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Google PlayMaking a strong first season of a TV series is one thing, but being able to come back stronger with Season 2 is a feat. Rafael Casal and co-creator Daveed Diggs have done just that with Blindspotting’s second season.
The Starz series was inspired by their 2018 film of the same name and follows the story of Miles (Casal) and Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), a young couple raising their son Sean (Atticus Woodward) in the Bay Area. Season 1 kicked off with Miles being arrested, shifting the focus away from Miles and his friend Collin (Diggs) in the film to now centering the story on how Ashley and Miles’ family deal with life together while he is behind bars.
Miles and Ashley got married in Season 1, and now as they are closing in on a year of being apart, we see how being forced into single motherhood has affected her. Episode 1, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” directed by Casal, is brilliant. Ashley is throwing a birthday party for her son and anyone who has attended a child’s birthday party knows how hectic and overwhelming they can be—especially without a second parent to share the responsibilities with. Miles’ mom Rainey (Helen Hunt) and his little sister Trish (Jaylen Barron), as well as other family friends, have rallied around Ashley and Sean to help make the separation easier. Still, Ashley is more stressed out and short-tempered than we remember her from Season 1.
While Ashley and Miles’ relationship is still the heart of the story, Blindspotting Season 2 continues to heavily shed light on the realities of the prison industrial complex (even going as far as filming Episode 3 at San Quentin State Prison in California). It also focuses on how incarceration not only affects the imprisoned but also those who love them—and Season 2 shows how the effects linger even after they have served their time. They explore that through Earl, a neighbor and family friend who was forced to go back to prison after a work mishap caused him to miss his probation curfew.
Blindspotting is a comedy, with fantasy elements that also feel like they were crafted to take place on a theater stage. While they cover a range of incredibly serious conversations, deep emotional trauma, and the dark realities of life, it is all made easy to process through the incredible performance of each actor.
“The fun of Season 2 is now that we knew the cast better and knew what their strengths were, we could write for them. We also had a writers room that could write better for them and make sure that they were in scenes where they could improvise in the way that would be most entertaining,” Casal tells Complex. “[Season 2] is nothing but laughs. We’re cracking up all the time. And then every once in a while, it just hits you like, ‘Oh, right, this is a show about prison.’ But we try to let you forget that as much as possible, so you’re just falling in love with these people and you just want to hang out with them.”
Complex caught up with Casal ahead of Season 2, and he talked about directing a majority of the season, showing viewers more of Miles and making sure the essence and true message of the show wasn’t lost while making it even funnier and whimsical the second time around.
