Sunday, August 5, 2012

What I’m Watching: Anger Management


Anger Management: Season 1, Episode 7 “Charlie’s Patient Gets Out of Jail” (B-)

This installment was admittedly a lot sillier than those that preceded it. Merging Charlie’s living room and jail therapy sessions simply meant that Cleo dominated his home session with exceptionally violent tales of anger and that the episode focused almost entirely on events outside of either group. Presuming Cleo’s shift from “prison gay” to straight and formerly married on the outside wasn’t too difficult given that this show is always relatively over-the-top, and it actually presented a decently fun opportunity for Cleo to romance Jennifer and really get Charlie mad about something. This episode featured another “eureka therapy” moment after Charlie called Ed dad a while ago, when Charlie freaked out over Cleo using his butter. The relationship between Charlie and Jennifer continues to be entertaining, and her continuous array of bad business ideas is extremely amusing. Kate, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care too much about Charlie’s well-being, constantly sidelining his therapy, or rather, any discussion of his personal life or feelings, to their sessions, and insisting upon only sex whenever they get together outside of a scheduled session. At least Charlie, who may not quite be the world’s most superb therapist, cares enough about his patients to try to help them improve, even going over to their homes in the middle of the night if need be. Testing someone on how to make a decagon with straws may suggest their intelligence, but it’s hardly an excellent therapeutic method for any sort of positive or productive development.

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