If I was to start singing “I’m not crying, it’s just been raining… on my face” chances are you may well start singing along with me. See also Sellotape, If You’re Into It, Most Beautiful Girl in the Room etc. That’s because Series One of Flight of the Conchords was a work of genius, crammed full of memorable songs, great characters and racist dragons. Alas for the completely mercenary nature of HBO who have given us Series Two, a return for the Conchords that feels so forced it forgot to be funny.
The main problem, without a doubt, is the music. This time the songs (mostly) are tailored to fit in with the plot, but as a result, they are crow-barred in and feel totally redundant. You are unlikely to hear anyone starting a rendition of Sugar Lumps any time soon. It’s so uninspired you can’t help but feel let down. There are some great ones, such as the Billy Joel-esque description of Brett meeting a beautiful woman. That one might rouse a group of Conchordians to sing along, but it’s no, well, anything from series one. Perhaps it’s just suffering by comparison, but it’s so frequently unfunny that you’ve got to wonder what they were thinking. Flight of the Conchords worked so well because it was fresh, original and the songs were funny and memorable. But here you can sense that the writing team were rushing things out. It just gets dull as they stroll out yet another quirky song.
It’s not entirely without merit. In fact it really picks up the pace towards the end as the Prime Minister of New Zealand is introduced. The ‘Simon and Garfunkel’ episode is brilliant if you forget the rock song shoved into the middle of it. It’s got some of the show’s best jokes and has the biggest laugh of the series at the end. Not only that, the visuals in this series are astounding, with the talents of Michel Gondry (bringing out his distinctive Science of Sleep style) and Taika Waititi (whose episodes are strongest and much better than his film Eagle vs. Shark) bringing in much needed verve and colour to the proceedings. We get seas of bedsheets, freaky costumes and bizarre dreamscapes. And all this without mentioning Rhys Darby who is simply genius, and remains the best thing about the series. As their manager Murray, his dim-witted presence makes this worth watching just for him.
So it’s not a total failure then. Yet to anyone familiar with S1 or the Conchords’ stand up work, this feels so second-rate. It’s as if they aren’t trying. Thankfully for us, the ending seems fairly conclusive so this could be the end of the Conchords’ TV adventure.
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