This is a formula that works and only takes the show to better and more emotional heights because it's done the character work to earn that reaction from the audience. This is a family you know and love, but you'll only enjoy getting deeper with them in its equally impressive Season 3.
Even though the season clocks in at around six hours in total, it feels more momentous than that, and in a good way. By grounding its laughs, its tears, and its storytelling in the ups and downs of a family, One Day at a Time avoids feeling gimmicky. ... The episodes themselves are beautifully constructed, too, with some of the best third acts in television today.
Granted, sometimes those resolutions are a little pat (even if they’re rarely as neat as they were on the genre’s forebears). Sometimes they’re slightly saccharine. But sometimes they’re moving and immense and earned. What they register--unflaggingly, and with a ton of humor--is a faith in redemption.
One Day at a Time manages to keep the audience invested and genuinely laughing at the same time. Not many comedies can balance the opposing forces of comedy and drama with such ease; but then, most other comedies simply aren’t as successful, let alone as grounded.
As overseen by showrunners Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce, it is still a good, refreshingly openhearted show. But in season three, its sitcommy-ness also shows a bit more obviously than it did in the first two.
For two seasons, One Day at a Time made something that’s very hard appear to be very easy. This year, while still strong, it lets you see the sweat and strain.