PASADENA, Calif. — So far it seems only Netflix has staked out a space as the must-have, add-on video streaming service, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon and Hulu from trying to do the same.

Of the two, Amazon seems better positioned with splashy series like “The Man in the High Castle,” returning for its second season in the fall, and critically acclaimed rom-com “Catastrophe,” which is back for its second season.

A British import, the first season of “Catastrophe,” which lives in perpetuity on Amazon, followed the relationship between American Rob (Rob Delaney), a businessman visiting London, and the Irish woman he meets and has a brief relationship with, Sharon (Sharon Horgan). She gets pregnant, and the two eventually opt to stay together.

Season one set the show’s tone as a romantic comedy without the saccharine tropes of the genre. Instead, “Catastrophe” was rooted in more realistic comedy with a darker core. The series still had its sweet moments, but they were earned and felt natural, not predetermined. And it was often laugh-out-loud funny as Horgan’s quips found equal footing with Delaney’s quick-witted retorts.

Season two continues in the same tone but less successfully now that the pair are enmeshed in domestic woes.

It’s the inevitable result, of course: The depiction of pursuit is more thrilling than domestic doldrums. Add in a potential infidelity plot and “Catastrophe” doesn’t feel quite as fresh this time out. Not that it’s bad; the series just isn’t the revelation it was the first time around.