'Deli Boys' Season 2: This Is About Honor, Not Business

The Dar Brothers (Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh) are back as Philly’s finest cocaine dealers in the second season of Hulu’s Deli Boys.

With zero expectations, the first season was a violent, madcap romp through a well-dressed world of organized crime populated by Pakistani drug lords and Italian mob bosses. In Season 2, the boys and Lucky Auntie (Poorna Jagannathan) are mixing it up with corrupt mayoral candidate Andrew Chadwater (Andrew Rannells) and vicious casino owner Max Sugar (Fred Armisen).

Desperate for a new way to clean the money they’re making from their imported drugs, DarCo turns to Max Sugar for help with laundering their funds. Max agrees to help in exchange for a shot with Lucky Auntie. Two vindictive, diabolical quasi-psychopaths. Are they a match made in heaven, or are they playing each other?

Mayoral wannabe, Andrew Chadwater (A+ on the name there, folks), is squeaky clean. Too clean. His platform is built on the idea of getting rid of the “dirty” drug trade in Philly, so he’s got eyes on DarCo. When the brothers work out a plan to get revenge on Ahmed Uncle (Brian George) for the death of their father, it gives Chadwater the opportunity he’s looking for. It also creates another point of dependency on Max Sugar, who pays for an attorney (Kumail Nanjiani) to defend Raj in court.

All of this is happening as Raj and Mir are trying to close a deal to buy a golf course, fulfilling their father’s dream.

It’s not as sharp as the first season, but there’s a lot of great physical comedy, and Lucky Auntie kicks a lot of ass on behalf of the family this time around. Jagannathan gets a lot of screen time this season, which is great for viewers because she is a delight—a terrifying delight who knows how to throw knives with lethal accuracy. Lucky Auntie’s relationship with Max Sugar is a focal point of the season. Armisen brings his unique brand of gleefulness to playing Max, a character just as comfortable ordering a hit as he is ordering dinner. Jagannathan and Armisen’s scenes are the glue holding the season together.

Newcomer Jake Prizant also turns in a solid performance as Lucky’s bumbling spy on the Chadwater campaign.

While the brothers have definitely learned a thing or two and upped their swagger since the end of Season 1, they just can’t keep themselves from falling back into old habits once they have some clean money to spend. Their relationship is not as contentious as it was in the first season, so we lose some of that comedy. But Mir is still a neurotic mess, and Raj still thinks he’s God’s gift to, well, everybody. Ali and Shaikh are great scene partners. Deli Boys is successful, in a large part, because of their relationship and ability to play off of one another so well.

The other thing that makes Deli Boys a great watch is the show’s pacing. Season 1 had ten episodes, each clocking in at about 24 minutes long. This year, there are only six episodes at the same length. It’s tight storytelling with no minutes wasted. None of the storylines are drawn out for filler. And every episode has a banging soundtrack. While I sometimes get bored binge-watching shows for review, Deli Boys left me wanting maybe one or two more episodes. That’s the way you do it.

The season ends on a cliffhanger that portends serious complications for the boys and Lucky Auntie in Season 3.

All episodes of Deli Boys are now streaming on Hulu.