The Politician Season 2 Review: 6 Ups & 2 Downs

2. Judith Light And Bette Midler Steal The Show

While Ben Platt is as captivating as ever, he shared the spotlight with the show's two new full-time arrivals. We are, of course, talking about the formidable combination of legends Judith Light and Bette Midler.

Though Light's Dede Standish is the political opponent of Payton, she and Midler's charismatic Hadassah Gold are so much more than that. Separately, they're well-developed characters with needs and wants of their own and this is when Light really steals the show, highlighting Dede for the multi-layered woman that she is. She's not a cardboard cutout automatically sure of her own success, she's a well-respected politician whose familiarity with winning over the years made her complacent. And that makes it incredibly easy to get invested in her arc - in spite of the fact that she's initially portrayed as the antagonist of the piece.

Midler, on the other hand, thrives with those wonderfully campy and over-the-top lines of dialogue thrown to her character, lighting up the screen like the larger-than-life presence that she is. No matter how ridiculous things get, Hadassah's feisty personality makes it believable, and she complements Dede's calm determination perfectly.

Separately, Light and Midler are brilliant, but together they are showstopping.