What I’m Watching: The Big C

The Big C: Season 2, Episode 2 “Musical Chairs” (B+)

It’s so interesting to see how things change when everyone is suddenly aware of the existence of Cathy’s cancer. The good news is that this show hasn’t changed at all, as both Cathy and Adam are rather lukewarm to the idea of being treated differently and respond negatively to the attempted outreach of others. Andrea’s reaction was the perfect thing for Cathy to hear, happy that she was back but definitely not willing to give her a hug. It's not too surprising that Cathy's new hotshot doctor, who is also a part-time magician, seems far too busy to care about her. Telling Paul that he was fat was a bit more shocking, and decently hilarious as well, mostly because of Paul’s highly offended reaction to his comment. Cathy isn’t one to back down easily without a satisfying answer, and her confrontation with Dr. Sherman was an appropriately therapeutic meeting for her. Rebecca’s announcement that she was planning to name her baby after Cathy was rather jarring and disturbing, and she really continues to a character so completely not self-aware. Paul was clearly prepped for alternative suggestions, rattling off a bunch of potential names for her. I’m enjoying Sean’s schizophrenic journey to parenthood, and his scenes with Cathy are always the strongest for both siblings. Cathy makes a good point: to see him not taking care of himself when there’s something productive he can do about his condition really is a shame, even if it does make for truly entertaining television.