Season 2 of FUBAR delivers on making you care even more about everyone on this team. Because they’ve gone from feeling like a group of co-workers to a real family who’ll do anything to protect the other. As much as we love seeing these guys fight to the death, steal spaceships, and save the world, that wasn’t what we loved most. We loved watching these characters interact and grow a closer bond than before.
That’s not to say there hasn’t been moments that had us on the edge of our seats. Because we’re still thinking of Emma Brunner (Monica Barbaro) wrapping a swing chain around Tina’s (Aparna Brielle) neck as payback for betraying the team and her Uncle Barry (Milan Carter). It was one of those times where we felt like we needed to stand up and clap and cheer. And cheer we certainly did after the team caught on to her shocking double agent reveal. This team loves each other and as Tally Brunner (Fabiana Udenio) says, “You don’t get to f— around with one of my kids.”
There were plot twists we didn’t see coming, sweet found family moments, and messy love triangles that made this season an exciting six hours of television. We watched these characters fight their enemies as a unified front while also trying to figure out who their hearts beat for. We love a good found family dynamic afterall. But that doesn’t mean this season didn’t have its issues with relationship building and storyline continuation.
Aldon and Emma Went Nowhere
It didn’t help that Emma barely talked about him this season either. For this reason, it was as if the show forgot about the pairings “once in a lifetime” love they were fighting in the first season. Outside of the first and last episodes of Season 2, we felt like Emma and Aldon didn’t interact with each other. In the moments we did get, we’d squeal over Emma overhearing Aldon say he was still crazy about her. And we’d get excited over Aldon’s outward jealously over Theodore Chips (Guy Burnet), Greta’s secondhand man who wanted Emma’s affection. All of those feelings would eventually disappear as we watched how it barely made her react.
Admittingly, Barbaro and Winkle shined while together this season. We knew they would because their characters’ falling in love has been a highlight of the show for us so far. Their chemistry felt real, and we could always count on the both of them to play Emma and Aldon as soft for only the other. It’s clear neither of them forgot how these characters felt about each other in Season 1. Even if we didn’t get as many scenes of them together as last time. And we know this show is an action comedy where romance isn’t the focus. Yet, we appreciate their dedication to making Emma/Aldon an adorable ship we could obsess over in the midst of chaos.
Ultimately, stealing glances and quiet confessions to themselves that nobody heard wasn’t enough. Season 2 gave us the bare minimum of growth for Emma and Aldon as a potential endgame. Consequently, for a show that hasn’t been guaranteed a Season 3, Aldon friend-zoning Emma in their last conversation might’ve been our last glimpse at a ship that could’ve been full of pining this season but wasn’t. Basically, we’re a little sad for being teased with their advancement with no real growth.
Aldon’s Secondary Storyline Was Eh
Honestly, it felt like Aldon Reese’s (Travis Van Winkle) character development this season was weak, even as one of the few who got a secondary storyline. In the beginning of Season 2, he was tasked by the team’s therapist Dr. Pfeffer to channel his love into another person or thing for an assignment. It had purpose to help him decide if he truly loved Emma or was coping with childhood pain. It’s there where we felt our first problem brewing.
Dr. Pfeffer’s assignment was rooted in battling Aldon’s narcissism and how he viewed others as less important to himself, which is something we believe isn’t true about his character. Sure, he has his moments of bragging about his looks or ease in getting women to look or sleep with him. But it’s not who he is. Parenting a pig worked for comedic purposes but we’ll say the storyline still confused us. Because Aldon cares deeply about the people on his team.
Roo (Fortune Feister) is his best friend who he’d gladly get into trouble with, fight alongside, and accept affection from. And even thought things are complicated with Emma, we saw multiple times how Aldon would do anything to protect her. That’s especially true after the almost sacrifice in Season 2 Episode 1 ‘Fuller House’.
In the end, Aldon still lied to Pfeffer in saying that his therapy pig Hamsteak didn’t help him in caring for other things or people. If you were to ask us, Aldon never needed the pig. It was clear that he cared about Hamsteak because he treated him like his child. He risked his life multiple times to protect the animal. And in gifting the pig to Emma’s niece Rumi, he knew he would be taken care of and loved.
Aldon was always aware, gentle, and protective of his team turned family. He needs to talk through his issues and confront them, and we hope next season delivers.
