If the first episode of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills followed the expected playbook, the HBO show’s second hour goes in a mostly opposite direction. This episode moves away from the stars and onto the people who are finding their place on the team.

It’s a natural segue; the entire point of the series is to show TV audiences the things they don’t know about the team, which starts with the people they aren’t as aware of. The most widely recognizable names in Episode 2 may be the handful of stars from other sports that are limited partners in the Bills, including NBA legend Vince Carter and soccer favorite Jozy Altidore. But the folks who aren’t household names are also important to any team’s success, and that’s the point the episode seems to be making. These are the people who aren’t normally in front of the cameras.

The show-stealer—almost by design—is KJ Hamler, whose screen time expands greatly after his memorable moment with a kids’ scooter in Episode 1. The fate of that scooter becomes a talking point in Episode 2, and the bit even enters the commentators’ lexicon on the field, as one of them describes a Hamler play as being “easy as riding a kids’ scooter.” Hamler’s self-deprecating humor gives the episode a lightness, along with Ray Davis’ new role as the emergency kicker.

With the overwhelming majority of sports documentaries being super-serious and super-dramatic, it’s lovely that Pat Harris and company have found time to capture the humor of the Buffalo Bills, too. Not only for a tonal balance from a TV standpoint, but because that personality is such a huge part of what makes the team work. The show wouldn’t be authentic without it.

The one story Episode 2 tells that every NFL fan knows is that of Damar Hamlin. Hamlin’s comeback story was briefly touched upon in the season premiere, but Episode 2 goes into that more extensively, including showing archive footage from the game in which Hamlin collapsed on the field. That video will never not be chilling, and the moments in which Hamlin reflects on that experience and how it’s changed his outlook on life are profound. As fun as the Hamler and Davis scenes are, Hamlin’s screen time reminds viewers why sports holds such a high place in society: because it’s a shared human experience.

Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills struggles when it cuts away to the fans, as those moments are more just a collection of quirky soundbites (and one that’s downright bizarre). The James Cook contract standoff adds another dose of awkwardness, just because Cook’s situation is so in contrast to the idea of togetherness that is at the core of the Bills. The Cook drama starts unfolding in the same episode where Josh Allen and his fellow quarterbacks talk about how they all make each other better. Episode 2 gives viewers more respect for the backup quarterback and more love for the folks who aren’t superstars, even if it doesn’t stick the landing.

Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and streams on HBO Max. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO.

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