TVF Pitchers Season 2 Review: Pitchers, one of TVF's best shows (if not the best, totally my humble opinion here), returns for the second season after a gap of seven years. The Three Musketeers of Pragati AI are back, but this time they have lost their D'Artagnan. Naveen (Naveen Kasturia), Saurabh (Abhay Mahajan) and Yogi (Arunabh Kumar) have their successful pitch in the finale of season 1 converted into a busy startup, with about 20 odd employees. The first episode begins with Naveen looking for a luxurious office space, while Saurabh and Yogi proposes to take over a smaller firm. TVF Pitchers Season 2: Naveen Kasturia and Arunabh Kumar’s Comedy Drama Is Back With a Bang After 7 Years!

Once the initial sparkle wears down, within a couple of scenes, we realise that Pragati AI is yet to be a success story in the corporate world. Moreover, as the trailer has already told you, Jitu (Jitendra Kumar) is no longer a part of the team, and whose whereabouts is never revealed, nor the reason why he left the company he helped in building. From struggling to find investors to maintaining the morale of their own employees and even themselves, Naveen, Yogi and Saurabh are facing a bigger challenge and a bigger set of crises in what is a very unicorn-gore-unicorn world!

Watch the Trailer:

Let me answer the most burning question first. Does the loss of Jitendra Kumar, easily one of TVF's biggest success stories, affect Pitchers S2? Yes, I did miss him, and also I missed Maanvi Gagroo's Shreya, who along with Kasturia, gave one of the best and most realistic breakup scenes I have seen on an OTT show. While Shreya gets a couple of brief mentions, Jitu is treated like a painful ex here, whose name is mentioned in hush-hush tones and Naveen keeps glancing at his pictures and messages with a forlorn expression. Why the show even plays with the gaping hole left by the character through an empty cubicle in his name. (Slight SPOILER - one of the two actors makes a cameo at the end, though I am not revealing who)

Still, Pitchers 2 doesn't suffer from his absence, but uses it to push ahead its narrative smartly. One of the storylines involves Naveen, Yogi and Mandal trying to find a CTO in a short time and space, and even giving it a thriller aspect in the last act of the second episode. Moreover, it plays well into how Naveen's character develops in the new season, whose portent blend of insecurities and ambitions could make or break Pragati AI. The series does well to portray his insecurities and flaws, be it when he betrays a dear friend for greed of better gains, or his apprehensions when a potential CTO candidate displays the kind of confidence that could undermine his own vision.

The other two leads may not get as much of a character exploration as Naveen, but then that was also the case in the first season as well. Just like how Silicon Valley deals with Richard Hendricks compared to his other compatriots.

Ah, Silicon Valley! It has always been said that TVF Pitchers is our answer to the popular HBO series. While parallels can definitely be made with regards to the themes and characters of the show - an excellent Riddhi Dogra who plays the supportive and patient VC Prachi can be seen as a standin for Monica Hall - Pitchers and Silicon Valley are as different as chalk and cheese.

Not only is Silicon Valley a raunchy and more humorous show, it is also a stinging satire on the startup and corporate culture. Pitchers, meanwhile, while being funny at times, takes a more romanticised view of the whole setup, despite showcasing the rises and pitfalls of startups.

It's the romanticisation that I have a problem with, something I also had an issue with TVF's other cult show Kota Factory. The season 2 of TVF Pitchers begins with a quote from Elon Musk, a man who is currently making a mess of Twitter, and who is often hailed as a yardstick in the show to assess someone's ambitions. Among the other praisees are companies like OLA and Uber (frequently accused of underpaying their employees), OYO Rooms (who has now recently indulged in massive layoffs), a scene in the trailer mentions BharatPe's Ashneer Grover (who has been accused of fraud) and so on. There is also this idea implanted of employees being overworked and that's okay when the greater cause is in the grabs. The pandemic times have made us see the corporate sector in a very different light, and even though TVF Pitchers doesn't exactly paint the scene in a rosy colour, there is still a skewered admiration to exploitative working conditions (see how frustrated employees end up apologising to their bosses in one scene, after a session of guilting).

Still, like with Kota Factory, there is quite a lot to like about Pitchers' new season. The performances are all-round excellent, be it the underrated Kasturia, or from Kumar and Abhay Mahajan, and even from the supporting cast playing Pragati AI's employees. The screenplay offers them plenty of opportunities to display their dramatic chops, with my favourite scene being the one in episode four where Naveen gives a dressing down to his entire team and his friends, only to be given a reality check by Mandal. Panchayat Season 2 Review: Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav’s TVF Series Maintains Its Amusing and Crackling Form Nearly Throughout!

The tone is kept very much engaging, and the show keeps dropping surprises, while avoiding needless romantic subplots. The dialogues often sparkle with metaphors and witticisms ("Play Store ka KRK" left me in splits). However, I felt the conclusion was weaker in comparison to how the first season ended, opting for a more convenient turn, which, TBH, does complete the arc for the Pragati AI honchos that was established in the first episode.

Final Thoughts

While not as exemplary as the first season and is problematic with its view towards its subject matter, TVF Pitchers Season 2 is worth bingeing on, thanks to its engaging storytelling and acting. TVF Pitchers is streaming on Zee5.

Rating:3.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 23, 2022 12:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).