A high school dropout. A former Division one athlete. An eccentric coach. Real lives meet and intertwine in the documentary “Last Chance U” .Premiering on December 13th, Last Chance U season 2 is produced by Boardwalk Pictures and directed by Greg Whiteley, Adam Leibowitz, and Daniel George McDonald. Last Chance U is a documentary that follows the East Los Angeles Community College Men’s Basketball team and their passionate Coach John Mosley.

The team, compiled of misfits and outcasts is forced to work together and overcome the challenges of Junior College Basketball, with the eventual goal of earning a division 1 or division 2 scholarship in mind. The documentary gives a profound insight into the gritty culture and difficulties of the team as Mosley pushes them to be better players and better humans. The team, full of a colorful cast of players with troubled pasts, makes them easy to root for. Juxtapposingly, Last Chance U portrays the brutal realism of the team’s problems. Last Chance U focuses on these challenges and how the players overcome them making a compelling story that viewers are drawn to. These issues also raise the stakes and make every game more climactic as the players are fighting to earn the eyes of major collegiate programs. Following the last season of Last Chance U which led to a disappointing end with the cancellation of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coach Mosley pushes the team harder than ever before.

Unlike last season which gave large chunks of screen time to main contributors of the team such as Deshaun Highlander and Joe Hampton, Season 2 gives screen time to bench players who get small portions of minutes like Demetrius Calip II and Shemar Morrow. This gives more perspectives of the team that viewers did not get to see last season. Furthermore, season 2 gives more screen time from Coach Mosley giving the viewers a further understanding of the coach’s past and his drive to help the kids on his team reach collegiate scholarships. The camera work is beautiful, the producers incorporate the fast action of basketball games, slow-mos, and the player’s mundane life perfectly. Moreover, the soundtrack is perfectly selected, with songs that drive the overall narrative forward and help the viewer understand the emotional climate of the scene better.

Despite all the positives Last Chance U season 2 brings, A strong negative of Last Chance U is its pacing. The first episodes take place over the span of a couple of days, while the later episodes tend to skip around taking a span of multiple months. The weird spacing makes the storytelling confusing and makes the timing of events feel rushed, leaving characters and plot points severely underdeveloped and does not leave the viewer with any closure.

Despite its negatives, Last Chance U season two’s positives outweigh the negatives, and is a must-watch for any sports media fan.