What I’m Watching: Better With You

Better with You: Season 1, Episode 11 “Better with Skinny Jeans” (B+)

I’m very proud of this show for having graduated from baby steps to being more comfortable in its own skin. This is something I mentioned in one of previous reviews, that the show has quietly retreated from its very explicit format of spelling out on screen the age differences between the relationships. Now, it’s pretty much the same format, both at the beginning and the end of this episode, but the cue cards have gone away. The final scene of the episode, somewhat unrelated to most of its content, proved rather hilarious, with Casey picking up a sleeping, peaceful Mia, Ben eliciting a panicked fit from Maddie, and Joel simply dumping Vicky onto the floor. Vicky’s husband-rating club was by far the most ridiculous of this episode’s plotlines, but it was still entertaining (and probably not entirely uncommon), providing a surprisingly sentimental conclusion with Vicky’s admission that she makes up bad stuff about Joel so that the other wives won’t want him. Pairing Ben with Mia, and more innovatively, Maddie with Casey, was a recipe for success. Ben’s metrosexuality is nothing too new, and Mia’s fury with him over his usage of terms like “pregnancy pants” was funny. Maddie’s obsession with the mail was appropriately wacky, and I enjoyed Casey’s attempts to make her feel behind the times by responding to her verbal questions with a text message. Even if the depositing of Joel on the couch by the mailman was a bit convenient, it still worked well and proved charming, if nothing else.