‘Extraordinary’ season two review: another rude and rip-roaring Gen Z riot

If any show can cure your superhero fatigue, it’s Extraordinary, the inventive, genre-melding comedy now returning to Disney+ for its second season. Though it wasn’t a runaway hit when it premiered last year, this warm and witty sitcom did build a loyal audience who enjoyed the way it explored twenty-something life through a sci-fi lens. Oh, and without ever skimping on filth or freakiness: Extraordinary saw no reason not to include a cat called Jizzlord, then reveal that he was actually a shapeshifting human trapped in feline form.

Created by Emma Moran, who cut her teeth writing for Have I Got News for You, Extraordinary is set in a contemporary world where everyone gets a unique superpower when they turn 18. Everyone, that is, except for our heroine Jen (Máiréad Tyers), whose own USP has stubbornly refused to materialise even as she enters her mid-twenties. Season two introduces an offbeat life coach called Glen (The Mighty Boosh‘s Julian Barratt) whose job is to unlock her elusive superpower, but generally Jen is less pressed about it now. That’s because she’s more stressed about her blossoming romance with Jizzlord (Luke Rollason) (the human, not the cat, thankfully) which is threatened by the arrival of some ghosts from his past.

If anything, this makes Extraordinary even more of a friendly wolf in sheep’s clothing: it’s really a coming-of-age comedy with a superhero twist rather than a straightforward genre show. Even storylines that feel a bit familiar – Jen squaring up to a romantic rival, her flatmate Carrie (Sofia Oxenham) dropping a pill at work – are given a zingy twist because they unfold in a world where anything is possible. But, perhaps because options are so limitless, season two can be a bit disjointed. We learn at the start that Carrie and Jen’s other flatmate Kash (Bilal Hasna) are finally breaking up, but these scenes sometimes feel like an isolated subplot. Then again, even the best sitcoms can struggle to bring all their lead characters together.

Still, this is a minor gripe because Extraordinary continues to do almost everything else very, very well. Its salty-sweet tone is tremendously infectious and not without boldness: it’s entirely possible that no sitcom since ’80s hit The Golden Girls has dropped the word “slut” with so much relish. Led by Tyers’ likeable central performance, it’s filled with characters you want to spend time with: Derry Girls scene-stealer Siobhán McSweeney continues to add value as Jen’s chaotic mum Mary. And it all rips along to a banging indie soundtrack that drops a Wet Leg song one minute, then a Le Tigre classic the next. Fresh, funny and infectious, Extraordinary is a show that really lives up to its title. So if you haven’t checked it out yet, why not?

‘Extraordinary’ season two is available to stream on Disney+ from today (March 6)

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