'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' Season 2 promises hilarious takes on today’s issues like healthcare in feudal era
If you thought that the Dark Ages were nothing to laugh about, you are in for a surprise. 'Miracle Workers', in its second season titled 'Dark Ages', has become an anthology series, featuring the same cast in a completely different story and as new characters.
As Daniele Radcliffe puts it in a behind-the-scenes video, 'Miracle Workers' is trying to do for comedy what 'American Horror Story' did for horror, which also featured the same group of actors in different storylines every season.
Radcliffe who played Heaven's bureaucrat in the first season will now play the entitled "Prince Chauncley", who has no talent or skill but has a soft spot for ducks. He is also the antithesis of his father, the king, a murderous tyrant who has killed many to sit on the throne and who would fit right in with the 'Game of Thrones' set of vicious rulers.
Steve Buscemi, in a big shift from playing God in the first season, is now a lowly prisoner called "Eddie", who is about to be beheaded when the season starts. Season 1 regulars Geraldine Viswanathan and Karan Soni also return in new roles.
Viswanathan will play a perceptive medieval maiden who has an inkling that they are living "during a particularly bad period in history”, while Soni will play Lord Vexler who seems to like torturing and beheading subjects like Eddie and giving Prince Chauncley the benefit of his honest opinions.
So what else can you expect when season 2 premieres on January 28? According to the official synopsis, the show will revolve around a group of medieval aristocrats and villagers "who are trying to stay positive in an age of extreme income inequality, poor healthcare, and widespread ignorance" during the much-maligned Middle Ages.
The teasers released by TBS give us a taste of the kind of humor to expect from this installment from creator Simon Rich. For instance, Prince Chauncley likes browsing through his playlist like any of us.
Only he has a bard serving as his music playlist, belting out tunes on command, and getting on Lord Vexler's nerves. Geraldine Viswanathan, as the maiden fair, is utterly disappointed about the education system when her teacher says that all anyone "knows" for sure is that the "Earth is flat and The Devil is real".
Beheadings are the only source of entertainment for the mob-like subjects who cheer as the executioner gets them all excited about the next "kill". If you liked Comedy Central's 'Drunk History' or Fox's short-lived 'Making History', 'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' will likely hit your sweet spot.
Creator Simon Rich has made it a point to make allusions about modern culture for laughs while giving the characters witty one-liners that poke fun at the ills of today through the lens of yesterday. And there will be plenty of ducks if Season 2's trailer is anything to go by.
'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' premieres on January 28 on TBS at 10:30/9:30c.