What I’m Watching: Better With You

Better With You: Season 1, Episode 14 “Better with a Leather Jacket” (B-)

Let’s file this under episodes that never quite got off the ground. I understand that idea of a certain jacket being particularly unlucky, but it felt like everyone was trying way too hard to find something bad for it to do to Casey. I’ll admit that there was one hilarious, if highly improbable line (though what isn’t when it involves Casey?), when the woman who interviewed him makes the brilliant realization that they were looking for someone who needed to play an animal. I did like the inclusion of the trivia night stuff, since both Maddie and Ben are frighteningly intense and likely not much fun to play well whether they win or lose. I enjoyed Joel’s quick proficiency and Vicky’s less certain declaration of sports expertise, nonetheless fueling excitement from each member of the younger couple. The old introductory segment is now almost entirely gone, and instead we’re treated to plenty of flashbacks throughout the episode. I was most amused by Vicky’s attempts to tell her story that began with the “nine years later” title card but weren’t allowed to go any further than that. It’s a rare thing that we get to see most of the family spending time together throughout the entirety of the episode, as is the case here where generational and immediate family lines are disregarded so that Mia, Maddie, Ben, Vicky, and Joel can warn the newest addition of the family to take that damn jacket off before some bad luck hits him, even if it’s their own fault.