After the wildly successful first season of Netflix’s reboot of The Baby-Sitters Club, it was no surprise that the series would be renewed for a season 2. But, can “The Next Chapter” hold up to its predecessor, or does it hit a sophomore slump? For me, it’s a little bit of both.

Diving into season 2, summer vacation is over. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, and Mary-Anne are headed back to school and continuing to build their business/club. In order to handle their growing babysitting empire, the girls bring in two new sitters – Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike. While I love the idea of bringing in more characters from the book series; I found the addiction of Jessi and Mallory from the get was distracting to the character arcs of our core group of girls.

For more than half the season, Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, and Mary-Anne are pushed to the side in order to make room for two new characters instead of letting the viewer and story continue on from where we left off. This slowed down the pace of the episodes to a slog making these 22 minute episodes feel like 42. I was surprised when the season was almost over and it felt like the girls had barely progressed as characters.

When The Baby-Sitters Club Works, It Works

That being said, the writing and story arcs given to the characters are still really good…when we finally get there. On top of running the BSC, the girls also go on their own personal journey of self-discovery. Season two continues to speak to their tween audience in a grown manner, which I love. The series never talks down to the characters or the viewers. The writers understand that these are truly things that young people go through and they do not tiptoe around the subject matter. Which I greatly appreciate.

Overall, I found season 2 of The Baby-sitters Club enjoyable even if it felt slow, and I can’t wait to see what the girls get up to in season 3!

Make sure to watch The Baby-sitters Club: The Next Chapter streaming on Netflix, Monday, October 11th!

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