When I told you about ‘LOL: If you laugh, you lose’ on the occasion of the premiere of its first season, I stressed that the selection of contestants was too homogeneous, so I ended up enjoying it very little. It’s not that the idea of mixing ‘Big Brother’ with ‘Don’t laugh, it’s worse’ sounded amazing, but it does I suspected that this format could give more of itself.
The second installment arrives this Friday, April 20 on Amazon Prime Video it is a demonstration of it, but also of its limitations. On the one hand, there is more variety in the style of its participants, which opens the interest to a greater number of the public, but in return they continue to resort to a more basic humor that works better by accumulation and contagion effect, something that ‘LOL : If you laugh, you lose’ does not finish squeezing.
A moderate evolution
The changes even reach the front of the program, since Safe Santiago hand over the witness to Caroline Iglesias (‘Stretching the gum’) and Silvia Aprila contestant in the first edition, this being one of the virtues of this second season.
It is mainly because they are seen to be more involved with the pranks of the participants to make the rest laugh, noticing that they are enjoying their role and thus achieving greater harmony between the representatives of the organization and the contestants. After all, it shows when something makes them funny and they have no need to fake it.
In addition, there are also novelties in the structure of the program. The use of the wild card is maintained, and there is also a greater variety in the resources to try to make your teammates laugh, but some more surprises are added. Nara revolutionary or that it changes the mechanics greatly -if perhaps in the fifth episode there is a rather curious decision on the part of Iglesias and Abril-, but It helps reduce the possibility of it becoming routine.
limited ceiling
As I pointed out before, the selection of contestants is more satisfactory, shining especially Carlos Areces when he brings out his bad blood, whether it’s to try to deliberately eliminate someone or simply putting into practice that great song from ‘La hora chanante’ that he said “Son of a bitch you have to be more“. Eye, always within the margins that allows a program aimed at reaching the largest possible amount of public, but there it is.
Beyond that, it is almost funnier to see the attempts of the contestants so that they do not escape any laughter than what they really contribute to provoke that effect in their companions. All in all, this second installment is more agile than its predecessor and, at least for now -Amazon has only let you see the first five episodes in advance-, there is also no moment that touches the embarrassment of others, which did happen in the first season.
Come on, what ‘LOL: If you laugh, you lose’ polishes some of its most serious flaws in this second season, but it’s still the same program. Do not expect an amazing transformation, since the feeling that remains is that the participants end up so tired that laughter ends up being easier to appear, but that is something that does not happen with the viewer and I do not think it is ideal either. It is a state of mind impossible to reproduce without one getting tired and ending up removing it -unthinkable that we simply see the 6 hours without more, downtime included-.
Instead he chooses to make everything more easily accessible, perhaps at the same time the strongest and weakest point of the format. In this way, you consume it, you hang out and soon you forget about it. It is even likely that some viewersor have a bit of background while you’re doing something else -ironing?- and barely miss a thing.
In short
‘LOL: If you laugh, you lose’ has corrected some of its problems in this second installment and never falls as low as the first did in some moments. Unfortunately, what it also doesn’t do is get to really shine at any point, but hey, you can see if you are clear about what it can and cannot offer you.