My Lovely Sugar Lumps: An Advance Review of the First Three Episodes of "Flight of the Conchords" Season Two

HBO's deliciously absurd musical comedy Flight of the Conchords returns after a far-too-long hiatus between seasons due to the writers strike.

I had the opportunity last week to watch the first three episodes of Season Two of Flight of the Conchords, which launches January 18th on HBO, and like the title sequence's whale, I too soared away on a magical carpet of storytelling and imagination.

While the season premiere has been available online via various platforms for a few weeks now, I was particularly curious to check out the season's second and third episodes. Time has not dulled Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement's peculiar brand of off-kilter humor, fortunately, and they return after a seemingly endless break between seasons to engage in bizarro conversations about nothing in particular and perform more hysterical songs. (If you've seen their "women's only toothpaste" commercial advert in the season premiere, you know what I mean.) For fans of FotC, these fantastic episodes are the bee's knees and will leave you craving more Kiwi humor once the end credits roll.

So, what can you expect from Season Two of Flight of the Conchords? Let's discuss.

When we last saw Bret and Jemaine, they had been cast adrift after Murray (Rhys Darby) took on managing duties for a hot band (the Crazy Dogz). Forced to rely on their own skills, they're actually doing better without Murray than with him and manage to get a few gigs going (even if Bret is sans a shoe) and land a job writing and performing a jingle for that "women's only toothpaste" commercial. This being Flight of the Conchords, look for things to naturally settle back into an equilibrium by the end of the first episode as Bret and Jemaine find themselves in a bit of a legal situation and Murray is forced to (sort of) come to their rescue.

Later, look for the guys to take a gig at a local library (shush!) and Bret to form a rather, uh, motley gang in order to take back the streets, which leads to the funniest West Side Story parody ever on film. (Okay, it might be the only West Side Story parody ever, but that doesn't diminish just how hysterical their idea of gang warfare is.)

Meanwhile, Mel (Kristen Schaal) takes up painting and Brett purchases a second coffee mug, which causes major financial complications for the guys resulting in them losing their instruments and Jemaine having to prostitute himself in order to make ends meet. Which in turn leads to two hysterical new songs, one that's a send-up of The Police's Roxanne and the other which is entitled "Sugar Lumps," and which, over a week later, I still can't get out of my head.

Yes, it's already shaping up to be the sort of season where anything, and indeed everything, is possible. Flight of the Conchords has always been the type of series that could feature romantic entanglements, David Bowie impersonations, and ruminations on the trivialities of everyday life, from Mafia retaliations to unpaid electric bills, side-by-side. It's a topsy-turvy world that might seem terrifying were it not so painfully funny.

Season Two of Flight of the Conchords premieres Sunday, January 18th, at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO. Be sure to come back later this week for my interview with Flight of the Conchords co-star Kristen Schaal.