, so dear Mindy—if you’re reading this—bring back Ray in Season 3…please.
The subplots are messy, but the show is still funny as hell
Some subplots could use fine-tuning, but I have to admit, as a genuine fan of the show, depth and cohesiveness aren’t necessarily deal-breakers for me. Yes, in my perfect comedy show world, every A, B, C, and D subplot intersects seamlessly. But even if they don’t, there is still one nonnegotiable that can make or break the whole act altogether: how much it makes you laugh.
Even when certain characters feel like they just showed up and I’m not totally sure why they’re there, I still had a good time. There are indeed many, MANY subplots at play, arguably too many, but most of them do a good job at feeling relevant in the moment before vanishing into thin air. But the fact remains, I know that if this show gave me 20 more episodes, I would watch them all. Everyone needs a good comedy to throw on, and this one is certainly messy, but it’s still fun. With so few modern comedies hitting the right tone, Running Point still manages to set a pretty high bar for the genre.
So, should you watch Running Point Season 2?
The show may not always say everything it wants to say—but it knows exactly how to make you feel while it’s trying. In the presence of a genre that feels like a necessary counterweight to the world’s unflinching chaos, that emotional instinct is enough to keep this show as one of the best modern comedies out there right now. Running Point proves they are still playing offense when it comes to nailing that sweet spot of sharp, feel-good comedy—all thanks to our charismatic good/bad heroine, Isla Gordon.
Isla Gordon is no doubt the show’s primary engine of charm, and Kate Hudson truly kills it by making her endlessly watchable, even when the show itself starts to ever so slightly spin out of control. Ironically, much like her character, Hudson smooths over many of the show’s narrative trip-ups, keeping the energy on track and reminding you that while there are loose threads, it’s too entertaining to linger on them. If you loved Season 1’s setup, Season 2 definitely carries that high-energy we know and love, with character dynamics entertaining enough to look past its more obvious structural flaws for the sake of a good escapist comfort show.
Madigan Will, Contributing Writer
As a contributing writer and former Assistant Editor for The Everygirl, Madigan has written and edited content across every topic under the digital media sun. As the oldest of four siblings, she brings a big-sister perspective to her work, helping readers discover new ways to maximize their everyday.
