The range of emotion that the first episode, "Escape," elicits in you as a viewer is a great place to summarize Season 2. Largely about a man that is working through the issues of a debilitating disease that has left him unable to speak, move, or function independently, this is portrait of a person with incredible courage. The brilliant device that Glass uses is to ask Mike Philips who he would want to "play him," by reading emails and blog posts during the episode. This is the stuff we all might dream about on a rainy day, but Glass actually secures Johnny Depp (it was between him and Ed Norton) to be the voice of Philips for the show. Glass is breaking the fourth wall by playing God with Philips, as he does in other moments where he speaks from behind the camera or narrates questions that we might ask ourselves but hesitate to verbalize. The portrait of Philips is by far the strongest moment in the entire season, but there are plenty of other wonderful moments.
Less extraordinary than Philips but still a portrait of courage, "Two Wars" focuses on a special type of road show created by an Iraqi in the US that wanted to talk to people about his country. His hands-on approach of setting up a small kiosk in random locations (the beach, a car lot, etc.) and waiting for people to come to him created some interesting moments during the show. Barely disguised hostility, sympathy, and other emotions were displayed by the people that sat down to talk, along with curiosity about things like whether many people in Iraq were overweight... The banal coexisting with the outlandish is a staple of Glass' work, and he mines this territory in episodes like "Underdogs," about the relatively unknown Contender category of boxer, and "John Smith," a pastiche of stories about real-life John Smiths woven together and reported as if they were the life of one man. Harder truths are exposed in episodes like "Every Marriage is a Courthouse," that showcases a relationship poisoned by obsession, and "Going Down in History," about obsessions that can actually accomplish amazing things.
This American Life: Season 2 feels a bit more disjointed and eclectic than the previous season, but diversity is the lining around that cloud. Ira Glass is rarely a presence during the episode, but sets the tone for each with a short introduction. His devices will be familiar and comforting to fans of the show, but This American Life is really an acquired taste. The same things that make any reality-based show wonderful one moment and deplorable the next are present here, but Ira Glass and his correspondents provide an additional layer that tends to bias or contextualize. If you like Ira's brand of context, check out This American Life: Season 2; if you need your shot of documentary to be more banal, there is always Bravo...
