‘Making It’ Season 2 Is the Perfect Holiday Treat

There’s comfort in tradition, in rituals and practices passed down from generation to generation. That’s what makes crafting so comforting, knowing that you’re either practicing techniques (like woodworking or calligraphy) taught to you by your elders, or pioneering something offbeat (ketchup painting, balloon bouquets) that you can pass on to your children. The coziness of tradition can also make the holiday season so warm, as we reconnect with our loved ones and our favorite seasonal specials and songs. That’s what makes NBC’s decision to bring back the Emmy-nominated crafting competition Making It as part of their seasonal offerings such an inspired choice. Crafting and the holidays go hand in hand, and Making It fits right in in its new winter home.

Making It was a surprise summer hit last year, a much-needed pick-me-up in our worsening slog of a decade. It’s safe to say that things just generally haven’t gotten much better, so Making It’s return—quainter and quirkier than ever—is beyond welcome. Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, hot off of an Emmy nod for Season 1, are completely in awe of the artistry unfolding before them as 10 crafters take on their assigned tasks. The two clearly love their non-scripted gig, and it’s just as much fun watching Poehler and Offerman practice their comedy craft as it is watching a contestant whip up a toy robot. Everything you loved about the two of them in Season 1, from their pun battles to Poehler’s perfectly practical overalls, are back and ready to dazzle.

Season 2’s contestants are as endearing as Season 1’s, and they boast a wider range of skills. There’s engineer Ashley whose gone from working at Boeing to working with wood, and the barely-out-of-high-school Eagan, who makes his siblings into viral stars by making elaborate costumes. There’s a balloon artist from Florida and a calligrapher from California. There’s a surfer who paints murals and a scientist who crafts. The contestants are bringing it in Season 2—and they’re still here to make friends, too.

That’s truly what separates Making It from its cable competition show counterparts. There is a prize, sure, but the show doesn’t dwell on it as a point. The point of the show is to celebrate crafting and the people that dedicate their lives to painting clothespins and making puppets of takeout boxes. This is a competition show that hates eliminating people, and—in Making It tradition—there’s a bit at the end of each episode that shows that no one’s ever truly gone. Instead of whittling people down, Making It builds a found family every week.

Making It is a real blessing of a show, the kind of hourlong programming that is not only fun for the entire family but best enjoyed by the entire family. It’s silly and weird and poignant and exciting, and it’s such a relief compared to almost everything else on TV. It feels like, with this new December launch, that Making It has finally come home. It’s an unconventional show about traditions airing at the most ritualistic time of year, and it feels right. Lets all hope that NBC makes Making It a new holiday season tradition.

Stream Making It on Hulu