Mayhem, Murder & Hilarity Define Season 2 of 'Am I Being Unreasonable?'

The deranged dramedy Am I Being Unreasonable? has returned in all its dysfunctional glory, dropping all episodes of a second season that manages to outpace the first. The second season action starts minutes after Season 1's conclusion at Alex’s memorial, except now Nic is bolting out of the church and into a taxi, with husband Dan (Dustin Demri-Burns) and Alex’s wife Suzie (Amanda Wilkin) in hot pursuit.

The first season’s finale dropped a world-shifting revelation on the audience: After being dumped cruelly, Nic (Daisy May Cooper) killed her lover/brother-in-law Alex (David Fynn), trapping his coat in the train doors on purpose. She has been unraveling from guilt ever since.  As the new season unfolds, we learn that although the murder is still a secret, Nic and Alex’s affair was divulged to everyone at the memorial. The video of Nic confessing her affair, filmed surreptitiously by her bestie Jen (Selin Hizli), was broadcast onscreen behind Nic as she struggled to speak about Alex. 

Jen is mortified; her son Harry (Ankido Hussen) was playing with her phone and the video wouldn’t stop. In a quiet moment after all hell breaks loose, Nic’s son Ollie (Lenny Rush) confronts Jen, but she swears it was an accident. However, as an amateur filmmaker, Ollie recognizes the phone camera was angled perfectly to capture Nic’s confession. From then on Ollie is suspicious of Jen and her motives, dropping comments under his breath and sometimes openly subverting her adult authority. Nic is also reeling from the video, but with nowhere else to go, she crashes with Jen. Their friendship is more than bruised, but Nic temporarily overlooks the betrayal due to her desperation.

Nic and Ollie’s mother-son relationship is convoluted but loving. Now that she and Dan are separated, Nic must show up for Ollie more purposefully than ever. Unfortunately, she fails almost immediately. This second season sees Nic fiercely struggling with what she’s done, and what it means for Ollie. Is she a terrible mother? Has his knowledge of her adultery doomed him to become a serial killer? A tarot reading leaves her distressed and haunted that her murderous sins will be passed on to Ollie tenfold.

This is compounded by Nic’s last-season discovery that Ollie killed the family cat – a seriously perverse act he filmed as if it were a movie. We, the audience, know his motivations were a complicated response to finding Nic and Uncle Alex together – a way to process his anger and fear of abandonment. But this too is called into question. When Nic and Dan confront their son with the video, Ollie cries about his “serious mistake,” delivering a rehearsed apology that Nic recognizes from reality show Vanderpump Rules.

Nic is unstable and rocketing towards panic. As in the first season, she continues to hallucinate the boy and girl, who we now know were witnesses to Alex’s murder (and manifestations of Nic’s conscience). Memories of Alex and visions from Ollie’s video plague her, interrupting her everyday life and making reality sometimes hard to discern. Additionally, she begins seeing the demon from her tarot reading all over town.

Where the first season was an exploration of PTSD and grief, this season is about secrets and guilt. Everyone is hiding something, some more explosive than others. (Pro tip: Do not use flammable lip filler no matter how much cheaper it is.) Nic and Jen deal with their secrets in vastly different ways: Nic going unhinged, and Jen being calculated and furtive, unlike the sweet, supportive friend she seemed last season. Jen’s backstory is expanded only slightly, leaving you wanting more. This is absolutely intentional; Jen’s character is slowly unpeeled to hook you for the next season. It works.

Demri-Burns does an excellent job of bringing Dan to life as a multidimensional arse. He’s understandably angry about Nic cheating on him and devastated that his brother could hate him so much. He seems like a good father to Ollie, but he’s already shown us he’s a sh*t husband with his dalliances on Tinder – though it was unclear last season if he’d actually cheated on Nic. 

When they have it out over Nic’s infidelity, Dan goes for the jugular, attacking Nic’s character, humor, friends, and sexual prowess. It’s ugly. But Nic takes it in stride, giving it an emotional eyeroll, although she does apologize to Dan.

Cooper’s portrayal of Nic is central to the success of this show. Last season we tolerated and eventually loved this messy, lonely mum, and in this season those characteristics are intensified, with the added knowledge that she’s a murderer. Somehow this makes her even more sympathetic, especially when you get the complete picture of the circumstances that led to Alex’s death.

Despite the somewhat horrific evidence to the contrary, AIBU is quite funny. Dark comedy to be sure, but there’s also plenty of straight-up absurdity and even some good-natured laughs. The humor is welcome and it works. Meanwhile, the story ensures you’ll be back for Season 3, which I’m confident will get greenlit.

All episodes of Am I Being Unreasonable? Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Hulu beginning Wednesday, March 12, 2025.