Swagger Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Continuing the sports streak on Apple TV+, the second Episode of the new chapter premiered on June 30, 2023, welcoming the beloved centre acts of Isaiah Hill as Jace Carson and O’Shea Jackson Jr as Ike “Icon” Edwards. Created by Reggie Rock Bythewood, the TV series is loosely based on Kevin Durant’s experiences during the onset of his young basketball career. 

Keeping the game and the social commentary on the modern world real, the show also stars Shinelle Azoroh as Jenna Carson, Tessa Ferrer as Meg Bailey, Quvenzhané Wallis as Crystal Jarrett, Jason Rivera-Torres as Nick Mendez, Solomon Irama as Phil Marksby, Caleel Harris as Musa Rahim, Tristan Wilds as Alonzo Powers, and newcomers Orlando Jones as the athletic director at Cedar Cove Prep.

Swagger Season 2 Review for the First Episode Contains Mild Spoilers

The second episode of Season 2 is titled “18”, and it’s been written and directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood. Its synopsis reads, “Jace struggles with a tough situation days away from his 18th birthday – but is he mature enough to handle it?”

Swagger Season 2 Episode 2 Review

A lot is happening on the turf, but the pace stays warm enough to build up the momentum for the coming episodes of the season. Presently, with Jace on the cusp of 18, his intuition about something big going down soon is flaring up. Now, if that has something to do with his father trying to reconnect with him or Phil coming to Cedar Cove Prep, Ike trying to win his first game as the “interim” coach and keep his job, even more coaches coming in to check out the kids’ progress at the game, or just something else from the past coming back to haunt him, he doesn’t know that yet.

It feels good to see Solomon Irama’s Phil Marksby join the rest of the Swagger teammates, and turn Cedar Cove into Swagger Prep instead. What’s even more striking about this show is that it actually balances the weight between the pressures of being part of a team like Jace and the rest are, and an academic high school career, that actually demands these kids to study and actively participate in classroom discussions.

The new chapter unfolding at Cedar Cove makes this even more serious with questions of POC voices being silenced in a rather white dominant community. And so, the high school experience also portrays these kids pushing out of their cocoons, and working their way out at a place that doesn’t quite feel like home yet.

The community building of this show is on point. With the way the story is focussed on how one’s real life circumstances, relationships, personality and character translates on to the court, Swagger isn’t just about intermeshing sports with the cliche drama tactics to concoct a sports drama series. It rather focusses on the drama more than anything, and the game just happens to come along to elevate the narrative, much like how Ike says, “playing ball has very little to do with being a man, but being a man has everything to do with how you play ball”.

Also read: And Just Like That Season 2 Episode 3 Reactions: Netizens Are Feeling Mixed About the Progress of the Show

I absolutely admired how the final moments of the episode played out a flashback montage while the game was going on. It worked out as a stepping off point for the rest of the team, especially with Jace making it to the 18th year, and taking his first step into adulthood. Yet, along with that, the bittersweetness of it all brought a sense of finality and dreadful reminder how it could all come crashing down any minute.

And it’s not just because of how Coach Warrick (Al Mitchell) is on to these kids now, but there’s also the picture of fame itself – one minute it builds you up and puts you on top of the world, and the other it drags you straight down to hell, with you crashing headfirst. The same metaphor is carried forward for Jace’s personal story here, but also just what it feels like to cross over to the new phase of one’s life.

In that way, the series’ storytelling presents itself like a lyrical performance. The way the basketball games, and their lives race by simultaneously, the whole thing has a rhythm to it, and it’s intoxicating to the extent that it pushes you to feel for these characters who are but putting up a mirror to a much known and familiar reality that some of us may be living through, or even if watching it unfold from a near distance.

Final Thoughts on the 2nd Episode of Swagger Apple TV Series

With Episode 2, we’re also headed back to further exploring the profound friendship shared between Jace and Crystal. Although the reasons of their supposed breakup haven’t been unravelled yet, it’s more than evident that these two characters care about each other, possibly more than what can be put down into words.

Therefore, the director’s intentional choice of mapping out the trajectory of their bond since childhood, in the form of flashbacks, always works in the favour of this world building. Moreover, with Jace’s father also trying to reconnect with him after all this time, despite the many previous failed attempts, the series leaves out a clear message to the world that people in our lives don’t just disappear at the click of a finger.

Sometimes they come back, but what is done with the lost time and these renewed chances is up to us in the end. It only makes you human to feel hurt and disappointed by the people you thought you could count on, but again, second chances don’t come by that easily either. And, this very humanity and affecting approach and style of the show keeps Swagger grounded.

Swagger Season 2 episode 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Also read: Our Reviews of Swagger Season 2