The Pitch: The story of so many sports franchises is one of epic successes and equally epic failures, and the legacy of the Los Angeles Lakers is no exception, especially in the 1980s. Season 1 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty provided a star-packed look at the team’s 1979-1980 NBA season, with the HBO drama digging hard into creating a portrait on the cusp of greatness; Season 2, meanwhile, explores what it means not just to win, but how success means you need to keep winning.
As with Season 1, there are a lot of players on this court. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) is still learning how to connect with the fans. Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) still loves his long-time paramour Cookie (Tamera Tomakili), but his issues with womanizing create some real consequences. Team owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) wants to keep building his empire and make his children happy, though a new marriage might complicate factors. Coach Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) has some bold new ideas about how to play the game, though others are skeptical about his so-called “System.” No one seems aware that in the year 2023, many of their real-life counterparts will speak out actively about their portrayal in this series, but history belongs to the winners — or in this case, the storytellers.
The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat: The biggest difference between Season 1 and Season 2 of Winning Time is, well, time. That first season told the story of a year in the team’s life in 10 episodes — Season 2, meanwhile, is seven episodes long and encompasses four years, ending with the events of the 1984 playoff series between the Celtics and the Lakers. (Won’t share any details on what happened there, but the spoilers are available on Wikipedia, should you be curious.)
As one might anticipate, this results in a somewhat different approach for the season, though one compelling aspect of Season 2 is that it doesn’t surrender too much of Season 1’s detail-obsessed vibe. Instead, the focus becomes a little narrower, the number of characters in the spotlight smaller, and in some ways that works to the show’s otherwise sprawling advantage.
On the other hand… it’s still four years worth of story told in seven episodes. “Condensed” is a word that comes to mind, when considering the pacing of the season. “CliffsNotes” is another phrase. Things do slow down enough for the climatic playoff series between the two long-time rival teams to get the weight it deserves, but the show’s breathless energy doesn’t allow as many moments to land as you’d want.
Don’t Hate the Player… While the cast doesn’t get much chance to shine, given how quickly things have to move here, Quincy Isaiah stands out for all the different dimensions of Magic he’s asked to play, including moments when he’s not even the real man, but a figment of someone else’s imagination.
Winning Time (HBO)