Is That 90s Show part 2 a worthy followup to That 70s Show? Find out in our That 90s Show review if it’s worth checking out!
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It’s time to head back to the Forman’s basement again. It’s been a year since the events of season 1, and Leia (Callie Haverda) is back for another summer with her Point Place friends. Once again, she will be living with Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) while hanging out in the basement with Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide), Nate (Maxwell Acee Donovan), Nikki (Sam Morelos), Ozzie (Reyn Doi), and her boyfriend Jay (Mace Coronel).
When last we saw the gang, Leia had nearly kissed Nate. We quickly learn that Leia hadn’t told Jay about this, and the same goes for Nate and Nikki. As is often the case on sitcoms, that quickly goes down in the wash, and there is some fallout from their actions.
From there, we move into a much more comfortable group of episodes than the last one. While that one spent a lot of time catching us up on how the characters from That 70s Show were doing, this year That 90s Show frees itself a bit from the shackles. The only original core teen to show up this year is Donna (Laura Prepon), and that is only in the first episode. (although a few other secondary characters show up briefly)
In these eight new episodes the new cast finally begins to gel a bit more, but it still lacks some of the effortless bonds we felt in the original series. The friendship between Leia and Gwen is still a tiny bit mysterious to this viewer in that they seem like such polar opposites. But other than that, the cast does seem to be coming into their own. In particular, Nate and Nikki get some real moments to shine in these new episodes.
Also embraced more this time around is the time period. The references have finally caught up to the 90s, with Carmen Electra, Lisa Loeb, Kevin Smith, and Jason Mewes all having cameos. In particular, Electra and Loeb’s cameos illicit some hearty laughs.
Red and Kitty also get some time to shine this year as Red begins facing his age. He comes out of the new episodes a somewhat changed individual, but, don’t worry, he still has a foot looking for an ass.
By the end of the 8 episodes, you’re very ready for the next batch which will be arriving in October of this year.
Disclaimer: Netflix provided The Nerdy with all 8 episodes of That 90s Show part 2 for the purposes of this review. We watched them to competition before beginning this review.
