Part 2 of Terrace House: Aloha State, a reality TV show about six strangers living under one roof, is now available for your binging pleasure. You can stream all eight episodes on Netflix.
Terrace House has a similar premise to series like MTV’s Real World — throw a group of strangers into one house and see what happens — but it offers a tamer look at how real humans interact with each other. The drama is kept to a minimum, as everyone handles their disagreements like adults and mostly get along. They aren’t kicked off; they leave when they choose. All of which to say, it’s an alternate path for reality TV without the competition or fierce sense of self-made stardom.
But there’s another layer: a meta show within the show, featuring a group of three men and three women — mostly Japanese celebrities. The panel parses each episode for the audience, and their thoughts are bundled within the episode itself, as if the audience is watching and reacting to the show at the same time as the panel. As the season progresses, members of the house can watch their own episodes for a gut check on what people think of them.
PBS Idea Channel explains this strange loop the best, comparing it with the popularity of Let’s Play videos.
Netflix picked up Terrace House as a Netflix Original in 2015. Unlike past episodes, Aloha State takes the housemates out of Japan and to the States, specifically Hawaii.