We Hoped for More
In Season 1, we learned that Aldon had issues like growing up poor that affected his self-esteem. Season 2 Episode 2 ‘Highly Re-Greta-ble’ tells us that he’s never fallen in love with someone before. Aldon was insecure for most of his life and now built like a god. So, he felt comfort in having women chase after him for only his looks. Therefore, he’s never had a meaningful relationship. Aldon doesn’t know what to do with having such strong feelings for Emma. Which made sense and made us feel for him deeply.
Here’s where action comedies like this one become tough to get fully invested with. The combat stunts and promised thrill of the team saving the world are things we love about FUBAR. But such excitement can’t take up every minute of these episodes. There are character storylines that deserve the proper time to get explored so we could connect with the team more. But they get brushed aside for laughs and awesome action scenes. We believe Aldon’s narcissism wasn’t really what needed fixing in our opinion. It was his inner child that needs fixing. And the show barely touched on overcoming his real issues about his upbringing that stopped him once again from trying to pursue Emma romantically.
MORE: Want more Monica Barbaro? Read here to find out what she has planned for 2026!
MORE: Read here to find out more about the last season of Squid Games airing at the end of the month!
Uncle Barry Deserves the Whole World
Milan Carter as Uncle Barry, the anxious and nerdy loveable tracker, proved yet again that he’s the heart of the team. Additionally, we also believe he’s the heart of the show as a whole. He’s someone that everyone is extremely protective over and we understand why. Uncle Barry has a big heart who cares about his loved ones very deeply as the man behind the operation. And we love every single one of his quirks and how he always helps save the day. When some members may be fighting with the other or isolated, they always have their adoration of Barry to bond them.
Simply, if you mess with him, you’re messing with the CIA’s best.
Tina’s betrayal was one that surprised and stunned us. As an audience, we feel like one of our favorite ships hit a rough patch they can’t get back from. Ultimately, we applaud FUBAR for making good and interesting television. And we can’t be mad for long because this storyline gave Carter and Aparna Brielle the opportunity to create multi-dimensional characters. And we loved their character changes. While Tina grew from a nerdy analyst to undercover badass, Barry learned what it was like to be strong and assertive.
They succeeded in making us attached to Tina and Barry because it hurt to watch Barry lose his light and joy about life. His sunken eyes and dazed expressions were a complete opposition to his usual personality. For his sake, we hope Tina’s actually a good person after the events of Season 2 Episode 8 ‘Let’s Twist Again’. We want them to have a happy ending.
Underwhelming Love Triangles
We expected Greta (Carrie Ann Moss) and Chips to self-insert themselves into love triangles we kind of didn’t want to see happen. Sorry not sorry, we love Emma/Aldon and Luke/Tally, okay? After watching the whole season, it felt like the show had separated who we loved together in order to develop individual growth. And we felt disappointed in the awkward delivery.
We can applaud the moments where the show surprised us with plot-twists. Because we hadn’t seen Luke and Tally lying to everyone about their break-up coming. And it was a relief discovering that their re-coupling wasn’t tainted by Greta’s meddling. We can say that at least one of our favorite couples got and stayed together in the end. As for Emma and Chips, we found their enemies to lovers banter charming at times. Even if we wished he wasn’t in the middle of Emma and Aldon.
However, the whiplash of hating Luke for hurting Tally again to finding out he lied to Greta left us conflicted. Because there was no indication that Luke was lying about his feelings for Greta. In return, we barely got any loving scenes between Luke and Tally that felt different from their bickering in Season 1. Which made their reveal of faking a break-up come out of right field. We felt as if the show was teasing us with new relationships that threatened to replace the ones we loved. New relationships that created drama and went nowhere, even if they taught Luke and Emma what was important aka being unafraid to love the people they have history with.
Last Thoughts
Overall, Greta and Chips involvement in the story didn’t do anything but keep the couples we actually wanted to see together on screen apart. Which left us wanting more of a pay-off when it felt like these characters forgot about Luke and Tally whenever on screen with Greta and Chips. Altogether, it felt like these new characters were obstacles only to justify keeping growing relationships at a standstill. They felt disposable in the end.
Unfortunately, this made us feel like we should’ve spent more time building pre-established relationships that we loved from the first season. At least that’s what it feels like. Luke and Emma’s love triangles made us think of what could be, but we aren’t sure if they were needed. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t want a Season 3 of FUBAR. Because we certainly do. Give us more of these characters and take the time to grow their relationships properly together, please!
Season 1 and 2 of Netflix‘s FUBAR are available now!
