Round Two: The Big C

The Big C: Season 1, Episode 2 “Summer Time” (B)

I’m still not quite sure what to make of this show. It’s certainly intriguing and attention-capturing. Yet there’s something about it that doesn’t feel quite right. Watching as Cathy and Andrea followed the bus and Cathy riddled it with paintball pellets and then Andrea shot her defiant son several times with the paintball gun reminded me very much of Shane Botwin’s bear-hunting antics in the pilot of “Weeds.” This show strikes me as a sort of cross between “Weeds” and “Glee,” where mothers struggling to deal with their unique hardships bond with high school misfits unable to fit in with the rest of the student body. A scene like the one described above could instantly become classic, but there’s something about it that feels a little too staged. It’s as if no other students exist, and Andrea is the only one in whom Cathy has taken an interest. Now that Andrea has met both Cathy’s brother and her son, there aren’t nearly as many boundaries left standing between them. It feels a bit early on for them to make such a superficial connection, especially since Cathy knows nothing about Andrea’s home life or background aside from her academic record and attitude. I do like Oliver Platt’s complaining husband, and making therapy sessions feel fresh is hard to do, so I applaud this show for doing well with that. This show may well be headed places, but I’m still struggling to piece together my feelings since there’s something that’s still missing here for me.