What I’m Watching: Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (Season Premiere)

Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll: Season 2, Episode 1 “All That Glitters is Gold” (B+)

I totally forgot this show was coming back, and I’m so glad it’s returned. I wasn’t sure who had died at the start of this episode and if I had just forgotten that it happened, but then I realized it didn’t matter. The funeral was just a way for the band to realize that they aren’t going to live forever and for them to move almost immediately to commenting about the aesthetics of the very showy funeral. Ava trying to find a good picture of herself so that she’d have it ready in case she died was a fun start, and things got much more dramatic when Gigi rushed to watch the footage which showed that Ava had quite the relationship with Flash which neither of them bothered to tell anyone about. Johnny being upset that it was a yearlong affair and not just sex was about as legitimate as his frustration that he couldn’t afford to smash Flash’s guitars. The band processing what happened was actually therapeutic – and quite enjoyable – and now it seems like they’re moving past it in the way that only a rock band could. Putting Mickey’s ashes in the maracas was a wonderfully twisted solution, and Bam Bam’s pep talk was pretty great too. My favorite part was Ava acknowledging the incomparable awkwardness of the situation in her pep talk to Gigi, coaching her ex-boyfriend’s daughter on why she should be with the man with whom they both slept. This show is wild and unique, and I’m pumped for this season.