Welcome To Wrexham Season 2 Review: An Even More Expansive Portrait of Wrexham, Sports, and Ambition
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The post Welcome To Wrexham Season 2 Review: An Even More Expansive Portrait of Wrexham, Sports, and Ambition appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: We’re back in North Wales for another season of National League football — after a disappointing defeat at the end of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds‘ first season as owners of Wrexham A.F.C., both the team and the town have their sights set once again on promotion.
As it was when the series began, the Hollywood owners have quite an ambitious overhaul ahead of them. Promotion to the fourth tier of English football is one thing, but they’re also in the midst of a significant renovation for Wrexham’s stadium, dubbed “The Racecourse,” which is an expensive, time-consuming, and intensely bureaucratic process. Through it all, Rob and Ryan are also continuing their efforts to engage with the community of Wrexham, and bring attention to the club’s unwavering support base.
The biggest difference now, however, is the size of that support base — after the first season of Welcome to Wrexham, Reynolds and McElhenney’s goal of fostering a global brand has begun to materialize. Several of the first season’s starring characters have seen even more exposure, beyond the local level, including characters like The Declan Swans, a trio of musicians who have penned Wrexham’s next great anthem, and Wayne Jones, the owner of Wrexham’s longtime game day pub, The Turf.
But football, like every sport, promises its ups and downs. In the scope of all English football and the soccer world as a whole, Wrexham are still underdogs. But in the National League — England’s fifth tier of football — it’s an undeniable fact that the significant increase in exposure and funding throughout the last two years has made them, well, the opposite of underdogs. Everyone expects Wrexham to succeed and gain promotion as if it’s an inevitability… which makes it all the more frustrating if they fail to take the opportunity. This season, then, asks if Wrexham can retain this momentum, play with heart, and secure the results they need to take this team to the next level.
New Signings: The first season of Welcome to Wrexham, though slightly scatterbrained, hit its stride when exploring the sociological connections to football and sports as a whole. It’s not enough to track a football team and let the results do the storytelling; in order to stand out, give the series purpose, and address the nuances of the sports world, a deeper dive into the psychology of players, fans, and the world they come from is necessary.
Season 2 continues on this path, and seeks to demonstrate an even more expansive portrait of Wrexham. Perhaps the largest — and most rewarding — adjustment is the introduction to Wrexham’s women’s team: The women compete in the Welsh football system, and, like the men’s team, also have their sights set on promotion. However, the team’s current status at the time of filming is below the semi-professional Welsh Premier League, meaning none of the players are paid. So, when we meet Wrexham Women’s star player Rosie Hughes, she’s carrying out her day job as a prison guard.
Welcome to Wrexham (FX)
Though we meet the women’s team in an undoubtedly prolific era, the lopsided nature of how little infrastructure they’re given compared to their male counterparts is plain to see — and clearly something that McElhenney and Reynolds are looking to change. They aren’t playing their games on Wrexham’s brand new Racecourse pitch, and instead play on a rather shoddy pitch nearby; their ladder to professional, full-time status as footballers is even more narrow than the men’s. But it’s a pleasure to see the pride these women have when playing for the Wrexham badge, and it’s a storyline that feels wholly in line with the show’s mission: spotlighting the culture of this team and this town, and presenting it with truth and respect.
Similarly, the second episode of the series highlights start striker Paul Mullins and his three year-old son Albi, who was recently diagnosed with autism, as well as a young Wrexham supporter who also has autism. The through line of the episode is that within this club is a safe and open environment for people to connect to something larger than themselves, individually or together, neurodivergent or not. It’s certainly a heartwarming, tear-jerking episode, almost enough to make you forget that this whole show exists because two rich Hollywood guys wanted to buy a random Welsh football team because it would make for a wild story.
The Big “Why”: Welcome to Wrexham is a fascinating show to watch, because there are two very obvious, very real interpretations of this show’s existence. On the one hand is the more cynical perspective: Rob and Ryan are business men, and this whole show is a way for them to leverage their showbiz reputations to put money from one bank account into another (like each “cheeky” attempt for Ryan Reynolds to cross-promote his other business ventures while simultaneously promoting this one, for example).
But on the other hand is the more generous attitude — the people of Wrexham, after all the ups and downs of life in the town and collapsing industries, deserve this spotlight, they deserve a successful football team, because why not them? Each intimate look at the lives of these supporters and athletes is in service of showing why they care so much, why the team matters to them. They’re unique portraits of people who would otherwise not be a part of modern reality television, the occasionally poignant backstory serving as reminders that we all are human and it doesn’t really matter whether or not Reynolds and McElhenney get a “return” on their investment.
It’s this push and pull of ego that characterizes Welcome to Wrexham. The bits of humor and occasional antics from McElhenney and Reynolds are sometimes enjoyable, but mostly obligatory; the spotlights on hooliganism, masculinity, disabled folks, and the morale of a working class town are what actually make Wrexham feel like it’s driven with purpose. But to separate these two would technically be an improper representation of reality, and therefore, doing a disservice to the aim of this docuseries — and despite Reynolds and McElhenney’s foolish candor, they seem to be well aware of this.
It’s a question that followed them in Season 1, and one that continues to be worth asking: Why Wrexham? This docuseries once again attempts to answer that question with “Well, take a look at this great town, with these great people. Tell me that they don’t deserve to enjoy a successful football team.” That’s about as much as the filmmakers are willing to share, even though the reality might be shrouded deeper into the folds of how our current economic system allows people with “fuck you” money to play God with sports teams like they’re building a team on FIFA 23.
But each time there’s an acknowledgement of Reynolds and McElhenney’s place in all this, from themselves or the town, there’s a small sense of relief. Maybe it’s worth believing in their efforts, and maybe the end of this story will indeed serve as the fairy tale that they all envisioned. Maybe it doesn’t matter where the money comes from, or where it ends up 10 years later. What seems to matter is the camaraderie that Reynolds, McElhenney, and the town of Wrexham hold, and the hope for brighter days ahead. That, as Welcome to Wrexham would say, is what sports are all about — as long as you don’t think too hard about the rich people controlling it.
Where to Watch: Welcome to Wrexham kicks off on FX on September 12th at 10:00 p.m. ET, and streams the next day on Hulu.
Trailer:
Welcome To Wrexham Season 2 Review: An Even More Expansive Portrait of Wrexham, Sports, and Ambition
Paolo Ragusa
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