The Paper Season 2 Review: A Funnier, More Confident Trip Back to the Newsroom

The Paper returns for Season 2 with a little more confidence, a lot more newsroom chaos and a much clearer idea of what it wants to be when it isn’t worrying about living up to The Office.

That doesn’t mean Greg Daniels and Michael Koman’s Peacock comedy has completely escaped the shadow of its famous predecessor. The documentary cameras, uncomfortable workplace interactions and collection of eccentric coworkers still make the connection impossible to ignore. But Season 2 increasingly finds its own reason to exist inside the struggling Toledo Truth Teller.

The result is a funnier and more assured season that gets considerable mileage out of Domhnall Gleeson and Chelsea Frei, lets the newspaper itself become more important and takes some wonderfully strange comedic swings. It still struggles to make every member of its large ensemble matter, but The Paper is starting to look considerably less like a spinoff searching for an identity.

The Paper Season 2 Review

Season 2 begins with the Toledo Truth Teller in an unusual position: Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) and his makeshift collection of reporters have actually accomplished something.

The journalism awards that closed out Season 1 might have given the newsroom some credibility, but success hasn’t suddenly produced money, resources or respect from the people controlling the purse strings. Ned still wants to turn the Truth Teller into something meaningful, while CEO Marv (Allan Havey) remains considerably less enthusiastic about spending money to make that happen.

That’s where The Paper works best this season. Rather than treating the newspaper merely as a backdrop for workplace comedy, Season 2 spends more time letting these characters actually behave like reporters.

Ned searches for the kind of story that could establish the Truth Teller as a legitimate news organization, eventually pushing the staff toward an investigation involving powerful local interests. That gives the season a stronger narrative spine while allowing the series to play with the strange realities of trying to practice local journalism when advertisers, corporate ownership and limited resources all have competing priorities.

The show doesn’t push those ideas nearly as hard as it could. There are moments when The Paper approaches a sharper satire about the state of local news before retreating toward safer sitcom territory. Still, simply making journalism important to the story gives the series something that belongs to it rather than The Office.

Ned and Mare Give Season 2 Its Heart

The strongest development is the relationship between Ned and Mare (Chelsea Frei), who finally have to figure out what comes after the chemistry that developed throughout the first season.

The answer is a workplace relationship that neither one is particularly skilled at hiding.

Gleeson and Frei remain an appealing combination because Ned and Mare’s attraction is rooted in something more interesting than simply putting the show’s two most obvious romantic leads together. They care about the same thing. Both believe the Truth Teller can matter, and their shared enthusiasm for journalism gives the relationship a foundation beyond the usual mockumentary glances toward the camera.

The Paper is also smart enough not to spend years manufacturing a will-they-or-won’t-they story simply because The Office famously did it. Ned and Mare are allowed to move forward, make mistakes and discover that dating someone you work with creates complications that don’t disappear just because the audience likes you together.

Some of the obstacles thrown between them feel more manufactured than others, particularly later in the season, but Gleeson and Frei are good enough together to keep the relationship from becoming exhausting.

Sabrina Impacciatore Remains The Paper’s Wild Card

If Ned and Mare provide the heart, Sabrina Impacciatore continues to provide much of the insanity as Esmeralda Grand.

There may not be another character on television capable of entering a relatively normal workplace situation and destabilizing it as quickly as Esmeralda.

Impacciatore commits completely, whether Esmeralda is dealing with workplace training, inserting herself into somebody else’s problem or finding another spectacularly misguided way to make a situation about herself. The performance is so fearless that even material that shouldn’t work can become funny simply because of how aggressively she attacks it.

The problem is that The Paper still tends to treat Esmeralda as a comedic weapon rather than a fully developed character. When the writers need chaos, they pull the pin and throw her into the scene.

That produces some big laughs, but after two seasons the formula is becoming visible. Giving Esmeralda a little more humanity wouldn’t make her less ridiculous. It might actually make the ridiculousness land harder.

The Supporting Cast Still Needs More Room

The biggest weakness of The Paper Season 2 is the same thing that makes the show potentially exciting: there are a lot of funny people wandering around this newsroom.

Ten episodes simply aren’t enough to serve all of them.

Nicole (Ramona Young), Detrick (Melvin Gregg), Travis (Eric Rahill), Barry (Duane R. Shepard Sr.) and the rest of the Truth Teller staff can be very funny when the show gives them something meaningful to do, but several characters disappear into the background for long stretches.

Tim Key’s Ken is another example. His strange chemistry with Esmeralda immediately gives the comedy another gear, yet the season doesn’t always capitalize on it.

That’s one area where comparisons to older network sitcoms become unavoidable. Workplace comedy benefits from time. Twenty-plus episodes gave shows room for an accountant, warehouse employee or odd coworker to suddenly become the center of an episode without stealing space from the main story.

With only ten episodes, The Paper frequently has to choose between advancing Ned and Mare, developing its journalism storyline and servicing its supporting cast. Usually, somebody loses.

The Paper Is Better When It Stops Trying to Be The Office

The smartest thing Season 2 does is gradually stop reminding us why we’re supposed to care about The Paper.

Yes, Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nuñez) remains the connective tissue to The Office, and the documentary format naturally creates similarities. But the Toledo Truth Teller is becoming its own workplace populated by characters with their own rhythms.

The comedy is also increasingly willing to get bigger and stranger. The Office frequently found humor in painfully recognizable workplace behavior; The Paper is more comfortable pushing situations toward broad farce.

Not every swing connects, but that willingness to swing is encouraging.

The worst possible version of this series would be a perfectly competent imitation of The Office. Season 2 increasingly suggests Daniels, Koman and their cast understand that.

Is The Paper Season 2 Worth Watching?

Yes. Anyone who enjoyed the first season should find Season 2 an improvement, and viewers who abandoned the show because it felt too dependent on The Office may find more to like this time around.

It remains an easy binge rather than an essential one. The jokes don’t always hit, some characters desperately need more attention and the journalism story occasionally backs away from sharper ideas just when things get interesting.

But there is something increasingly likable about spending time at the Toledo Truth Teller.

Domhnall Gleeson gives Ned enough earnestness to make his impossible dream worth rooting for, Chelsea Frei continues to make Mare more than simply the show’s romantic lead, and Sabrina Impacciatore remains capable of turning practically any scene into controlled chaos.

Two seasons in, The Paper no longer needs to prove that an Office spinoff can work.

Now it needs enough time to prove just how good this particular workplace comedy can become.

Final Verdict

The Paper Season 2 is a meaningful step forward, with the Toledo Truth Teller finally functioning as an actual newsroom rather than simply a backdrop for workplace comedy.

The ten-episode format leaves too many supporting characters fighting for scraps, and the series could stand to be considerably bolder when its journalism stories brush against real-world issues. But Season 2 is a meaningful step forward for a comedy that is finally becoming comfortable being The Paper instead of simply being the show that came after The Office.

Where to Watch The Paper Season 2

All 10 episodes of The Paper Season 2 are now streaming on Peacock.