Picture this hypothetical: you live in Boston, and the Red Sox have just been relegated (demoted) to Triple A. The season that follows is certainly different, a big club playing against Triple A teams. The people at Netflix link up with Boston, filming the whole season behind the scenes as the Red Sox navigate the waters in a smaller pool.
Viewers get to watch all the trials and tribulations, and then disaster strikes: the club is relegated again, dropping down to Double A. Netflix is again along for the ride, following the Red Sox in an even smaller pool as they try and fight their way back up the ladder. That season comes down to one final game, with a spot back up in Triple A on the line. A loss would be a major blow, keeping this big club down in Double A for yet another disappointing season.
Now if that situation seems ridiculous, well then, you haven’t watched “Sunderland ’Til I Die” yet.
With its second season released earlier this month on Netflix, the reality show that follows the lives of English football club Sunderland A.F.C. provides a nice boost of sporting life into a world devoid at the moment.
Season two follows the club during the 2018-19 campaign, picking up where it left off after a volatile first season. The filmmakers struck lightning in a bottle with Sunderland, a big market club that plays in a 50,000-capacity stadium in the north east part of England. There’s rich tradition there, but due to a variety of reasons, the Black Cats finished in the bottom three of the Premier League (England’s top tier of football) two years prior, relegating them to the second tier, affectionately known as the Championship.
That’s when Netflix came on board, and cameras followed Sunderland’s life on and off the pitch in its first season below the Premier League in over a decade. Season one was supposed to follow what a club goes through in order to gain promotion back to the Big Leagues, and the trip to the minors was expected to be merely a blip in the radar. But the producers got more than they bargained for, and Sunderland’s first season in the Championship was a disaster. In an almost unheard of twist, the Cats again finished at the bottom of the table and for the second straight year, were dropped to a lower division — this time League One (the third tier of English football).
Now all of this may sound complicated, but at the heart of the matter is a team with a heavy payroll and underachieving players entering into a free fall. Seasons in the Championship, and especially League One, offer much less revenue for clubs, and that hits especially hard for a team such as Sunderland that fancies itself a big market side.
That’s where season two picks up, as Sunderland begins life in the third tier of English football, with a stadium that holds 50,000 fans. New owners and managers are on board, and the theme is simple: Sunderland can’t survive financially in League One for long. Budgets are slashed, players are sold off, and younger lads are tasked with leading the Black Cats back up to the Championship, where they will hopefully continue on back to the Premier League.
As far as behind the scenes drama, the second season offers plenty. The six-episode season focuses on new director Charlie Methven and business partner Stewart Donald, who have taken over the club and must slash budgets in order to keep Sunderland afloat.
Methven, in particular, is a fascinating character. He has most of the show-stopping scenes in the series, whether it be chastising the staff or offering fans a blunt interpretation of what was going on with the club before he and Donald arrived. You can see the passion in the two club heads, and to be honest, it’s rather refreshing. It’d be a surprise to see John Henry act with similar gusto toward Red Sox related content.
There is less in the way of player interviews compared to season one, reportedly due to a backlash from what club members deemed a distraction the first go around. We spend most of our time in season two getting to know Luke O’Nien, a young and affable midfielder, but other players are only briefly interviewed over the course of the season.
The climax comes in the final episode, as Sunderland have found their way into a promotion playoff final against Charlton Athletic at Wembley Stadium in London. The winner moves up to the Championship, while the loser is down in League One for the 2019-20 season.
“We’re going to get out of this league. We are,” offers a confident Joyce Rome, the club’s chef, before the game.
Wembley Stadium is a house of horrors for Sunderland historically, and the club hasn’t won a title of any kind since 1973. I’ll let you watch for yourself and see how it all plays out.