American Auto Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Most Hated CEO

 American Auto Season 2 Episode 2, “Most Hated CEO,” tackles a monumental PR crisis for Katherine while Dori and Cyrus compete to see who can create the best fake Twitter account. After setting the bar high with last week’s laugh-inducing season opener, it’s another solid outing for the series. 

Eric Stonestreet doles out a hysterical performance as Ian, going tit for tat with Harriet Dyer’s Sadie in “Most Hated CEO.” The plot twist regarding his character is a fun way to keep Ian interesting while allowing Stonestreet to stretch his comedic wings. 

DORI: Okay, how about “@TacoBell, bring back those waffle tacos, you cowards. #livemás?”

Harriet Dyer is an underrated comedy queen, delivering consistently nuanced and subtle performances episode after episode. In “Most Hated CEO,” Dyer kicks Sadie’s penchant for varied facial expressions up a notch as Sadie reacts to Ian trying to steal her job. Dyer does a lot of nonverbal communication between the lines, and it’s hilarious. 

X Mayo and Michael Benjamin Washington deserve to headline their own episode where Dori and Cyrus battle it out over various things. The Twitter bot storyline is as strong as the main plot with Katherine. In fact, it’s funnier. 

As evidenced in the premiere, American Auto masters the art of the narrative spiral: a few characters embark on a somewhat noble cause that devolves into absolute chaos. Watching Dori and Cyrus lose sight of the mission by morphing their campaign to help Katherine into a competition is what sitcom dreams are made of. 

KATHERINE: This isn’t the time to sit around doing nothing like a condom in Nick Cannon’s wallet. 

Of course, Katherine’s own story is equal parts humorous and heartbreaking. Ana Gasteyer incessantly delivers as the comedic heartbeat of the series.

While there’s no meltdown monologue like the Season 2 premiere, Gasteyer injects Katherine with a moment of genuine vulnerability that showcases her versatility as a performer. Katherine’s toe-to-toe with Seth Meyers is also fun to watch. 

“Most Hated CEO” is easily one of the series’ best episodes. Every storyline is entertaining in its own right, which is a rarity in shows regardless of genre. Season 2 rises above the narrative speed bumps of Season 1, smoothing out that roughness to deliver a hilariously-wrapped package of feel-good comedy with a stellar cast. No pubes in this one, though. We’ll save that for that memorable cold open. 

Stray Observations: 

• Twitter really is a hotbed of “emojicons” and “eggplants.” Well, throw in some good ole-fashioned reading incomprehension and folks utilizing chronically online language, and that’s the gist of it. 
• What does the Katherine Hastings Cinematic Universe (KHCU) have in store for us? I hope Sasha gets a solo flick about how she overcame colorblindness. On another note, why does everything require a cinematic universe these days?
• We need more Dori and Cyrus scenes, please, and thank you. 
• The dry-erase board behind Ian boasts hilarious solutions to Katherine’s PR issue. You gotta love the “momentarily died during surgery” to “she wears glasses now” pipeline. Don’t forget to write “Uganda” on the board in all caps with zero context whatsoever. 
• As a middle-aged millennial, I felt old age set in when I had to look up the definition of “cheugy.” 
• Katherine Hastings is a Swiftie. Pass it on. 

What did you think of this episode of American Auto? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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American Auto airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC, with next-day streaming on Peacock.

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