What I’m Watching: Difficult People (Season Finale)

Difficult People: Season 1, Episode 8 “Difficult Christmas” (B-)

After just eight episodes, this show is done with its first season, already renewed for another outing to premiere sometime next year on Hulu. I enjoyed the show to a degree, but I’m also disappointed given the potential of what it could have been and could still be. It’s obvious that both Julie and Billy are annoyed with the way most people act and this show is designed most as a parody of their lives as they seem, but this show’s excessive, exaggerated nature doesn’t always work to its advantage. It’s hard to believe that Julie wouldn’t have better sense than to casually discuss “Capturing the Friedmans,” a documentary my cousin recommended to me over a decade ago when it came out but I still haven’t seen, with a customer at the job she had just gotten hours ago while wrapping gifts at a hopelessly slow pace. At least that was more sophisticated than Billy’s attempt to get into the gay mafia using his niece and her Friday night dance opportunities. I enjoyed the concept that Marilyn was using surge pricing in advance of the holidays for her therapy customers, though it was of course exaggerated a bit much with her use of multiple cell phones and not even listening to any of the people on the phone. Similarly, Arthur’s parents being equally dry versions of him with completely unemotional vows was a theoretically amusing idea but not quite as hilarious in practice. If this show can hone its premise into something a bit more consistent, I think I’ll enjoy season two a lot more.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Billy Eichner