I liked-but-did-not-love the first season of this show: I thought it was a show that wanted to be like Mad Men but was largely the first season of Mad Men (with its emphasis of style over substance) and a bit of The Skins: a slick, well-acted soap opera that knew how to dip into the well of industry jargon to punch above its intellectual weight. I use the phrase "guilty pleasure" more than few times.

I'll be honest, gang: I think the second season addressed almost every nit I had about the show. The showrunners largely abandoned some of the adolescent exploits (the k-hole count is down significantly) and really focused on the workplace drama of it all. It's a soap, but largely a workplace soap in much the same way Mad Men was, a larger mediation on what the split between one's personal and professional identity filtered through the world of high finance.

And, of course, it is compulsively watchable.

The final few episodes — where a number of well-balanced swords fall down blade-first — were legitimately great television. Beyond that, the only thing stopping me from rating it more highly is a fundamental lack of affection for the characters — you find yourself rooting for the ancillary characters more than the ostensibly protagonists. Yasmin and Harper are incredibly well-acted but I find them to be the kind of people who I would not like in real life — which is of course how I felt about Pete Campbell until much later in Mad Men's run.

Can't wait for a third season; I have no reason to believe it's going to be even better than this one.

★★★★