Drop what you’re doing and watch One day at a Time on Netflix

You need to be watching Netflix’s One Day at a Time and we’re here to tell you why. 

The second season of One Day at a Time has been added to Netflix and, if the first three episodes are an indication, it will surpass the first season beyond our wildest dreams, which hardly seems possible.

In fairness, a great many people watched One Day at a Time when it first premiered this time last year. They’re more than aware just how much of a rare gem this show actually is.

There’s a strong contingent out there, however, that when they hear the name of this series an imaginary question mark appears over their heads. This will not do.

One Day at a Time is a modern reboot of the 1975 Norman Lear sitcom of the same name, this time starring Jane the Virgin alum Justina Machado as Penelope, a newly divorced veteran-turned-nurse who lives with her two teenage children, Elena (Isabella Gomez) and Alex (Marcel Ruiz), and her mother, Lydia (Rita Moreno).

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One Day at a Time has two primary strengths (it has many more than, but come on).

The first is the way that it’s able to discuss topical issues with ease the way that recent shows Black-ish  and The Carmichael Show have also been able to. Be it immigration, coming out, the usefulness of religion and faith, or simply trying to call the V.A. (an impossible task), its ability to tell these deeply human stories in ways that feel completely mundane is nothing short of laudable.

Similar, again, to The Carmichael Show, the family discussions on these various topics feel remarkably lived-in and not at all forced. It often feels the way that a constructive conversation in any household will erupt out and take hold of the night, bringing with it a sense of both frustration and healing.

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The second is how deftly it plays around with comedy and drama almost simultaneously. It’s no easy feat to go from a laugh to a tear without some kind of tonal whiplash, but One Day at a Time accomplishes it practically effortlessly. You can have, in one scene, Rita Moreno dramatically throwing her curtains and the next she’s bringing you to tears with the expert delivery of a line (because she’s Rita freakin’ Moreno).

In a television landscape where there is no shortage of shows where the line between comedy and drama is a vague one, One Day at a Time stands out with excellent lines, perfect delivery, and plots that have a discernible heart to them.

A lot of this is helped by just how strong the principal cast is. This will surprise absolutely no one, but Rita Moreno is a comedic and dramatic dynamo who never ceases to find a new layer or simply a new way to play her character. Moreno’s Lydia is an all-time character that demands that you recognize her as such, in no small part due to the wonderful flamboyancy that Moreno brings to it.

Machado, on the other hand, is a really stabilizing yet galvanizing presence on the show, especially in contrast to Moreno. She is very often the emotional anchor in the more gut wrenching scenes, but uses an emphasis in dialogue or a wild arm gesture at just the right moment, always exactly when the moment requires it.

Teenage actors can sometimes be hit or miss, but Gomez and Ruiz work exceptionally on the series, each one feeling particularly distinct and well realized, and not just because they’re differently gendered. More is asked of Gomez, in general, who really shines in the back half of the first season as her character starts to grasp and come to terms with her own sexuality and her own journey within that.

Ruiz is no slouch either, who is allowed to stretch and get a bit exuberant in the first episode of the second season. A good deal of his acting involves a minor change in pitch, but most of it is done via his eyes and that is where he is at his strongest.

More than anything described above, however, the most important thing that this show does is be a series that revels in its on-screen representation.

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This is a show that very easily could have rested on the laurels of being an almost entirely Latinx cast (something we still don’t see all that often), but it made a conscious effort to take that one step further by making one of its characters explicitly gay. Not only does it do that, but it’s not a one-and-done plot line for the character. This is a development that lingers and has consequences.

In short, One Day at a Time is one of the best shows currently on television and you should take every effort to watch it.